So I returned to the clinic this morning. I will just say that it's very hard to give a stool sample on command. Haha.
I don't have malaria, an infection or worms though. I just have some kind of flu. I feel pretty horrible but I'm going to the Serengeti tomorrow!
Speaking of Serengeti... There's no power there (and so obviously no internet) so you won't be hearing from me again until next Friday. Cross your fingers no one gets eaten by a lion while we're there!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Exam and Sickness
Today we took our exam. It wasn't bad. I probably only studied for it for about 5 hours (including the time I spent playing jeopardy) but I think I did well...
After the exam I read and watched a movie. About 3 hours ago I started to feel sick. And when I got up for dinner I realized I felt horrible. My stomach hurts really badly and I just generally feel like crap. I'm going to go get into bed and hope I feel better in the morning.
After the exam I read and watched a movie. About 3 hours ago I started to feel sick. And when I got up for dinner I realized I felt horrible. My stomach hurts really badly and I just generally feel like crap. I'm going to go get into bed and hope I feel better in the morning.
Notes and Forgotten Moments
So I realized there were a few awesome things I forgot to mention:
1) Yesterday there was a kid walking down the side of the road was using a chunk of grass to try to entice a goat to follow him. The goat kept getting distracted and he kept obnoxiously forcing the grass in front of the goats face. It was very amusing.
2) All of the kids here like to sniff you and/or lick you when they are holding your hand. Also, when we were at the orphanage the kids were pulling my arm hairs and laughing at them.
3) EVERYONE wants your watch.
4)Yesterday the teaching staff was going on a trip to check out a new place for the students to potentially visit. Three of them convinced the driver to leave without the rest of them. As they backed out of the parking space a visiting teacher walked up to the car and waved at them to stop and let him in. No one saw him though and they drove away. As he walked by I said "why aren't you going with them?" He said "I am!" and started running to catch them at the gate. Another visiting staff member was trying to get lunch and the kitchen was slow so she had to have someone run ahead to stop the car so that they didn't leave her.
5)When I first got to Africa I pitied people here because they are mostly very poor and live very simply. The more time I spend here though the more I respect, and even envy in some cases, the lifestyle here. People are much happier overall and don't seem to mind all of the amenities that they are missing. It has really made me question what America as a society values.
6) We have a stray cat that hangs around camp (well actually 3 but one main one). It is friendly to the students for the most part but doesn't like the staff. One day it was in the dining hall during lunch and so one of the staff members picked it up by its scruff, carried it out of the hall and across the lawn and threw it over the fence. It was back by dinner. Haha. This morning when I got up it was leaping at the clothes pins on our line in front of our banda and chasing its tail :]
1) Yesterday there was a kid walking down the side of the road was using a chunk of grass to try to entice a goat to follow him. The goat kept getting distracted and he kept obnoxiously forcing the grass in front of the goats face. It was very amusing.
2) All of the kids here like to sniff you and/or lick you when they are holding your hand. Also, when we were at the orphanage the kids were pulling my arm hairs and laughing at them.
3) EVERYONE wants your watch.
4)Yesterday the teaching staff was going on a trip to check out a new place for the students to potentially visit. Three of them convinced the driver to leave without the rest of them. As they backed out of the parking space a visiting teacher walked up to the car and waved at them to stop and let him in. No one saw him though and they drove away. As he walked by I said "why aren't you going with them?" He said "I am!" and started running to catch them at the gate. Another visiting staff member was trying to get lunch and the kitchen was slow so she had to have someone run ahead to stop the car so that they didn't leave her.
5)When I first got to Africa I pitied people here because they are mostly very poor and live very simply. The more time I spend here though the more I respect, and even envy in some cases, the lifestyle here. People are much happier overall and don't seem to mind all of the amenities that they are missing. It has really made me question what America as a society values.
6) We have a stray cat that hangs around camp (well actually 3 but one main one). It is friendly to the students for the most part but doesn't like the staff. One day it was in the dining hall during lunch and so one of the staff members picked it up by its scruff, carried it out of the hall and across the lawn and threw it over the fence. It was back by dinner. Haha. This morning when I got up it was leaping at the clothes pins on our line in front of our banda and chasing its tail :]
Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Orphanage
This morning I went to the clinic because my death cough (bronchitis) has returned.
The story of how the clinic was established is awesome so I will retell it: The owner and his wife climbed Mt Kilimanjaro for his 50th birthday and he got altitude sickness. He was so sick that he had to go to a hospital. In the hospital he discovered that the healthcare there was very bad and there were very few places that people in rural areas could receive care. Once he got better, he returned to the US, quit his job, sold his house and everything, came back to Tanzania, and set up a mobile clinic. After a while of running his mobile clinic he bought some land and set up a permanent clinic. Currently he has a clinic, a lab and a pharmacy and is in the process of building a hospital with a surgery suite and everything on the land next to the clinic.
The other amazing thing about the clinic is that he provides care to locals for a dollar or two a visit. He makes all of the money to run the clinic through donations, check up fees for tourists (about $50 a visit), and donations. Also, SFS students are considered locals so I paid about $15 for my visit (including medication).
After the clinic I came back to camp and napped. Napping is amazing. Especially cause it is cold here in the mornings and I was coughing a lot last night so I didn't sleep very well. Curling back up in my sleeping bag was totally awesome!
In the afternoon we went to volunteer at the local orphanage. The children were mostly orphans of parents with AIDs but some were from families who couldn't afford to care for their children. There were normally 40 children at the orphanage but the orphanage was in the middle of moving locations the children who had families were temporarily sent home so they were only 20 children there.
When we got the orphanage the children ran up to us and sang us a welcome song. The director then told us information about the orphanage and gave us a tour of the area. It was a very small area for 40 children but apparently it was better than the old site that they were at. At the old site there was only one toilet for 40 people. Can you believe that??? One toilet! During the tour the director pointed out the beds that SFS had donated to the orphanage. I was proud that some of my tuition money is going to a better cause than just the SFS organization.
After the tour of the site we went out to the yard area and helped them clear it so that it would be a safe area for the children to play. There were people everywhere moving rocks, pulling up plants, breaking up the ground to help level it, etc. It was really cute how many of the kids came and helped us. It was kind of dangerous work though because we were disturbing a lot of bugs: Keri got stung by a scorpion. I had to sit down about half way through because I was starting to black out every time I stood up.
It was very hot so I wasn't the only one sitting out and soon a group of kids had come and sat with us too. They kept stealing sunglasses and waterbottles and wandering off. Then I pulled out my Iphone to take pictures and got completely swarmed with children. It was a little nerve wracking because most of them barely understood English but they were careful with my phone so I let them flip through my pictures for a while.
When I went to the car to get my water bottle Ninah, one of the staff members, was walking around with a toddler. He put the kid in the car and told him to sit on one of the seats. The kid walked to the back of the car where I was and I asked him to sit with me so he climbed up next to me. Then Ninah told the kid that I was his mom and asked him if that was okay. The kid put his hand on my leg and said okay. It was absolutely adorable. I carried him around for a while after that.
There was one kid at the orphanage who was mentally disabled and all he wanted was to hug everyone. He would walk up to random people and just throw himself at them. He kind of made me uncomfortable because he probably sat and hugged me on and off for about five minutes. But at the same time it so obviously made him so happy that I couldn't help but smile. After he was done hugging me I was spinning another kid around by his hands and he was watching me. When I put the kid down he ran up and wanted me to do it with him too but he was too tall for me to do it. That turned out to not be a problem though because he jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around my waist. When I spun him around he was squealing from joy. It made me glad that I got over my discomfort and played with him.
Before we left the children sang us more songs. My favorite was when they sang Old McDonald. It was about halfway through the song when I figured out what they were singing because a lot of the kids were young and they all had accents but it was adorable.
I would have loved to stay at the orphanage for days. Hopefully we go back at some point before I head home.
The story of how the clinic was established is awesome so I will retell it: The owner and his wife climbed Mt Kilimanjaro for his 50th birthday and he got altitude sickness. He was so sick that he had to go to a hospital. In the hospital he discovered that the healthcare there was very bad and there were very few places that people in rural areas could receive care. Once he got better, he returned to the US, quit his job, sold his house and everything, came back to Tanzania, and set up a mobile clinic. After a while of running his mobile clinic he bought some land and set up a permanent clinic. Currently he has a clinic, a lab and a pharmacy and is in the process of building a hospital with a surgery suite and everything on the land next to the clinic.
The other amazing thing about the clinic is that he provides care to locals for a dollar or two a visit. He makes all of the money to run the clinic through donations, check up fees for tourists (about $50 a visit), and donations. Also, SFS students are considered locals so I paid about $15 for my visit (including medication).
After the clinic I came back to camp and napped. Napping is amazing. Especially cause it is cold here in the mornings and I was coughing a lot last night so I didn't sleep very well. Curling back up in my sleeping bag was totally awesome!
In the afternoon we went to volunteer at the local orphanage. The children were mostly orphans of parents with AIDs but some were from families who couldn't afford to care for their children. There were normally 40 children at the orphanage but the orphanage was in the middle of moving locations the children who had families were temporarily sent home so they were only 20 children there.
When we got the orphanage the children ran up to us and sang us a welcome song. The director then told us information about the orphanage and gave us a tour of the area. It was a very small area for 40 children but apparently it was better than the old site that they were at. At the old site there was only one toilet for 40 people. Can you believe that??? One toilet! During the tour the director pointed out the beds that SFS had donated to the orphanage. I was proud that some of my tuition money is going to a better cause than just the SFS organization.
After the tour of the site we went out to the yard area and helped them clear it so that it would be a safe area for the children to play. There were people everywhere moving rocks, pulling up plants, breaking up the ground to help level it, etc. It was really cute how many of the kids came and helped us. It was kind of dangerous work though because we were disturbing a lot of bugs: Keri got stung by a scorpion. I had to sit down about half way through because I was starting to black out every time I stood up.
It was very hot so I wasn't the only one sitting out and soon a group of kids had come and sat with us too. They kept stealing sunglasses and waterbottles and wandering off. Then I pulled out my Iphone to take pictures and got completely swarmed with children. It was a little nerve wracking because most of them barely understood English but they were careful with my phone so I let them flip through my pictures for a while.
When I went to the car to get my water bottle Ninah, one of the staff members, was walking around with a toddler. He put the kid in the car and told him to sit on one of the seats. The kid walked to the back of the car where I was and I asked him to sit with me so he climbed up next to me. Then Ninah told the kid that I was his mom and asked him if that was okay. The kid put his hand on my leg and said okay. It was absolutely adorable. I carried him around for a while after that.
There was one kid at the orphanage who was mentally disabled and all he wanted was to hug everyone. He would walk up to random people and just throw himself at them. He kind of made me uncomfortable because he probably sat and hugged me on and off for about five minutes. But at the same time it so obviously made him so happy that I couldn't help but smile. After he was done hugging me I was spinning another kid around by his hands and he was watching me. When I put the kid down he ran up and wanted me to do it with him too but he was too tall for me to do it. That turned out to not be a problem though because he jumped into my arms and wrapped his legs around my waist. When I spun him around he was squealing from joy. It made me glad that I got over my discomfort and played with him.
Before we left the children sang us more songs. My favorite was when they sang Old McDonald. It was about halfway through the song when I figured out what they were singing because a lot of the kids were young and they all had accents but it was adorable.
I would have loved to stay at the orphanage for days. Hopefully we go back at some point before I head home.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Ngorongoro Crater
Today we went to the Ngorogoro conservation area. It is unique because 1) it is a giant crater, 2) it is known as the garden of eden, 3) it is to only conservation area in the world set up the way it is. Ngorongoro has three goals: to preserve the wildlife of the crater area, to protect the traditional maasai culture in the crater area, and to promote tourism (raise money). It is really cool because the conservation area is completely self sufficient and manages to allow locals and wildlife to live harmoniously in the conservation area. They use money raised from tourism to fund all of their projects in the park as well as support the local community. One thing that I was VERY surprised to learn is that they are actually paying for people to leave the conservation area because it is over populated. If people agree to leave they will pay for seeds for their crops for the first 5 years after their move as compensation. I am amazed that people are willing to move but they have already moved over 200 families. Ultimately their goal is to move almost 50,000 people out of the Ngorongoro area.
When we first got into the park we came in over the rim of the crater. It was so foggy that you couldn't see more than 10 or 15 feet away from the car. It looked like we were driving into Jurassic Park. You all are probably imagining Africa as dry grasslands and plains but there is quite a bit of forested and agriculture land. Around the rim of the crater it was very green and there were giant trees (many of them figs) covered in moss and vines. The land of the crater floor was open grasslands mostly, with a few small forested areas, some wetlands, and a large saltwater lake.
There were so many animals in the crater! Everywhere you looked there were wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles. The gazelles, especially the smaller type, are extremely well adapted. You can be staring right at one and not realize it until it moves. Often all you notice are the horns, not the actual animal. Wildebeest are quickly becoming one of my favorite animals. They are really the strangest animals. They look like creatures from "Where the Wild Things Are." Try to locate their eyes. It's nearly impossible. You know where they should be and you can see them blink but you can't really exactly find their eyes. Haha. They also make a funny noise and I love how they just run around randomly. One of the other students told me they run so much because walking and running expend equal amounts of energy for them. I still love the zebras best I think though. They were standing in the plains, on the roads, walking with the wildebeest... just everywhere pretty much. I loved how in the afternoon they were almost all sleeping. No one in my car knew that zebras (horses) sleep standing up so they wouldn't believe that the zebras were taking an afternoon nap.
There were also jackels, warthogs, hyenas, hartebeests, elands and lions. Elands are extremely weird looking animals. As one of the other students described it, they look like someone mixed a cow and an antelope. Their heads are very small for their bodies. I didn't expect to see jackels so it was cool to see them. Hyenas are very weird animals. I already knew what they looked like but they are an animal that is just captivating. They look mostly like dogs but they're kind of built like and they move a lot like bears. Last but not least, there were the lions. I was actually not as excited about the lions as many of the other animals. Not to demean them but for the most part they are very sedentary animals so it's not as interesting to watch them for a long time. First we saw a male lion and then someone radioed about a female. We drove to find the female and watched her for a while and the male followed us to her. It was not very interesting though because the male just laid down a little way away from the female and they both just chilled there.
The whole day we had to make sure that every time we ate we did so in our cars so that they animals wouldn't attack us and/or steal our food. At the park gate the baboons will run into cars and grab food so you have to keep your doors and windows closed. Some of the students in the car next to me were getting out of the car and between one person getting out and the next a baboon ran into the car and stole a lunch container. At the hippo pool we had to eat in the car because the kites (a type of hawk-looking bird) have been known to dive down and steal people's lunches out of their hands.
Overall today was another awesome exhausting day :] Some other students are kinda over looking at animals but I love it. I could spend every day watching animals and never get bored of it I think.
When we first got into the park we came in over the rim of the crater. It was so foggy that you couldn't see more than 10 or 15 feet away from the car. It looked like we were driving into Jurassic Park. You all are probably imagining Africa as dry grasslands and plains but there is quite a bit of forested and agriculture land. Around the rim of the crater it was very green and there were giant trees (many of them figs) covered in moss and vines. The land of the crater floor was open grasslands mostly, with a few small forested areas, some wetlands, and a large saltwater lake.
There were so many animals in the crater! Everywhere you looked there were wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles. The gazelles, especially the smaller type, are extremely well adapted. You can be staring right at one and not realize it until it moves. Often all you notice are the horns, not the actual animal. Wildebeest are quickly becoming one of my favorite animals. They are really the strangest animals. They look like creatures from "Where the Wild Things Are." Try to locate their eyes. It's nearly impossible. You know where they should be and you can see them blink but you can't really exactly find their eyes. Haha. They also make a funny noise and I love how they just run around randomly. One of the other students told me they run so much because walking and running expend equal amounts of energy for them. I still love the zebras best I think though. They were standing in the plains, on the roads, walking with the wildebeest... just everywhere pretty much. I loved how in the afternoon they were almost all sleeping. No one in my car knew that zebras (horses) sleep standing up so they wouldn't believe that the zebras were taking an afternoon nap.
There were also jackels, warthogs, hyenas, hartebeests, elands and lions. Elands are extremely weird looking animals. As one of the other students described it, they look like someone mixed a cow and an antelope. Their heads are very small for their bodies. I didn't expect to see jackels so it was cool to see them. Hyenas are very weird animals. I already knew what they looked like but they are an animal that is just captivating. They look mostly like dogs but they're kind of built like and they move a lot like bears. Last but not least, there were the lions. I was actually not as excited about the lions as many of the other animals. Not to demean them but for the most part they are very sedentary animals so it's not as interesting to watch them for a long time. First we saw a male lion and then someone radioed about a female. We drove to find the female and watched her for a while and the male followed us to her. It was not very interesting though because the male just laid down a little way away from the female and they both just chilled there.
The whole day we had to make sure that every time we ate we did so in our cars so that they animals wouldn't attack us and/or steal our food. At the park gate the baboons will run into cars and grab food so you have to keep your doors and windows closed. Some of the students in the car next to me were getting out of the car and between one person getting out and the next a baboon ran into the car and stole a lunch container. At the hippo pool we had to eat in the car because the kites (a type of hawk-looking bird) have been known to dive down and steal people's lunches out of their hands.
Overall today was another awesome exhausting day :] Some other students are kinda over looking at animals but I love it. I could spend every day watching animals and never get bored of it I think.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Whited Out Parts
I don't know why parts of my blog keep getting blocked out (I think it might be a loading problem) but if you highlight that section you should be able to read it. It's just like the background in that area got changed to white
WMAs and More Bargaining
Today for class we went to a wildlife management area (WMA). WMAs are areas for wildlife that area set up and cared for by local communities. They are a relatively new practice but their aim is to show locals the benefits of supporting wildlife conservation. Through setting up WMAs the community makes a profit (around $13,000 a month). Half of the money made goes to further improvement of the WMA and half of it is divided up between the villages that participate in the WMA. When the villages get the money they can then decide how to use it. Most of them have plans in place to help determine what is the top priority project and how much it will cost. Most commonly the money is used to build community building like schools. This is a huge help because without the added income from the WMA, each person has to pay an individual fee out of pocket to fund community buildings. It was very interesting because each village who wants to participate in the WMA elects members to serve on the WMA crew. These people don't get paid except maybe travel allowances. They said that they generally make enough money for their town that they don't mind not getting paid. They are also proud that they are helping to save the wildlife. They do censuses every 6 months to check the wildlife populations and WMAs have caused an increase in wildlife in their area through decreased poaching and increased natural habitat regeneration.
Speaking of poaching, we learned today that the newest method of poaching in this area is poison. There is a poison that causes the body to decompose withing 2-10 hours so the valuable parts can be removed very quickly. Also, poison is very a quiet way to kill so it is a lot hard to catch the poachers. The most common animal that is killed this way are elephants. Elephants love watermelon and pumpkins so the poachers will inject poison into these, leave them out where elephants can find them, and then come remove the tusks from the elephants after a few hours. It is horrible because it is very easy to kill many animals this way (6 were killed in one week recently), it is hard to catch poachers who do this, and other animals may eat the remaining carcass and be poisoned themselves.
On the way back from the WMA visit we stopped at the restaurant called Pizza Place. Our teacher was in our car but apparently no one told him we were stopping so he got mad and wouldn't stop. It took a few blocks of whining, questioning, and asking him to call someone before he would turn around. I didn't actually want pizza so another girl and I walk down the street and shopped. I got some bracelets and a couple of paintings. I was proud because I got good prices for everything. When I got back to camp I ran and showed Molly, our student affairs manager. She is awesome. She's becoming my Tanzania mom. Haha.
After dinner we played a game called vegetable vegetable. You have to cover your lips with your teeth and say your fruit/vegetable name twice followed by "calling" and another person's vegetable twice. If you show your teeth you're out. It sounds really dumb but it was actually really funny. Most of us lost because we were laughing so hard we couldn't keep our lips over our teeth.
Just before sitting down to write this I was talking to Burrah, one of the ascaris (camp guards). He is hilarious. He barely speaks english but he loves to talk to us so he just repeats a lot of songs and the few words we know. He mostly says everything is good (mzuri), hakuna matata (no worries), asks your name and where you're from, and claims to be from random places in the US (ex: "Burrah Connecticut"). He is quite the character. Tonight he said "Obama mzuri" (obama is good) with two thumbs up followed by "George Bush" a frowny face, thumbs down and that farty noise of disapproval. That made me laugh really hard and then he started laughing at me so we just stood there laughing for a while. He also told me that he was going to come to Serengeti with us and if a hyena came to camp he would come over and it would run away. All of this was acted out with his impressions of hyenas and himself. It was awesome. Then I said "but Burrah one of the other students told me she was running from a drunk person and asked for your help and you just said 'run faster!'" He just laughed at that. I don't know what actually happened. Haha. I was doing laundry on my front porch and between talking to him and everyone else it took me an hour and a half to finish my laundry :]
Speaking of poaching, we learned today that the newest method of poaching in this area is poison. There is a poison that causes the body to decompose withing 2-10 hours so the valuable parts can be removed very quickly. Also, poison is very a quiet way to kill so it is a lot hard to catch the poachers. The most common animal that is killed this way are elephants. Elephants love watermelon and pumpkins so the poachers will inject poison into these, leave them out where elephants can find them, and then come remove the tusks from the elephants after a few hours. It is horrible because it is very easy to kill many animals this way (6 were killed in one week recently), it is hard to catch poachers who do this, and other animals may eat the remaining carcass and be poisoned themselves.
On the way back from the WMA visit we stopped at the restaurant called Pizza Place. Our teacher was in our car but apparently no one told him we were stopping so he got mad and wouldn't stop. It took a few blocks of whining, questioning, and asking him to call someone before he would turn around. I didn't actually want pizza so another girl and I walk down the street and shopped. I got some bracelets and a couple of paintings. I was proud because I got good prices for everything. When I got back to camp I ran and showed Molly, our student affairs manager. She is awesome. She's becoming my Tanzania mom. Haha.
After dinner we played a game called vegetable vegetable. You have to cover your lips with your teeth and say your fruit/vegetable name twice followed by "calling" and another person's vegetable twice. If you show your teeth you're out. It sounds really dumb but it was actually really funny. Most of us lost because we were laughing so hard we couldn't keep our lips over our teeth.
Just before sitting down to write this I was talking to Burrah, one of the ascaris (camp guards). He is hilarious. He barely speaks english but he loves to talk to us so he just repeats a lot of songs and the few words we know. He mostly says everything is good (mzuri), hakuna matata (no worries), asks your name and where you're from, and claims to be from random places in the US (ex: "Burrah Connecticut"). He is quite the character. Tonight he said "Obama mzuri" (obama is good) with two thumbs up followed by "George Bush" a frowny face, thumbs down and that farty noise of disapproval. That made me laugh really hard and then he started laughing at me so we just stood there laughing for a while. He also told me that he was going to come to Serengeti with us and if a hyena came to camp he would come over and it would run away. All of this was acted out with his impressions of hyenas and himself. It was awesome. Then I said "but Burrah one of the other students told me she was running from a drunk person and asked for your help and you just said 'run faster!'" He just laughed at that. I don't know what actually happened. Haha. I was doing laundry on my front porch and between talking to him and everyone else it took me an hour and a half to finish my laundry :]
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Non-Program Day Numero Dos
Today was our second non-program day. We got to sleep in again :]
After breakfast we drove down to mto wa mbu, the town at the bottom of the hill/ small mountain our camp is on. When we saw our bikes they looked pretty good. I found one that was a good size for me and hopped on. It was a little chaotic getting started because there were thrity of us all trying to get on our bikes and get started at the same time. Once we got going though we got on some asphalt and everything seemed okay.
The trouble started when we got across the street and started biking on the dirt roads. The dirt roads here have about a million rocks sticking out of them and our bike seats were really hard so I was in pretty much immediate pain. Plus there were thirty of us with varying degrees of biking experience/skills so there was a lot of near missed and bumping tires. Also, we were riding through a residential area so there were kids running up to the road, people were walking along the road, people were biking along the road, dogs were running around and a drunk guy even ran with us for a while. The drunk guy kept yelling "follow follow follow!" It was rather creepy. I just wanted to scream at him "GO AWAY!!!"
After a little while of riding through town we got out into the open plains near the national park. When we got out there there was a herd of zebras. We stopped and took pictures of them for a while and then we got back on our bikes and started riding RIGHT TOWARDS THEM!!! Riding our bikes with/after a herd of running zebras was by far the coolest thing I have done so far! The best part was that people kept riding off to the side so the zebras we in effect herded along in front of us. I absolutely LOVED this part of the trip. Running with zebras may be one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life.
When the zebras ran away we headed to Lake Manyara and hung out on the shore for a while. It was cool because there were lots of birds (big cranes) and a few fishermen on the lake. There were also mountains all around the lake and the big grass plain we had just rode across behind us. It was so peaceful. I could have stayed there all day and just taken in the scenery.
Getting back on the bike to head back from the lake was extremely painful. But I just kept treking. On the way back we stopped at a carving place that used traditional methods to make beautiful traditional figures. I got a game that is similar to mancala. It is made of ebony and has giraffes carved on the outside of the board. Also, I was really proud because I had one of the staff members bargain for me so I got the game for only 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $13). After the carving place we went to a painting place that was similarly traditional and just as I said "I don't think I'll buy anything. Nothing here really strikes me" I saw a painting out of the corner of my eye that I couldn't stop thinking about. I ended up buying it. It is a symmetrical painting of two maasai people herding their cows under an umbrella acaica tree. I had to get it because I hadn't seen any other paintings like it. The painting was also only 20,000 shillings (and it's a sizable piece).
When we walked out of the painting shop everyone was gone but their bikes were still there so we were really confused. Our guide told us that everyone was tired of riding bikes so they had walked back to the cars. I was glad we didn't have to ride any more because my butt and my hands really hurt. I have bruises from the handle bars on both of my palms. I guess it must have been from standing and using my hands to brace myself so that I wasn't sitting over bumps...
After the bike ride we had lunch and went to the maasai market in mto wa mbu. It was a bunch of alleys with little shops all along the sides. I really enjoyed being there and bought a few things but by the end I was so tired of bartering and being hassled by everyone to come into their shop. I just climbed in the car and shut the window. (You have to shut the window otherwise people will come up and stick their heads and/or their merchandise in the window and try to get you to buy things.)
We ended the day at Happy Days again. I ordered "chicken chips" (fried chicken and fries) and a beer. It was so nice just to sit down and chill. We tried to play my new game but it was too confusing. Some of the staff members promised they will play with me though so hopefully I will have mastered the concept soon.
Tomorrow we will be looking at wildlife management areas (wildlife conservation areas that are controlled by local people). I think I'm going to wear my new dress. I'm super excited :]
After breakfast we drove down to mto wa mbu, the town at the bottom of the hill/ small mountain our camp is on. When we saw our bikes they looked pretty good. I found one that was a good size for me and hopped on. It was a little chaotic getting started because there were thrity of us all trying to get on our bikes and get started at the same time. Once we got going though we got on some asphalt and everything seemed okay.
The trouble started when we got across the street and started biking on the dirt roads. The dirt roads here have about a million rocks sticking out of them and our bike seats were really hard so I was in pretty much immediate pain. Plus there were thirty of us with varying degrees of biking experience/skills so there was a lot of near missed and bumping tires. Also, we were riding through a residential area so there were kids running up to the road, people were walking along the road, people were biking along the road, dogs were running around and a drunk guy even ran with us for a while. The drunk guy kept yelling "follow follow follow!" It was rather creepy. I just wanted to scream at him "GO AWAY!!!"
After a little while of riding through town we got out into the open plains near the national park. When we got out there there was a herd of zebras. We stopped and took pictures of them for a while and then we got back on our bikes and started riding RIGHT TOWARDS THEM!!! Riding our bikes with/after a herd of running zebras was by far the coolest thing I have done so far! The best part was that people kept riding off to the side so the zebras we in effect herded along in front of us. I absolutely LOVED this part of the trip. Running with zebras may be one of the coolest things I've ever done in my life.
When the zebras ran away we headed to Lake Manyara and hung out on the shore for a while. It was cool because there were lots of birds (big cranes) and a few fishermen on the lake. There were also mountains all around the lake and the big grass plain we had just rode across behind us. It was so peaceful. I could have stayed there all day and just taken in the scenery.
Getting back on the bike to head back from the lake was extremely painful. But I just kept treking. On the way back we stopped at a carving place that used traditional methods to make beautiful traditional figures. I got a game that is similar to mancala. It is made of ebony and has giraffes carved on the outside of the board. Also, I was really proud because I had one of the staff members bargain for me so I got the game for only 20,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $13). After the carving place we went to a painting place that was similarly traditional and just as I said "I don't think I'll buy anything. Nothing here really strikes me" I saw a painting out of the corner of my eye that I couldn't stop thinking about. I ended up buying it. It is a symmetrical painting of two maasai people herding their cows under an umbrella acaica tree. I had to get it because I hadn't seen any other paintings like it. The painting was also only 20,000 shillings (and it's a sizable piece).
When we walked out of the painting shop everyone was gone but their bikes were still there so we were really confused. Our guide told us that everyone was tired of riding bikes so they had walked back to the cars. I was glad we didn't have to ride any more because my butt and my hands really hurt. I have bruises from the handle bars on both of my palms. I guess it must have been from standing and using my hands to brace myself so that I wasn't sitting over bumps...
After the bike ride we had lunch and went to the maasai market in mto wa mbu. It was a bunch of alleys with little shops all along the sides. I really enjoyed being there and bought a few things but by the end I was so tired of bartering and being hassled by everyone to come into their shop. I just climbed in the car and shut the window. (You have to shut the window otherwise people will come up and stick their heads and/or their merchandise in the window and try to get you to buy things.)
We ended the day at Happy Days again. I ordered "chicken chips" (fried chicken and fries) and a beer. It was so nice just to sit down and chill. We tried to play my new game but it was too confusing. Some of the staff members promised they will play with me though so hopefully I will have mastered the concept soon.
Tomorrow we will be looking at wildlife management areas (wildlife conservation areas that are controlled by local people). I think I'm going to wear my new dress. I'm super excited :]
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Maasai Boma Visit
Today we had another traveling lecture. This time we went to a maasai homestead. They came out and met us by our cars with a welcome song. Then we followed them into their home area and they had us join in with their song. The boys went with the men, held little staffs and jumped in the air. The maasai men can jump really high in the air. They jump straight up and keep their legs straight the whole time (kind of a pogo stick effect). The women joined the maasai woman line. They welcomed us in by putting some of their jewelry on us, taking our hands, and having us dance with them. I have some great pictures from that.
After they welcomed us they showed us an example marriage ceremony. It was interesting but very limited and very staged. And it was funny because after the ceremony our guide said that the man who had played the husband in the ceremony actually couldn't be married because he had a different religion than the traditional maasai religion.
Next they explained to us that they wear red for protection when they are out with their cows, showed us how they make a fire and gave us a tour of a maasai house. They make fire by rubbing a piece of hard wood and a piece of soft wood together. Once they start smoldering they transfer the cinders into a piece of poop. Then they blow on the poop until it catches fire. Once a flame has caught, they hold grasses over the flame so that they catch fire too. Their houses are made of a cow dung mixture spread over acacia branches. They were very small. The one that we went in had two doorways from the main entrance way: one to the living area and one to a little room for goats and calves. The living area was tiny. It consisted of a small fire pit with about a foot of floor space all of the way around it. There were two sleeping alcoves; one for the men and one for the women and children. The sleeping alcoves were just branches laid across about a foot off the ground and a cow skin over them. They weren't fancy and I don't think they were even big enough for a person to straighten their legs. It was crazy to me that five people lived in a house that could probably fit in my bedroom at home.
After the tour of the house we shopped around a little. Mom, I got you a present! :]
Then they showed us how they throw spears but only the men did it. It was interesting because the end of their spear kept falling off on impact. It didn't seem very practical. Also, to put the blade back on their spear they would find a rock and jab the spear into that to make the spear fit back together. I feel like that was very counterproductive because it must have dulled the blade to do that.
Finally they showed us a little pre-school class that they taught at their homestead and said goodbye to us. I was really touched because they had us all kneel and said a prayer for us. That really meant a lot to me that they would take the time to bless us.
The really award part was that before we left our teacher was asking us what we thought of the whole experience. He asked up if we thought that visiting the boma was a good experience, if it was good for the people to live this way and entertain tourists, and if we thought that this boma was a good example of how the maasai people really live. It was very uncomfortable because a lot of people were saying that they didn't really think that bomas set up for tourists were a good idea and they felt like they didn't think that they got to see maasai life. While they were saying this the maasai people, many of whom understood at least some english, were standing right there so I felt like they must have felt like we were insulting them. The interesting part was our teacher asked our guide what he thought about living in a tourist-centered homestead and he said that he didn't like it. He wished that he could live the traditional way. I thought that that was really sad. Especially because he was so friendly and happy but then he said he didn't like his life.
During our afternoon break I went back to the tailor for a few alterations to my dress. He is amazing. I pointed out what I wanted fixed, he looked at it and then he told me to come back later. When I came back it fit perfectly. He didn't even measure anything! He just eyeballed it. The even more impressive thing is he is blind in one eye. I don't know how he does it.
Oh, that reminds me. I love the way that people with handicaps and disabilities are treated here. They are just treated normally. There are a lot of people who have injuries to their faces and/or eye sight problems and they are all treated the same as anyone else. Also, there was a girl with dwarfism at one of the houses near our home stay and no one babied her. She did everything that all of the other girls were expected to do. Even our IT guy in camp who has cerebral palsy or something is completely self sufficient. One time when I asked him for help with the internet he was sitting in the fire pit and he said that he would get up to reset the router. He had to use his hands to grab his legs and swing them up onto the side of the pit so that he could get up but even when I saw how much work it was for him and said he didn't need to get up he just said no problem and went to do it. And he meant it. It wasn't a problem for him. He was happy to do his job. I feel like that's very rare in America, even among completely healthy and competent people. Bad things really aren't complained about here. They are just accepted and life goes on. I need to figure out how to take that attitude home with me.
Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride from the town at the bottom of the hill to the closest national park. I can't wait!
After they welcomed us they showed us an example marriage ceremony. It was interesting but very limited and very staged. And it was funny because after the ceremony our guide said that the man who had played the husband in the ceremony actually couldn't be married because he had a different religion than the traditional maasai religion.
Next they explained to us that they wear red for protection when they are out with their cows, showed us how they make a fire and gave us a tour of a maasai house. They make fire by rubbing a piece of hard wood and a piece of soft wood together. Once they start smoldering they transfer the cinders into a piece of poop. Then they blow on the poop until it catches fire. Once a flame has caught, they hold grasses over the flame so that they catch fire too. Their houses are made of a cow dung mixture spread over acacia branches. They were very small. The one that we went in had two doorways from the main entrance way: one to the living area and one to a little room for goats and calves. The living area was tiny. It consisted of a small fire pit with about a foot of floor space all of the way around it. There were two sleeping alcoves; one for the men and one for the women and children. The sleeping alcoves were just branches laid across about a foot off the ground and a cow skin over them. They weren't fancy and I don't think they were even big enough for a person to straighten their legs. It was crazy to me that five people lived in a house that could probably fit in my bedroom at home.
After the tour of the house we shopped around a little. Mom, I got you a present! :]
Then they showed us how they throw spears but only the men did it. It was interesting because the end of their spear kept falling off on impact. It didn't seem very practical. Also, to put the blade back on their spear they would find a rock and jab the spear into that to make the spear fit back together. I feel like that was very counterproductive because it must have dulled the blade to do that.
Finally they showed us a little pre-school class that they taught at their homestead and said goodbye to us. I was really touched because they had us all kneel and said a prayer for us. That really meant a lot to me that they would take the time to bless us.
The really award part was that before we left our teacher was asking us what we thought of the whole experience. He asked up if we thought that visiting the boma was a good experience, if it was good for the people to live this way and entertain tourists, and if we thought that this boma was a good example of how the maasai people really live. It was very uncomfortable because a lot of people were saying that they didn't really think that bomas set up for tourists were a good idea and they felt like they didn't think that they got to see maasai life. While they were saying this the maasai people, many of whom understood at least some english, were standing right there so I felt like they must have felt like we were insulting them. The interesting part was our teacher asked our guide what he thought about living in a tourist-centered homestead and he said that he didn't like it. He wished that he could live the traditional way. I thought that that was really sad. Especially because he was so friendly and happy but then he said he didn't like his life.
During our afternoon break I went back to the tailor for a few alterations to my dress. He is amazing. I pointed out what I wanted fixed, he looked at it and then he told me to come back later. When I came back it fit perfectly. He didn't even measure anything! He just eyeballed it. The even more impressive thing is he is blind in one eye. I don't know how he does it.
Oh, that reminds me. I love the way that people with handicaps and disabilities are treated here. They are just treated normally. There are a lot of people who have injuries to their faces and/or eye sight problems and they are all treated the same as anyone else. Also, there was a girl with dwarfism at one of the houses near our home stay and no one babied her. She did everything that all of the other girls were expected to do. Even our IT guy in camp who has cerebral palsy or something is completely self sufficient. One time when I asked him for help with the internet he was sitting in the fire pit and he said that he would get up to reset the router. He had to use his hands to grab his legs and swing them up onto the side of the pit so that he could get up but even when I saw how much work it was for him and said he didn't need to get up he just said no problem and went to do it. And he meant it. It wasn't a problem for him. He was happy to do his job. I feel like that's very rare in America, even among completely healthy and competent people. Bad things really aren't complained about here. They are just accepted and life goes on. I need to figure out how to take that attitude home with me.
Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride from the town at the bottom of the hill to the closest national park. I can't wait!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Potty Talk
I forgot to give you all the latest toilet news...
First thing is I have finally figured out how to pee in a pit correctly! This sounds insignificant but being able to pee without fear of peeing on yourself is amazing.
Second, when we were at our home stay Jacqueline informed us that here baby had the short song when it was sleeping. It took about five minutes of explanation for us to finally understand what she was talking about because Kathrine kept distracting them by saying bathroom instead of toilet and bathroom is where they wash themselves here not where they do their business. Short song mean pee (so the baby wet its pants) and long song means poop. It was making me laugh because when we were helping them sweep up twigs and leaves they kept saying "watch out for the long song of the dog! Don't get it on your hands." Haha.
First thing is I have finally figured out how to pee in a pit correctly! This sounds insignificant but being able to pee without fear of peeing on yourself is amazing.
Second, when we were at our home stay Jacqueline informed us that here baby had the short song when it was sleeping. It took about five minutes of explanation for us to finally understand what she was talking about because Kathrine kept distracting them by saying bathroom instead of toilet and bathroom is where they wash themselves here not where they do their business. Short song mean pee (so the baby wet its pants) and long song means poop. It was making me laugh because when we were helping them sweep up twigs and leaves they kept saying "watch out for the long song of the dog! Don't get it on your hands." Haha.
Home Stay
The home stay was really interesting. We just got dropped off in pairs at a house, briefly introduced and then we were left there to fend for ourselves.
Our family welcomed us in and introduced everyone. There was the mama of the house (the grandma), one of her daughters, and three kids. They all had English names so that was nice because they were a lot easier to remember.
After they had introduced themselves they had us go out to their kitchen (a separate building from their house). They had us sit on stools in the kitchen hut while they stirred up the fire by adding wood into the hole in the bottom and using a pipe to blow in the top. After the fire was they made chai tea for us. The tea was made by putting a metal bowl on a hole a cement wood-fueled stove. The tea that they make here is delicious: it is made with a mixture of tea, water, milk and sugar.
While we were drinking tea one of the neighbors, Jacqueline (who may or may not have been related) came over. I think they invited her over because she spoke some English so that was really nice of them. Jacqueline was my age and she had a five month old baby. She said she was currently applying to colleges so that when her baby was big enough to stay at home by itself it she could go to school and become a nurse.
The host family asked us all sorts of awkward questions. First they asked us how to old we were. The other girl who was with me, Kathrine, is only 17 and that really stumped them: they couldn't believe she was so young. Then they asked us if we wanted to have kids. I said yes, they asked how many, said that seemed typical for Americans, and moved on. The trouble started when Kathrine said she didn't want to have kids. They couldn't understand the fact that she didn't want kids! They kept asking if she wanted to have kids later or wanted just one kid. It was really funny because they just couldn't wrap their minds around it. They even asked us again later in the day just to make sure that they understood her right. The third awkward thing that they asked us about was what happens at American funerals. This came up because we asked them about hyenas and they were telling us about a hyena that killed a woman. We explained to them about how Americans can either be buried or cremated. They did not understand cremation. They thought that is sounded scary and said that it was like we were being cooked like chickens if we were cremated. The fourth awkward topic of discussion was religion. They asked if we went to church. I said sometimes and Kathrine said she was an atheist. Of course that meant that we had to explain how some people don't believe in God and how many people don't go to church. The best response to this was, "what do you do on Sundays? Sleep?" Haha. They thought that sleeping in on Sundays sounded crazy.
The whole time everyone kept staring at us, especially our hair. Even the adults were enthralled with our blond hair. They said that it was beautiful and they couldn't believe that it was naturally so straight and long. Jacqueline told us that when she was younger she asked her teacher why God had made white people so beautiful and brilliant and why had God not given Africans any special skills. It was kind of funny but really sad that many Africans think so poorly of themselves compared to whites.
Lunch was delicious. We tried to help them cook but we (Katerine especially) were not nearly as good as Jacqueline at chopping and cleaning foods so we weren't much help. And then the smoke got so bad in the kitchen hut that I started involuntarily crying so they had me sit outside and I couldn't help anymore. The food was really good and I'm really glad that they let me serve myself because they eat huge portions here. Luckily I ate much slower than Kathrine so they didn't keep adding more food to my plate like they did to hers.
After lunch the mama brought out a mat and we all laid down on the lawn for a nap. It was awkward but laying in the sun made me really tired so I ended up sleeping for about an hour. After the nap we just sat on the mat pretty much the rest of the afternoon. One of the kids went out and brought back some unidentified fruit that everyone ate. It looked kind of like a small lime, with approximately the inside color/consistency of water melon, filled with very hard whitish seeds, and kinda tasted like a mix of strawberries and raspberries.
The best part of the day was the children. They were incredibly cute and really amused by our skin and hair. Also, I gave one the boys my camera and they all absolutely loved that. He kept taking pictures of everyone and then yelling at them to look at the picture of them that he had just taken. It was so funny and amused everyone for a long time. Then I went through all of my pictures on my camera and the children named all of the items that they recognized in my pictures. They seemed to really enjoy that.
Overall the home stay was interesting but awkward. I was uncomfortable almost all afternoon (when we were just sitting there) but it was later explained to us that the people were just really trying to be respectful to their guests. When I first heard about all of the things that other people did and the connections that they made I was sad that we didn't get that close with our family but the more that I think about it the more I appreciate the experience. I'm really looking forward to using what I learned today in next session's home stay.
When we got back to camp after the home stay I walked down to the tailor. My dress was done and it's beautiful! I'm so happy about it. First thing when I stepped out of my banda one of the staff members called out "mzuri sana" (very beautiful) :] It's so exciting to see the fabric and pattern that I picked out turn into clothing that I actually like!
Time to do school work. Baadae (Later)!
Our family welcomed us in and introduced everyone. There was the mama of the house (the grandma), one of her daughters, and three kids. They all had English names so that was nice because they were a lot easier to remember.
After they had introduced themselves they had us go out to their kitchen (a separate building from their house). They had us sit on stools in the kitchen hut while they stirred up the fire by adding wood into the hole in the bottom and using a pipe to blow in the top. After the fire was they made chai tea for us. The tea was made by putting a metal bowl on a hole a cement wood-fueled stove. The tea that they make here is delicious: it is made with a mixture of tea, water, milk and sugar.
While we were drinking tea one of the neighbors, Jacqueline (who may or may not have been related) came over. I think they invited her over because she spoke some English so that was really nice of them. Jacqueline was my age and she had a five month old baby. She said she was currently applying to colleges so that when her baby was big enough to stay at home by itself it she could go to school and become a nurse.
The host family asked us all sorts of awkward questions. First they asked us how to old we were. The other girl who was with me, Kathrine, is only 17 and that really stumped them: they couldn't believe she was so young. Then they asked us if we wanted to have kids. I said yes, they asked how many, said that seemed typical for Americans, and moved on. The trouble started when Kathrine said she didn't want to have kids. They couldn't understand the fact that she didn't want kids! They kept asking if she wanted to have kids later or wanted just one kid. It was really funny because they just couldn't wrap their minds around it. They even asked us again later in the day just to make sure that they understood her right. The third awkward thing that they asked us about was what happens at American funerals. This came up because we asked them about hyenas and they were telling us about a hyena that killed a woman. We explained to them about how Americans can either be buried or cremated. They did not understand cremation. They thought that is sounded scary and said that it was like we were being cooked like chickens if we were cremated. The fourth awkward topic of discussion was religion. They asked if we went to church. I said sometimes and Kathrine said she was an atheist. Of course that meant that we had to explain how some people don't believe in God and how many people don't go to church. The best response to this was, "what do you do on Sundays? Sleep?" Haha. They thought that sleeping in on Sundays sounded crazy.
The whole time everyone kept staring at us, especially our hair. Even the adults were enthralled with our blond hair. They said that it was beautiful and they couldn't believe that it was naturally so straight and long. Jacqueline told us that when she was younger she asked her teacher why God had made white people so beautiful and brilliant and why had God not given Africans any special skills. It was kind of funny but really sad that many Africans think so poorly of themselves compared to whites.
Lunch was delicious. We tried to help them cook but we (Katerine especially) were not nearly as good as Jacqueline at chopping and cleaning foods so we weren't much help. And then the smoke got so bad in the kitchen hut that I started involuntarily crying so they had me sit outside and I couldn't help anymore. The food was really good and I'm really glad that they let me serve myself because they eat huge portions here. Luckily I ate much slower than Kathrine so they didn't keep adding more food to my plate like they did to hers.
After lunch the mama brought out a mat and we all laid down on the lawn for a nap. It was awkward but laying in the sun made me really tired so I ended up sleeping for about an hour. After the nap we just sat on the mat pretty much the rest of the afternoon. One of the kids went out and brought back some unidentified fruit that everyone ate. It looked kind of like a small lime, with approximately the inside color/consistency of water melon, filled with very hard whitish seeds, and kinda tasted like a mix of strawberries and raspberries.
The best part of the day was the children. They were incredibly cute and really amused by our skin and hair. Also, I gave one the boys my camera and they all absolutely loved that. He kept taking pictures of everyone and then yelling at them to look at the picture of them that he had just taken. It was so funny and amused everyone for a long time. Then I went through all of my pictures on my camera and the children named all of the items that they recognized in my pictures. They seemed to really enjoy that.
Overall the home stay was interesting but awkward. I was uncomfortable almost all afternoon (when we were just sitting there) but it was later explained to us that the people were just really trying to be respectful to their guests. When I first heard about all of the things that other people did and the connections that they made I was sad that we didn't get that close with our family but the more that I think about it the more I appreciate the experience. I'm really looking forward to using what I learned today in next session's home stay.
When we got back to camp after the home stay I walked down to the tailor. My dress was done and it's beautiful! I'm so happy about it. First thing when I stepped out of my banda one of the staff members called out "mzuri sana" (very beautiful) :] It's so exciting to see the fabric and pattern that I picked out turn into clothing that I actually like!
Time to do school work. Baadae (Later)!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Baby Ng'obme (Cow)
This morning we went around to local farms and talked to the people who lived on them to ask them about where they get their resources such as water and wood, how they use them, how they deal with wildlife that comes to their farms and homes, and how they feel about wildlife. We talked to four different households and it was interesting because they all had slightly different opinions and practices. Most have a negative view of wildlife though because they constantly have to fight to keep themselves and their food safe.
It is sad because the government here puts laws into place to keep the wildlife from being harmed but they don't do very much to help the people or give the people the resources to protect themselves and their food. People must use traditional methods (spears, arrows, fire and fences made of bushes) to keep animals away. These methods are not usually very effective.. The people can call in wildlife conservation officers if they want to use more force to scare the animals away but they are forbidden from harming/killing the wildlife in almost all cases. This is unfortunate because it often means that the wildlife will return and do more damage later. All of the people that we talked to said they wished that the conservation officers would keep the animals from coming onto their land in the first place or at least compensate them if their crops were destroyed by wildlife.
The other major thing that struck me is how limited their water supply is here. In this area the main water source are taps that the government has installed. The people have to go there and pay for the water they need. It is $6-7 for 20 liters of water. Also, during the dry season the water supply is even more limited so their are certain times of day designated for people to get water for themselves and other times when they can get water for their livestock. They don't have to get water for their crops because they rely on rainfall for their crops here.
The scariest thing we heard about were the hyenas. The people told us that the hyenas are getting more and more fearless around here. And, because most of the houses are made of sticks and a dirt mixture, the hyenas can dig through the walls to get at livestock and people. Some people use dogs to alert them when hyenas are in the area and scare them away but many people just stay in their houses after dark and hope they aren't bothered.
To counter the hyena stories there was plenty of entertainment at the last house we stopped at. There was a calf there that kept running through the yard, chasing the chickens (kuku) and puppies (umbwa). It would just randomly go gallivanting by and it made it very difficult to pay attention to the people we were talking to. It would get bored of standing, run through the yard, run back when its mom called it and then the process would start all over again. There were also two kids there and they were showing off their puppies to us which was really cute.
Our translator for this whole experience was great. He was from Rhotia (the village here) and had a degree in forestry and beekeeping. He was telling me about his education and his occupation. He said that currently he doesn't have a job (he farms) but the government is meeting to redistribute funds so he expects to have a job again in the next few months. When he works for the government his job is to educate people on how to live sustainably. One way that he will do this is to travel around the area, gather people, and give talks to educate them about what is happening in the world (global warming, etc) and what they can do to help fix and/or prevent environmental problems.
After lunch I picked up my pants from the tailor. After about 45 minutes of adjusting the pants to try to make them fit I just gave up. They were better than at first but they still don't fit right. Also, she ripped a hole in them when she was adjusting the seems. I'm going to try to sell these pants to someone else in camp and I won't go to her again. There is also a man who is a tailor and he's more expensive and slower but it's worth it because he makes his clothes way better.
When we were in class this afternoon I grabbed the front of my computer (the headphone jacks) and it shocked me. It was NOT cool. I was freaked out for about an hour after that.
At dinner I gave Molly, our student affairs manager, the tshirt design I made and found out that I messed up a couple of words. Everyone was laughing at me because apparently one of the staff members misspelled the word for butchered when I asked them. He even spelled it out for me but apparently he just made up one of the words. It is not punda paili. It's punda milia. No one had any idea what paili was. Also, I spilled water all over myself, my chair and the floor so I was just the entertainment for the night :]
Tomorrow we are staying with local people all day. Just me and one other student in a house with a family that doesn't speak english... I'm sure I'll have some great stories tomorrow!
It is sad because the government here puts laws into place to keep the wildlife from being harmed but they don't do very much to help the people or give the people the resources to protect themselves and their food. People must use traditional methods (spears, arrows, fire and fences made of bushes) to keep animals away. These methods are not usually very effective.. The people can call in wildlife conservation officers if they want to use more force to scare the animals away but they are forbidden from harming/killing the wildlife in almost all cases. This is unfortunate because it often means that the wildlife will return and do more damage later. All of the people that we talked to said they wished that the conservation officers would keep the animals from coming onto their land in the first place or at least compensate them if their crops were destroyed by wildlife.
The other major thing that struck me is how limited their water supply is here. In this area the main water source are taps that the government has installed. The people have to go there and pay for the water they need. It is $6-7 for 20 liters of water. Also, during the dry season the water supply is even more limited so their are certain times of day designated for people to get water for themselves and other times when they can get water for their livestock. They don't have to get water for their crops because they rely on rainfall for their crops here.
The scariest thing we heard about were the hyenas. The people told us that the hyenas are getting more and more fearless around here. And, because most of the houses are made of sticks and a dirt mixture, the hyenas can dig through the walls to get at livestock and people. Some people use dogs to alert them when hyenas are in the area and scare them away but many people just stay in their houses after dark and hope they aren't bothered.
To counter the hyena stories there was plenty of entertainment at the last house we stopped at. There was a calf there that kept running through the yard, chasing the chickens (kuku) and puppies (umbwa). It would just randomly go gallivanting by and it made it very difficult to pay attention to the people we were talking to. It would get bored of standing, run through the yard, run back when its mom called it and then the process would start all over again. There were also two kids there and they were showing off their puppies to us which was really cute.
Our translator for this whole experience was great. He was from Rhotia (the village here) and had a degree in forestry and beekeeping. He was telling me about his education and his occupation. He said that currently he doesn't have a job (he farms) but the government is meeting to redistribute funds so he expects to have a job again in the next few months. When he works for the government his job is to educate people on how to live sustainably. One way that he will do this is to travel around the area, gather people, and give talks to educate them about what is happening in the world (global warming, etc) and what they can do to help fix and/or prevent environmental problems.
After lunch I picked up my pants from the tailor. After about 45 minutes of adjusting the pants to try to make them fit I just gave up. They were better than at first but they still don't fit right. Also, she ripped a hole in them when she was adjusting the seems. I'm going to try to sell these pants to someone else in camp and I won't go to her again. There is also a man who is a tailor and he's more expensive and slower but it's worth it because he makes his clothes way better.
When we were in class this afternoon I grabbed the front of my computer (the headphone jacks) and it shocked me. It was NOT cool. I was freaked out for about an hour after that.
At dinner I gave Molly, our student affairs manager, the tshirt design I made and found out that I messed up a couple of words. Everyone was laughing at me because apparently one of the staff members misspelled the word for butchered when I asked them. He even spelled it out for me but apparently he just made up one of the words. It is not punda paili. It's punda milia. No one had any idea what paili was. Also, I spilled water all over myself, my chair and the floor so I was just the entertainment for the night :]
Tomorrow we are staying with local people all day. Just me and one other student in a house with a family that doesn't speak english... I'm sure I'll have some great stories tomorrow!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Tse Tse Fly Massacre
Today we had to get up extra early to go to Tarangire National Park. It is two hours away so we had to be at breakfast at 6:30. I slept in the car though so it was okay.
Our assignment today was to look at animals and do a distance survey to use to estimate the number of animals in the park. We had to write down every animals that we saw, the number of animals, the distance from the car that any animals were and any other species that we within 50 meters of those animals. We had 3 hours to do this.
We saw lots of animals, including herds of zebras and elephants, groups of giraffes, wildebeest, buffalo, ostriches, secretary birds, and a little peak of a lion cub. I got pictures of a zebra rolling in the dust and about a million pictures of elephants. I couldn't get pictures of the lion cubs because they were hiding in the grass. All you could see were the tops of their heads and their backs for a few seconds when they passed through shorter grass. It was disappointing but awesome to see them at the same time. Some of the other cars saw a cheetah kill a dik dik. I am super jealous of that!
The biggest event of the day however, was fighting the tse tse flies! I had no idea they existed in East Africa but they definitely do. In case you don't know, tse tse flies are the ones that carry sleeping sickness. They have gotten rid of them in many places here (that is part of why deforestation is so prevalent) but they are very common in the park where we were today. Their bites sting like black fly bites too so it's not fun to get bitten. Also, they swarm you (especially if you are wearing dark colors) and they are extremely fast and aerodynamic so even when the jeep was speeding along they kept landing on us and/or sticking on the sides of the jeep. I was fortunate because I took our staff's advice and wore long pants and a jacket with long sleeves but they were still biting my hands and feet. Then I put socks on and pulled my sleeves over my hands but they were still managing to find my fingers! I was better off than a lot of other people though. The people in the front of our car were so busy trying to kill tse tse flies that they weren't looking for animals and you heard the constant smack of a fly swatter. At sometimes Abel, our driver, even stopped to shoo them off of him so he could concentrate on driving. At the end of the day there were at least 15 flies smashed all over one of the windows and the girl who was killing them was very proud of herself. We probably missed a lot of animals because we were so busy battling the flies.
Our assignment today was to look at animals and do a distance survey to use to estimate the number of animals in the park. We had to write down every animals that we saw, the number of animals, the distance from the car that any animals were and any other species that we within 50 meters of those animals. We had 3 hours to do this.
We saw lots of animals, including herds of zebras and elephants, groups of giraffes, wildebeest, buffalo, ostriches, secretary birds, and a little peak of a lion cub. I got pictures of a zebra rolling in the dust and about a million pictures of elephants. I couldn't get pictures of the lion cubs because they were hiding in the grass. All you could see were the tops of their heads and their backs for a few seconds when they passed through shorter grass. It was disappointing but awesome to see them at the same time. Some of the other cars saw a cheetah kill a dik dik. I am super jealous of that!
The biggest event of the day however, was fighting the tse tse flies! I had no idea they existed in East Africa but they definitely do. In case you don't know, tse tse flies are the ones that carry sleeping sickness. They have gotten rid of them in many places here (that is part of why deforestation is so prevalent) but they are very common in the park where we were today. Their bites sting like black fly bites too so it's not fun to get bitten. Also, they swarm you (especially if you are wearing dark colors) and they are extremely fast and aerodynamic so even when the jeep was speeding along they kept landing on us and/or sticking on the sides of the jeep. I was fortunate because I took our staff's advice and wore long pants and a jacket with long sleeves but they were still biting my hands and feet. Then I put socks on and pulled my sleeves over my hands but they were still managing to find my fingers! I was better off than a lot of other people though. The people in the front of our car were so busy trying to kill tse tse flies that they weren't looking for animals and you heard the constant smack of a fly swatter. At sometimes Abel, our driver, even stopped to shoo them off of him so he could concentrate on driving. At the end of the day there were at least 15 flies smashed all over one of the windows and the girl who was killing them was very proud of herself. We probably missed a lot of animals because we were so busy battling the flies.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Lazy Day
So today when I was avoiding doing my paper I looked up
Swahili words. The staff tells me a lot of words and I write down what I think
they are saying and the meaning. When I looked up the words I had scribbled
down it turned out I was mispronouncing quite a few words. There are so many
sounds here that we don’t have in the English language!
Also, in my haste to come up with things to do to avoid my paper I went to the tailor to check on my pants and bag. The pants didn't fit (I loved them but my butt didn't fit in them) and the bag was not at all what I asked for. The woman gave me a hard time about fixing the bag but hopefully they will both be good when I go again on Thursday.
Even with all of the procrastinating I finished my paper with 3 hours to spare. Everything is so relaxed here. I love it.
After dinner we have this thing called RAP. It is reflections, announcements and presentations. Every night a different student leads it and tonight's student had us do zumba. I didn't think I would like it but, other than the fact that my stomach was full of food, it was so much fun. The staff even did it with us so it was just a room full of confused people laughing and trying to follow the steps :D
Tomorrow we are going to a new national park to observe animals. I hope we get to see lions!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Goat Roast
Yesterday when we were on the elephant hike on of the
Cecilia, one of the SFS staff members kept hitting the brush near the path with
her walking stick. She said she wanted to see a snake; they had seen a python
two days before. I asked her what she would do if she scared a snake out and
she said that she wanted to see how strong she was. Then she said she might not
be strong; she might cry if a snake came out. She didn’t know. Haha.
Today we worked on our baboon behavior and eating habits
papers that are due tomorrow night. I didn’t make much progress because I
decided to take a nap and then I was fighting with the internet…
In the afternoon they brought a goat (boozi) into the camp
to slaughter for a goat roast for dinner. I watch them slaughter and prepare
the goat. It was very interesting for me because of the meat science class I
took last semester where we learned all about slaughter methods in the US.
*** Don't read any more if you don't want to hear the details on how the goat was killed and butchered***
Yohanna told me that in traditional Maasai culture they kill
goats by suffocating them so that they do not lose any of the blood. The goat
takes a minute or two to die and once it is dead they cut through its heart to
release the blood into the thoracic cavity. They then collect the blood from
the thoracic cavity and drink it.
Here, the goat was killed by exsanguinations: a large knife
was used to slit the throat (including the trachea and esophagus) so that the
goat bled out. Once it had mostly bled out it was hung up in a tree by its hind
legs. Yohanna then began to skin the goat using a large pocket knife. Nothing
was done sterilely. The hide was removed along with the front legs at the
carpal joint. The balls and the tail were left on the body. Next, some of the
meat from the ribs was removed. Then the carcass was eviscerated. As all of the
internal organs were removed Yohanna talked to us about what each part was and
what function it had. The interesting part was that they didn’t worry about
stomach contents or anything getting on the carcass. After the guts were
removed Yohanna cut the diaphragm and removed the lungs and heart. He cut open
the heart so that students who hadn’t seen a heart could look at it. Once all
of the internal organs were removed, the shoulder/front legs were removed,
followed by the ribs and back. Finally the hind legs were untied, skinned and
added to the pile of meat.
Almost all of the parts of the goat were used: only the
head, hide, heart, lungs, and some of the fat was not eaten. Yohanna said that
he could sell the hide and profit from it but then he made a bunch of us
traditional Maasai goat-hide bracelets. The bracelets are usually put on the
wrist and then allowed to dry there so that the bracelet fits properly and
doesn’t fall off (as the hide dries and shrinks it forms to the wrist). I put
mine on a coke bottle that was about the size of my wrist because I didn’t want
to have it stuck on my wrist.
Once the goat was divided into the desired cuts of meat a
fire was made. The fire was really interesting. They have a type of wood here
that is like charcoal. It can be made from any kind of tree but is best if made
from acacia. The wood is burnt in a limited oxygen supply and it results in
black wood that is very hard, has a shine to its surface, and almost sounds
like glass when it is knocked together. This specially prepared wood does not
burn with a large flame or very much smoke: it smolders. The black wood chunks
turn grey/white and sometimes orange when they are hot. They get as hot as a
normal fire so they are very good for roasting meat.
Yohanna cracked me up because he reached in a bush near the
fire and started pulling out steaks to put the meat on. They were completely
hidden in the bush and I would never have guessed that they were there. I asked
him if it was a duka (store) bush and he laughed and said “Yes, duka bush.”
One of the students the balls of the goat because it is
tradition that the youngest male eats the testicles. He said that they were not
bad. They were just fatty tasting.
The first couple of strips of meat that I smelled bad but
tasted pretty good. The meat was extremely tough though: I actually spent 15
minutes chewing on one piece before I gave up and spit it out. At dinner I had
some meat that they had taken into the kitchen, seasoned a little, and cooked.
It was infinitely better than the meat that we had from the fire pit. The
pieces that I had at dinner were tender and, if not for the smell, could have
been steak.
Overall, I was very glad that they killed and roasted a goat
for us. It is traditionally only done at holidays and celebrations so it was an
honor to have them do it for us. Also, I was proud of myself for trying it and
surprised to find that I really enjoyed it for the most part.
Time to go to bed so I can get up early to help make
breakfast.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Non-Program Day
This morning we got to sleep in because we didn't have class. It was the first time I've slept in past sun rise since I've been here.
At breakfast we packed lunches to take with us for the day and then we headed out to see the elephant caves. The elephant caves are where the elephants go and dig into a hill to free chunks of earth containing essential vitamins and minerals. It is the only place around that they can get these things. Animals travel from all of the national parks in the area to get the nutrients from this area. The elephants use their tusks to carve out chunks of earth which they then eat. Other animals, such as buffalo and baboons, eat the chucks that the elephants leave behind. We didn't see any animals because they are usually there in the early morning and evening and hide during the day but we did see evidence of them (tracks and poop). Also, the caves themselves were pretty amazing.
After the elephant caves we went to a place called African Galleries to look at Tanzanite. I got three pieces; two chips and a cut stone. I plan on putting them in jewelry when I get home. It was really expensive to buy them pre-set but relatively cheap to buy just the stones.
Then we went into Karatu to shop for a little while. I bought some fabric, a Tanzanian soccer jersey and a small wooden giraffe. Bargaining is hard. I don't really know when to bargain and when not to. And sometimes I forget what is a reasonable price (they usually ask foreigners for triple what the product is worth). Plus people here can be scary to bargain with... I don't think I have been ripped off anywhere (there is always someone who paid more) but I am not getting as good prices as I managed to haggle the first day we went into town.
After walking around in town for a while we went to a restaurant called Happy Days. There we got "normal food": pizza, pasta and burgers. I also had a beer called Serengeti. I was just super excited because it had a leopard on the label. There is also a beer here called Kilimanjaro (like the mountain) that "refreshes a Tanzanian thirst." Haha. A lot of people wanted to eat a lot and get drunk because this was the first chance we had to drink and eat "American" food all program but I just relaxed, tried bits of other people's meals, and watched them be ridiculous.
After Happy Days we went to the tailor to get our fabric made into different things. I am getting a bag and a pair of pajama-like pants. I am especially excited for the pjs! I feel like I won't spend money for a while though. I know I'm on vacation but I always feel guilty spending money...
Tomorrow we have to write our first paper. I'll let you know how it goes :]
At breakfast we packed lunches to take with us for the day and then we headed out to see the elephant caves. The elephant caves are where the elephants go and dig into a hill to free chunks of earth containing essential vitamins and minerals. It is the only place around that they can get these things. Animals travel from all of the national parks in the area to get the nutrients from this area. The elephants use their tusks to carve out chunks of earth which they then eat. Other animals, such as buffalo and baboons, eat the chucks that the elephants leave behind. We didn't see any animals because they are usually there in the early morning and evening and hide during the day but we did see evidence of them (tracks and poop). Also, the caves themselves were pretty amazing.
After the elephant caves we went to a place called African Galleries to look at Tanzanite. I got three pieces; two chips and a cut stone. I plan on putting them in jewelry when I get home. It was really expensive to buy them pre-set but relatively cheap to buy just the stones.
Then we went into Karatu to shop for a little while. I bought some fabric, a Tanzanian soccer jersey and a small wooden giraffe. Bargaining is hard. I don't really know when to bargain and when not to. And sometimes I forget what is a reasonable price (they usually ask foreigners for triple what the product is worth). Plus people here can be scary to bargain with... I don't think I have been ripped off anywhere (there is always someone who paid more) but I am not getting as good prices as I managed to haggle the first day we went into town.
After walking around in town for a while we went to a restaurant called Happy Days. There we got "normal food": pizza, pasta and burgers. I also had a beer called Serengeti. I was just super excited because it had a leopard on the label. There is also a beer here called Kilimanjaro (like the mountain) that "refreshes a Tanzanian thirst." Haha. A lot of people wanted to eat a lot and get drunk because this was the first chance we had to drink and eat "American" food all program but I just relaxed, tried bits of other people's meals, and watched them be ridiculous.
After Happy Days we went to the tailor to get our fabric made into different things. I am getting a bag and a pair of pajama-like pants. I am especially excited for the pjs! I feel like I won't spend money for a while though. I know I'm on vacation but I always feel guilty spending money...
Tomorrow we have to write our first paper. I'll let you know how it goes :]
Saturday, June 16, 2012
More Bugs
The beetle just returned and flew into me. It scared the crap out of my cause I heard this buzzing, the girl next to me shrieked and jump up, and then the beetle was flying into my shoulder. It landed behind me and then proceeded to try to crawl up my pants. I'm not so sure how I feel about these beetles...
Giant Bugs (And the Rest of My Day)
Currently there is a giant beetle struggling to flip over after it was just flying at the wall and almost hitting me in the head. They buzz very very loudly. There is also what I think may be the world's loudest cricket in the computer room. It is making a really high picked squeaking noise that is echoing around the room. It terrified me because I was sitting in there alone and it was in the middle of all of the internet equipment- I thought it was the equipment and it might explode or something!
Now one of the assari (camp gaurds) just came by and herded the beetle away from us with his baton. Haha.
We spent the morning looking for Baboons. We were supposed to spend 2 hours watching them and recording their behaviors but it took so long to find a troop that we ended up only watching them for an hour. It was really interesting though. They were mostly eating and wandering around but the babies were really cute and it was fun to watch them interact. I thought the most interesting thing was when one in the distance started barking. I guess they do this when there is a predator or something, as our driver said "bad for baboons." The weird part of it was that when they started barking all except a handful of the baboons by us ran off to see what the bad thing was. It was very human of them I thought... to run to see the danger rather than hide from it.
In the process of finding baboons (niyani) we saw a bunch of giraffes, some mongooses, and other animals. You all should look up what a dik dik looks like. I love them. They have giant eyes and little pointed tufts of hair on their heads. And one we saw had a puff of red-orange hair that was awesome. I don't know if he was just having a bad hair day or what... They are also cool because they live in pairs (one male and one female) which is pretty unique compared to the other animals around here. Oh! And they have noses like rabbits except they wiggle about the first inch of their snot not just their nose. It is really funny to watch. I think I could watch them all day.
When we got back from the parks we had lunch and class and then went to play soccer. About half the staff and a dozen local kids joined our game. I love playing soccer here. We have a rematch tomorrow or the next day because we tied. Also, I learned that ninya means go and so I kept yelling "Ninya ninya!!" It is really fun to yell. You should try it.
Tomorrow we are going hiking to a place called the elephant caves, going to a store that sells Tanzanite, and spending some more time in Karatu. Every day is jam packed here. It is exhausting but awesome.
Now one of the assari (camp gaurds) just came by and herded the beetle away from us with his baton. Haha.
We spent the morning looking for Baboons. We were supposed to spend 2 hours watching them and recording their behaviors but it took so long to find a troop that we ended up only watching them for an hour. It was really interesting though. They were mostly eating and wandering around but the babies were really cute and it was fun to watch them interact. I thought the most interesting thing was when one in the distance started barking. I guess they do this when there is a predator or something, as our driver said "bad for baboons." The weird part of it was that when they started barking all except a handful of the baboons by us ran off to see what the bad thing was. It was very human of them I thought... to run to see the danger rather than hide from it.
In the process of finding baboons (niyani) we saw a bunch of giraffes, some mongooses, and other animals. You all should look up what a dik dik looks like. I love them. They have giant eyes and little pointed tufts of hair on their heads. And one we saw had a puff of red-orange hair that was awesome. I don't know if he was just having a bad hair day or what... They are also cool because they live in pairs (one male and one female) which is pretty unique compared to the other animals around here. Oh! And they have noses like rabbits except they wiggle about the first inch of their snot not just their nose. It is really funny to watch. I think I could watch them all day.
When we got back from the parks we had lunch and class and then went to play soccer. About half the staff and a dozen local kids joined our game. I love playing soccer here. We have a rematch tomorrow or the next day because we tied. Also, I learned that ninya means go and so I kept yelling "Ninya ninya!!" It is really fun to yell. You should try it.
Tomorrow we are going hiking to a place called the elephant caves, going to a store that sells Tanzanite, and spending some more time in Karatu. Every day is jam packed here. It is exhausting but awesome.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Our First Safari
We started our day with bird watching. At first it was boring and looking through the binoculars made me feel really sick but then we actually started finding birds and it was a lot of fun. Our guide, Yohanna, was cracking me up. In his words, he "likes birds." It was great because he was really good and finding and identifying birds. And, every time that he saw one he would crouch down say "haaahhlooowww" quietly to get our attention and point to the bird. There are so many interesting birds here. I'm so glad I have good binoculars so I can see them. The morning finished with a summary lecture on top of a rocky hill overlooking the valley.
I learned three new swahili words today: kaa (sit), simama (stand/stop), mweeba (thorns). After I learned them I spent the whole walk back to camp repeating them to myself so that I wouldn't forget before I got the chance to write them down. I still had to ask about 5 times because I got distracted by something on the side of the road and forgot to keep repeating my words :]
This afternoon went into Manyara National Park for the first time. The camp staff popped the tops on the jeeps and we all stood up and started craning our necks to try and see wildlife. We saw elephants (tambo), zebras (punda milia), baboons, a couple kinds of monkeys, wildebeast, hippos, lots of birds, warthogs (pumba), a dik dik, and a giraffe (twiga). My favorite was the dik dik. It's a little deer-like animal with a funny pointy head. You should look up a picture of it. Did you realize that elephants live in forests here? We didn't see any out in the open areas, they were all in the forests. I thought that was weird...
I learned three new swahili words today: kaa (sit), simama (stand/stop), mweeba (thorns). After I learned them I spent the whole walk back to camp repeating them to myself so that I wouldn't forget before I got the chance to write them down. I still had to ask about 5 times because I got distracted by something on the side of the road and forgot to keep repeating my words :]
This afternoon went into Manyara National Park for the first time. The camp staff popped the tops on the jeeps and we all stood up and started craning our necks to try and see wildlife. We saw elephants (tambo), zebras (punda milia), baboons, a couple kinds of monkeys, wildebeast, hippos, lots of birds, warthogs (pumba), a dik dik, and a giraffe (twiga). My favorite was the dik dik. It's a little deer-like animal with a funny pointy head. You should look up a picture of it. Did you realize that elephants live in forests here? We didn't see any out in the open areas, they were all in the forests. I thought that was weird...
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Pictures
Also, we can't post pictures or it will crash the internet. Hopefully when they get the normal internet up and running we will be able to... For now just know I have a bunch and you can see them when I get home!
The First Four Days
We finally have internet! All the IT guy had to say was "goodluck" though so who know if we'll keep it.
So much has happened... The traveling to get here was painfully long (17 hours on a plane, 4 hours in a car plus 2 hours on the underground in London) but it was totally worth it. None of our bags got here with us and I had to wait a day to get my bags. It was okay though because the staff here was amazing and they found blankets in town, gave us blankets students had left, and even gave us some of their own bedding so that we didn't have to sleep on plain mattresses the first night.
The first day in camp we had orientation and then we had our first classes. Some of the teachers are a little difficult to understand- they talk really fast!- but they are great about repeating things and even spelling them out if we still don't understand.
The second day we had class here in the morning and in the afternoon we had travelling lecture. We went to three different places in the area to see how Tanzanians are encouraging and practicing sustainable living. The first place was a school that had a sustainability education center as well as a tree nursery, rainwater collection tubs, and a garden. The two things that amazed me the most there were that they give trees out to local farmers for free if they sign a contract agreeing to care for them, and some of their trees can bear fruit at as young as 3 months. The second place was a house with a biogas processing system in their backyard. What it does is collect the gas from decomposing manure and then the gas can be used to power the stove and some electricity in the houses. Also, the byproducts of this process can be used to fertilize crops. It was very impressive because the government pays almost the whole fee to have the system installed; all the local people had to have was 4 cows, some cement and some bricks. The third place that we went was a brick making place. They used sand, dirt, and cement to make bricks because it saves on the cost (both monetary and environmental) to make bricks that way. They also form the bricks using pressure rather than firing them and make the bricks interlocking so that mortar doesn't have to be used to bind them together. The other thing that I thought was really cool was how light weight they are:I picked one up that was about the size of 3 normal bricks and it didn't weigh any more than a normal brick.
In the evening we played soccer with the staff. It was a crazy game but it was so much fun!
Today we went to a place called elephant hill and learned about grasses and human-wildlife interactions. Did you know that elephants don't like chili peppers and they are so afraid of bees that they will run from them? This means that people can prevent elephants from eating their crops without harming the animals. After that we went into a town and learned about the sustainable farming practices that are being promoted in Tanzania currently. I was surprised to hear that they have such a water shortage that you have to pay and get a permit to use water for any purpose other than recreational activities like drinking or cooking.
In the afternoon we went to the neighboring town called Karatu. I am very proud of myself because I talk a man down from 10,000 shillings for one necklace to 10,000 shillings for 10 necklaces (about $0.80 each). It was scary though because two men were fighting for my business. They were yelling at each other, pushing each other, trying to put necklaces in my hands and trying to take my money out of my hand. It was insane but really fun.
After Karatu, we went to the local primary school and socialized with the children. We taught them duck duck goose and they tried to teach us some of their games and songs. Duck duck goose ended up in mass chaos with everyone tapping each other, yelling "toose" and running away. It was a blast though. I love the kids here. They are so happy and friendly- everyone is. It will be hard to come home.
So much has happened... The traveling to get here was painfully long (17 hours on a plane, 4 hours in a car plus 2 hours on the underground in London) but it was totally worth it. None of our bags got here with us and I had to wait a day to get my bags. It was okay though because the staff here was amazing and they found blankets in town, gave us blankets students had left, and even gave us some of their own bedding so that we didn't have to sleep on plain mattresses the first night.
The first day in camp we had orientation and then we had our first classes. Some of the teachers are a little difficult to understand- they talk really fast!- but they are great about repeating things and even spelling them out if we still don't understand.
The second day we had class here in the morning and in the afternoon we had travelling lecture. We went to three different places in the area to see how Tanzanians are encouraging and practicing sustainable living. The first place was a school that had a sustainability education center as well as a tree nursery, rainwater collection tubs, and a garden. The two things that amazed me the most there were that they give trees out to local farmers for free if they sign a contract agreeing to care for them, and some of their trees can bear fruit at as young as 3 months. The second place was a house with a biogas processing system in their backyard. What it does is collect the gas from decomposing manure and then the gas can be used to power the stove and some electricity in the houses. Also, the byproducts of this process can be used to fertilize crops. It was very impressive because the government pays almost the whole fee to have the system installed; all the local people had to have was 4 cows, some cement and some bricks. The third place that we went was a brick making place. They used sand, dirt, and cement to make bricks because it saves on the cost (both monetary and environmental) to make bricks that way. They also form the bricks using pressure rather than firing them and make the bricks interlocking so that mortar doesn't have to be used to bind them together. The other thing that I thought was really cool was how light weight they are:I picked one up that was about the size of 3 normal bricks and it didn't weigh any more than a normal brick.
In the evening we played soccer with the staff. It was a crazy game but it was so much fun!
Today we went to a place called elephant hill and learned about grasses and human-wildlife interactions. Did you know that elephants don't like chili peppers and they are so afraid of bees that they will run from them? This means that people can prevent elephants from eating their crops without harming the animals. After that we went into a town and learned about the sustainable farming practices that are being promoted in Tanzania currently. I was surprised to hear that they have such a water shortage that you have to pay and get a permit to use water for any purpose other than recreational activities like drinking or cooking.
In the afternoon we went to the neighboring town called Karatu. I am very proud of myself because I talk a man down from 10,000 shillings for one necklace to 10,000 shillings for 10 necklaces (about $0.80 each). It was scary though because two men were fighting for my business. They were yelling at each other, pushing each other, trying to put necklaces in my hands and trying to take my money out of my hand. It was insane but really fun.
After Karatu, we went to the local primary school and socialized with the children. We taught them duck duck goose and they tried to teach us some of their games and songs. Duck duck goose ended up in mass chaos with everyone tapping each other, yelling "toose" and running away. It was a blast though. I love the kids here. They are so happy and friendly- everyone is. It will be hard to come home.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Moosejaw and Mustaches
Saturday, June 2, 2012
One Week
My mom is amazing. She had half my packing list (pretty much all of the major stuff) ready for me when I got home today. So now I just need to get the last few odds and ends and get packing. My flight leaves Saturday evening and there is so much to do before then. I can't believe I leave in a week!
If you are interested in contacting me while I'm in Tanzania email is the best method. I can receive regular old snail mail (no packages or envelopes larger than 5x7 inches!) but keep in mind that it will probably take 10-14 days for me to receive anything that you send. If you do want to mail anything to me my address will be
If you are interested in contacting me while I'm in Tanzania email is the best method. I can receive regular old snail mail (no packages or envelopes larger than 5x7 inches!) but keep in mind that it will probably take 10-14 days for me to receive anything that you send. If you do want to mail anything to me my address will be
Lisa Lawrence
SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies
P.O. Box 304
Karatu
Tanzania
East Africa
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