A Rough Week Ends as a Better One Begins…

           We haven’t blogged in a while, mainly because we have been dealing with a lot of adversity recently and have been reflecting. Our week began on Monday with one of our students visiting the hospital with all of the symptoms of malaria, while Caitlin was two hours away in Bukoba. She probably did not have malaria, and was dealing with severe dehydration. Paul and Simeon handled the situation well, and we have been trying all week to increase group morale. This past week has been rough, but in retrospect Paul and I should have expected more challenges than usual as the students began their volunteer service and their classes continued. There has been a lot of uncertainty in logistics and we have learned a few hard lessons for leaders of college students learning in a different culture than their own.

We had a conversation with our students about appreciating the food we receive here, which was met initially with more resistance than we expected. But the conversation ended on a good note; we ateugali and beans, the basic staple food eaten by most Tanzanians with our Tanzanian friend, Simeon, explaining how the meal is prepared and the reasons for its ubiquity here. It is an inexpensivemeal, quite bland to American tongues, and never served with our usual meals here. Even though we were met with resistance, we think the discussion was helpful.

                On a more positive note, yesterday was very good as Simeon guided Paul, Carly, Isabel, and I on a hike. Our home base in Kayanga is a mile above sea-level, and we are situated on the top of a mountain and can overlook a wide valley from our guest house. At the far end of the valley is a windy green-looking river, and beyond this is a mountain range. Our goal was to hike to at least the base of the far mountains. We departed at 10:30am with plenty of water, a packed lunch, a first aid kit, and other essentials on our backs. We carefully descended the rocky hill on which we live for the first hour and a half, passing a few houses and a tiny town of people. People greet us and inquire about where we are going, children follow us curious about the wazungu (white people) passing through their little town.

                Simeon was a very good guide. After completing our descent, we had a nice long, flat walk across the bottom of the valley. We saw small bees pollinating flowering trees, including a big iridescent blue one. Simeon pointed out the many small highways of ants we crossed over, and informed us of the danger. “Don’t let them go above your knees,” he said warning us of the stinging bite the ants deliver if they are touched. Simeon bent down and whistled, and the ants responded by scattering for a few seconds while the big soldier ants put their pointers in the air. Very cool. We also came upon an iridescent bluish-green dung beetle, who was rolling a small, neat ball of manure. We took pictures and lots of videos. Finally, we came upon the river, which was covered in tall, strong reeds and other plant life. We rested and drank some water before our crossing. Simeon gathered some thick sticks and laid them down across the watery mud at the river’s edge to aid in our crossing. We carefully crossed the sticks and proceeded to cross the river, stepping on the driest places. It was much like a waterbed- at each step the plant life gave a little, and we could stand in one place and bounce. We passed a big hole, and Simeon assessed the depth of the river with a long stick. The stick hit the bottom of the river at around six feet. Simeon told us a story of one Amizade student stepping in the wrong place, falling into the river up to his hip, and being covered in mud.

                We crossed the river in under five minutes and continued walking toward the base of the hills. It began to rain heavily. We tried to find some shelter, but decided to walk on through the rain, which ended 10-15 minutes later. After a short walk, we saw one or two people and found a hut-like house with a big fenced-in area next to it. We approached the house, with Simeon and me leading. At this point we joked that in America, a person might come out with a shot-gun yelling at us to get off their property, or at the very least would give some hard stares for intruding. In this remote area of Karagwe, Tanzania I expected the people to greet us warmly, maybe even saying, “Karibuchakula!” (Welcome to food). A couple of half-starved dogs went on alert and began barking at us, which stopped us in our tracks. The inhabitants of the house stepped outside, called back their dogs, and welcomed us to approach. We had stumbled upon a pastoralist family who cared for a large herd of cows. Simeon spoke with them in Kinyambo, the mother tongue of the local tribe in Karagwe, and the rest of us smiled and used our Swahili. After a few minutes, we walked on with two guys from the house, and arrived at the base of a large, steep hill at 12:50pm.

I found a big rock and sat down to eat. The rest of the group wanted to climb to the top of the big hill. Simeon feigned hunger, and stayed behind with me while the others began their last leg. Simeon and I ate our packed lunch of sticky rice, fried banana, chapatti, and a boiled egg. I was surrounded by swarming bugs (they looked like large black ants with wings) so I covered myself and rested while we waited for the others. Simeon wasn’t bothered at all by bugs, and we joked that I must smell different to them. Paul yelled down to us from the top. Afterwards, he said it took them about 15 minutes to ascend (5 minutes for Paul, who ran up the hill, of course), and it was a very pretty sight from the top.

                After the hill-climbers came back, they ate, and we set off to return by 2pm. When we passed by the hut-like house again, they had prepared to receive us inside, so we took our shoes off and entered. It was a very simple shelter. The roof was made of thatch and the wall were sturdy but composed of clay-like mud. There were maybe four rooms inside, and we stayed in the foyer. We sat on mats of thatch with 8 other people. In the corner there was a display of gourds made by the people to keep the milk they obtained from their cows. Isabel asked how they kept the milk from going bad, and they said they also consumed the milk within 24 hours of getting it from the cow. After a few minutes, we left, ready to begin our long journey back. Carly and Isabel asked if they could take pictures, so we caught a few photos to remember the experience. We began our walk back, crossed the river, crossed the small ant highways and the dung beetle still at work on his small manure paddy. We also passed a large herd of cattle. Most were brown and white and had large white horns. Paul took a video and had a staring contest with a huge bull. We continued our journey.

                Then, Simeon stopped abruptly and turned around with fear in his eyes. He was like, “Oh my god, we need to go a different way.” The rest of us looked ahead to discover the source of his fear- a huge snake was lying across our path approximately 20 yards ahead. Paul and Isabel went ahead to get a picture, while Simeon, Carly, and I yelled warnings and admonished the two to stay back. After maybe 20 seconds, the snake slithered to the right and looked like it was going to climb a tree next to the path. Instead, Paul and Isabel saw it slither away from the path. Once we knew it was safe, we walked up to the place where the snake had been. Simeon spotted a small, paralyzed mouse on the path, and realized we had interrupted the snake’s meal. The mouse was still breathing. Simeon was very affected, and said he would have nightmares that night. Paul lamented that he had not obtained a good picture of the snake, and argued that the snake was a king cobra. We estimated the length of the snake at 8-10 feet, and a diameter of three inches.

                We continued our walk and began our long, steep ascent up to our home. The way was difficult and very rocky. We stopped a couple times to rest of feet/ankles/knees and to appreciate our scenery. Paul and Simeon were anxious to get back, but the way was rough for the students and me. When we passed people they were curious about the tired-looking and very dirty wazungu. We practiced our Swahili, “Tumechokasana” (we are very tired). People said, “Pole kwa safari” (Sorry for your journey). Once we arrived back at Misha guest house, we talked to the staff (our friends) about our journey. Paul, Simeon, and I drank a lot of water and took our shoes off to let our feet breathe (Simeon had worn his lucky sandals, so he didn’t have this problem.

                Paul contemplated going for a run after we arrived, but I discouraged him from doing so. He has begun going on short runs and putting more pressure on his injured ankle. His ankle seems pretty well healed, and Paul is anxious to get back to his routine. I, on the other hand, will be taking ibuprofen regularly for the next two days after that hike! We’re doing pretty well overall, and are beginning to settle in.

Karibu Karagwe, Wanafunzi!

After a long week in Kampala it was time to return to Karagwe. We picked Isabelle up from the airport Saturday night and planned on leaving Verona Sunday at 8 a.m. So we left Verona Hotel at 9 after our 7 a.m. breakfast arrived at 8:15; this wasn’t the only meal that was served late while staying at Verona. We then journeyed to the bus park in downtown Kampala with a private driver.  This made more sense because we had all of the students luggage and trying to get public transport would have been extremely difficult, and time consuming.  

The bus park was very chaotic and there were many bus drivers who wanted to take the Wazungu on their bus.  Men were just grabbing our luggage and directing us to follow them to their bus and I made sure to not lose sight of any of the bags.  One man punched another in the buttox because he didn’t usher us to get us on his bus.  Picture 25-30 Coach sized busses crammed in a parking lot 40x40 meters.   After traipsing through the mud we loaded one bus to then unload minutes later.  The reason was the bus wasn’t full so we wouldn’t leave until it was full which might be in 10 minutes or 2 hours.  So, we jumped on a LINK bus as it was pulling out of its parking space at about 1 mph.  This bus was full now that we were on it.  We got the last row where there were 5 open seats.  This would be a more comfortable ride than Caitlin and I had experienced a week earlier.  We left the bus park and got gas at  a local station and we were on our way to the border town of Mutukula.

After about an hour on the road our bus pulled over to the side of the road and we found out that it had broken down.  We were told that a new bus would arrive soon since we weren’t far from Kampala.  20 minutes later we were told that they might send a mechanic to fix the broken down bus.  An hour later we were told that a new bus was on its way to pick us up soon...  In the mean time we napped and attempted to call Pascali who was to meet us at Mutukul at 2 p.m.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have any minutes left on the phone.   Luckily a man offered to call his friend in Kampala who would then purchase a voucher and read the 14 digit code over the phone to us so we could then enter it on our phone.  We would then pay the man the equivalent for the voucher and he would pay his friend when he saw him another time.  The plan worked and we were able to call Pascali to inform him that we would not be at the border at 2p.m.  

After waiting 3 hours the new bus arrived and Caitlin and Sarah loaded it with our luggage.  Isabelle, Carly and I had walked 20 minutes up the road to fetch more water and food.  When we got back to the bus they were just about to pull away to come pick us up in the little town, close call.  We were now one our way to Mutukula which was about 45 miles away.

After another hour of driving our new bus broke down in Masaka and we waited for about 45 minutes until the bus was fixed.  We finally arrived at the border town of Mutukula at 5:20 p.m. where we were greeted by our private driver, Pascali. We expected to be in Kayanga by now but such is African travel. He loaded our luggage into the back of his Land rover SUV and after getting our passports stamped at the border we were back in TANZANIA and on our way to our final destination.  

The rest of our trip would be on a dirt road with thousands of potholes.  We made the 1600 meter ascension back into Kayanga town, Karagwe around 7:45 p.m.  Once there we had a meal at a local restaurant and checked into our new home at Misha Guest House and were eager to sleep after our LONG day of travel.  

The next morning we had breakfast at Misha and took the students into Kayanga town to explore a bit.  The walks to Kayanga town takes about 20-25 minutes at a leisurely pace, and trust me the equatorial sun forces you to walk at a leisurely pace.  One of our first orders of business was to purchase cell phones and sim cards for the students.  This was quite successful although time consuming.  While the ladies were occupied Simeon (our friend) and I went to find bottled water to purchase and transport back to Misaha.  While staying at Misha we will used bottled water as trying to boil the limited supply is time consuming and more of a hassle than not.  

After a nice day in Kayanga town the students and I had our first Swahili language class from 5-7 in the evening.  Our teacher has taught for the program in the past so she is accustomed to American students.   Class is nice because there are only four of us so we get a lot of attention which is important especially when taking a language.  We will be in class for two hours a day every day in September.  October we will not have any class because our teacher is proctoring the national exams for secondary school so she will be unavailable to teach.   Come November we will have class 3 days a week for 2 hours to freshen up for our final exam.  

At this point the students have met with Caitlin and I to discuss our expectations for each of our classes.  Starting next week they will be very busy balancing their classwork and their volunteer placements.  We hope the students can teach at a local school for two days and volunteer at a local NGO three days per week.  They seem very eager to get started which we are very happy about.  

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for 4 weeks and the semester is under way and we are half-way through September.  The Phillies have clinched a playoff spot and the Eagles won the season opener.  Thanks to Sean for keeping me updated via text while our internet has been hit or miss.   We hope you continue to follow our adventure and feel free to comment on our posts. 

Hope all is well wherever you may be!

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!!

-Paul

Kampala, A Bustling City

Our hotel is a nice respite from the chaos that is center city, Kampala. We have ventured into the heart of the city twice now, and even the students admit it is difficult to explain the experience in words only. People are everywhere, vehicles are everywhere (on the road, on the sidewalks, in the shoulders), and there is much to take in. Personally, I will feel much more at home in Karagwe where the most common sounds are those of farm animals... cows, goats, chickens, the lone roaster crying to wake up everyone when the sun rises. But, for now, we are enjoying the toilets, large supply of chips (french fries), and variety of stores available in Urban Africa.

Carly and Sarah arrived in Entebbe around 10pm last Thursday, and have been excited to see all that they can since their arrival. They loved seeing the bustle of Kampala and enjoyed the craft market we visited yesterday. I had to remind them that they would have some time in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, and would end their stay in East Africa in Kampala- so there is plenty of time to buy touristy things. The fact that we will all be returning to the States right around Christmas time lends a good excuse for buying African souvenirs for all of our friends and family.

Our newcomers have been anxious to learn the culture and have picked up instantly on some obvious differences from our own culture. Seeing two men holding hands as they walk down the street is a common sight, while public displays of affection between a man and woman are few and far between. Greetings are an essential element of every interaction. Pedestrians do not have the right of way, and must always be attentive and nimble. A dinner scheduled for 7:30pm might get you food by 8:15pm. Once we are settled in Karagwe, Carly and Sarah will easily observe the more subtle aspects of this culture also.

Today, we have planned to visit the Entebbe Zoo and explore Entebbe a bit before receiving Isabel tonight around 10pm at the airport. Tomorrow, we head back to Tanzania to settle in at Misha Guest House and begin our work. The students will begin their Swahili classes with Mwalimu Rachel and learning about Sustainable Development with me. Until then, we are enjoying our time in Uganda's capitol.

Traveling in East Africa- A Typical Trip

Yesterday was our big day of travel from the Karagwe district of Tanzania to Uganda's capitol, Kampala. Travel in East Africa is typically exhilarating, scary, frustrating, and cause for great laughter all wrapped in the same journey, and rest-assured our day did not disappoint. Paul, our friend Rosie from South Africa, our friend Stephan from Germany, and I were travel partners for the majority of the day. Our host and executive director of a growing non-profit called Mavuno, Charles Bahati (Charles Luck), agreed to drive us to the TZ-UG bordertown of Mutukula. We were to hit the road at noon. Surprisingly, we were all in Charles big Toyota Hilux truck and on the road by 12:15pm. But then.... a slight noise arises from the front-left side of the car. Is it the car behind us (hopefully?) no, they pass and the sound prevails. Charles pulls off to the side of the road and Stephan, Paul, and Charles look at the tire (We are men and we're supposed to know something about vehicle mechanics). Nothing abnormal can be seen, but Charles decides that we must seek help. We stop at a place in Kayanga, only to find out we need to go back to an auto-mechanic in Omrushaka (only 10 minutes from home).

We arrive at the mechanic's yard and get out of the truck. They jack up the truck, take off the tire, and check the break pad. We saw the problem when we looked at our break pad versus a new break pad. Ours was worn down and the tire disc was scratching a metal piece. Habari nzuri... Good news... it's only the break pads which is a relatively quick and inexpensive fix. They change both break pads and we're back on the road from Omrushaka at 1:30pm.

It's a bumpy, unpaved road to Mutukula and Charles was not the slow, easy driver he was when he first drove Paul and I to Mavuno. Charles was a man who wanted to get somewhere. I was happy to be in the back middle seat for once because my head didn't hit anything as we bumped along while Paul and Rosie's heads tried to dodge the sides of the car roof.

We arrived at Mutukula around 2:50pm. Charles quickly started talking with some men to obtain information on transport to Kampala. There is a big LINK bus that is comfortable and travels directly to Kampala. Charles had thought there was a 4pm bus, but this turned out not to be the case and he quickly reserved "four" seats for us in a dala-dala, a small mini-bus intended to hold 14 passengers. Disappointment and dread were upon me. Paul and I paid the 50USD to enter Uganda, sought out a free toilet (I wasn't going to pay to pee), and returned to the dala-dala. Paul got into the far back row with Rosie and Stephan and I sat in a jump seat in front of their row. I was quickly told that was not my seat and to move to the far back row. I had forgotten where we were and thought paying for four seats meant you got four seats! So, we squished in the back row with our book bags on our laps and Paul's knees closer to his chest than to the floor. After some maneuvering, we sat back in the most comfortable positions possible. Paul was a bit dramatic and thought his knee was going to lock up and warrant a hospital visit. But once we arrived at Masaka (a couple hours later), some people disembarked and we were able to change seats and unfold a little bit.

Going through Masaka was exciting for me, as that was my first African home-base back in 2008, and close to where the Bbossa family lives. I pointed out some fondly remembered places  such as Ambience, the first African disco-tech I attended, but we were quickly through the city and on our way.

The rain began to come down about halfway through our journey, and I was wary of entering Uganda's capitol not only at night, but during a big storm. The landscape around us changed from African Savannah to bustling city complete with many people and hundreds of little shops lit up with LED lights. We stopped at a bus station and Rosie and Stephan left to catch another vehicle to Entebbe, where Rosie would be flying from the next morning. We decided to stay on the Dala-Dala. After almost an hour of swerving/waiting in and out of traffic, including some time driving on sidewalks and shoulders, we arrived at the final bus stand where everyone got out.

Paul and I walked carefully through the bus park, cautious of small ponds of water and hurtling dala-dalas. We exited the park and looked around for a couple boda-bodas (motorcyles complete with experienced drivers). We found two and asked whether they knew the location of Verona Hotel, our intended destination, but alas, they did not. "Do you know Backpackers?" After some confusion, he answered in the affirmative, we haggled over the transport cost, and then we were off on two boda-bodas.

We swerved in between vehicles, onto sidewalks, around pedestrians, and through intersections where traffic lights were totally disregarded and a policewoman clad in white blew her whistle in an attempt to keep some sense of order. When Paul and I were side-by-side we smiled at each other thinking the same thing, "This is unreal!" We arrived at Backpacker's, a hippie-style hostel for wazungu from all over the world, and I was finally relieved to be in a safe place I knew. We walked inside, got a bunk-bed in a 7 person room, and went to bed after talking with our boss from Amizade through G-mail chat.

Now, we are enjoying a breakfast of crepes with chocolate sauce, a big breakfast for Paul complete with eggs, sauage, toast, baked beans, bacons, banana, and pineapple, and a papaya smoothie. We cannot pay for our stay at Backpackers, so we will soon venture out in search of an ATM, and then will attempt to find the Verona Hotel where we will bring the students.

TIA... This is Africa.

A Sprained Ankle, Karagwe Preparations, and Water Tanks

Sorry for the delay in this most recent post, however, recent events including no power and no internet have prevented us from posting.  A handful of you know that I sprained my ankle on Wednesday conveniently across the street from the local hospital. It happened at mile 7 on a 10 mile run.  I was heading back to the Mavuno compound when I lost my footing on the side of the road and went down feeling my ankle role under me.  It caught me by surprise and I was shocked at first but reality kicked in when my ankle swelled before my eyes as I winced in pain.  It was very painful and quite the spectacle as you can imagine.  Not only am I the only Mzungu running around in just shorts and sunglasses but I’m the only one that is sitting in the ER; which was quite the experience I must say.   

After a week of running and getting acquainted with my surroundings I am now hopping around on one foot and being a big pain in the butt for Caitlin.  Earlier today I had an x-ray taken which showed no break or dislocation, thank GOD!!!! I still have swelling and discoloration but it has improved over the past 48 hours.  The Doctor said to stay off of it until I’m pain free.  I’m taking anti-inflammatory and some pain killers so hopefully I’ll be walking sooner than later.  Despite being frustrated about the situation, I quickly realized how minor my injury was when I saw some of the other patients in the waiting room and in the ward.  It’s amazing how much I take my health for granted and this speed bump on our journey is just another lesson from which to learn from.   One lesson I was never taught was how to take a cold shower in a bathroom w/o handicapped accessibility… This is much more difficult than you’d think.

Caitlin and I have met with just about everyone we need to see prior to the student’s arrival next week. We are excited for their arrival and anticipate the feeling is mutual.  We will have to travel to Entebe/Kampala (the capitol of Uganda) where the students are scheduled to land.  We will leave on Monday, September 5th, stay in Kampala for a few days, and once they land we will allow a few days before we journey back to Karagwe. We plan to return to Karagwe on September 11th. 

We have been staying at The Mavuno Project compound for 12 days now and have become used to the amenities, pit latrines, cold showers, three square meals prepared by Mama Kennedy, and the occasional howling at 2:30 a.m. from the local dogs.  Staying at the Mavuno compound with us are three individuals.  Two are from Germany, and the other is from South Africa.  It has been nice to interact with other visitors on a regular basis and to share stories and experiences that cover three continents.  Their time here is short but there work is very important. 

All three individuals are in some fashion working with Mavuno on the Water tank projects.  They have been sent by the specific organization to follow up on the progress and planning of future water tanks.  Amizade the organization that Caitlin and I are working for has donated funds to the water tank projects in the past and we were able to see the tank they helped fund.  The purpose for the water tanks is to supply clean drinking water to local schools, and communities.  We were fortunate enough to travel to the site of an all-girls boarding school that is under construction.  The school will have several water tanks on site.

We were also able to watch the construction of part of a water tank and see how the system works.  Without any construction vehicles or power tools, the workers use picks and shovels to dig a hole that is approximately 15-20 feet deep and 10-12 feet in diameter.  The tank will be constructed with rock and cement; the cement is mixed by hand and used to plaster the rocks into a seamless wall.  The project is quite the undertaking and a lack of supplies and resources that are readily available prolongs the completion of the projects.  

The importance of the water tank projects is significant as we would see first-hand just 1 hour later.  We drove to a very remote location where rain water had collected on the side of a hill.   Here we saw two people collecting stagnant water from a pond of rainwater that looked dirtier than the Hudson River.  It was off-putting that people collect and use this water, and sometimes walk several miles to do so.  We realized the significance of these water tanks, and hope to contribute to Amizade’s mission of providing clean water. 

 Now, we are preparing to travel to Kampala, and hope to blog while we are there. Until next time, Kwa herini!