Thursday, July 23
Now we are on our way back to the U.S. and for us, this day will have 32 hours
instead of 24! When we woke up in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, it was 5:30am, but
back in the U.S. it was still 9:30 last night. We will arrive at O'Hare at
about 8:15 tonight, but to us it will seem like 4:15 tomorrow morning! I bet
I'll be mixed up on my sleeping for a while.
Yesterday I was wading in the Indian Ocean - amazing! And last Sunday and
Monday, I was swimming in Lake Malawi, and yes, it was at the beach where
earlier in the year people had been eaten by crocodiles. But don't worry- the
crocodiles only come in near shore when they are having their babies, and this
is not the right time for that! When we were at the beach, I thought of
several students who would be very unhappy to share the bathroom as I did with
little lizards and LARGE brown spiders. It's such a different world here that
things like that don't seem like a big deal at all. A local man just walked
his entire herd of cattle right along the beach to bring them home, and no one
minds in the least. People are not as self-centered here as we are at home.
The children here have been most amazing - so interested in us, and eager to
walk along the road with us as we go from place to place. They don't know
much English, but they do greet us, some of the younger ones ask if we have
pens (many really do not have even one pen for school!), and we have had some
wonderful exchanges. I taught a whole group of kids walking with us how to
snap their fingers, and we have sung some songs in Swahili together, which
delights them and us!
I am struck again by how much more difficult is life for the people in
Africa than it is for us. Most Americans would be constantly complaining if
we did not have running water and electricity every day, and yet the people
here just grab their large bucket and go get the water from the well. It's
not that they would not enjoy having running water - they would! But they
don't have the expectations we do that all things will be available, at our
fingertips, at all times. It makes me feel humble to know I could not live as
simply, nor in such a hard-working way, as most people in Africa do.
But while I am hoping to be more aware of using/wasting less of the earth's
resources when I come home, I surely am looking forward to a nice, hot shower!
Thanks for "traveling" with me via this journal - I'll see you all in a month!
Weds. July 15, 2009
Sorry I have not written more frequently but access to the Internet is very
limited where Molly is, because the power is frequently off. In addition, we
were away traveling for several days.
It is great to be here in Karonga with Molly, and to see where she works and
meet the people with whom she lives and works. Right now I am at the
technical school where sheworks. The students here, most orphans due to AIDS,
are 19-28 years old and are studying to become electricians, carpenters,
tailors, or hospitality (catering or hotel) workers. Molly teaches a
“Self-Awareness” course to them, which we visited. It was great to listen to
their discussion,and meet some of these hard-working students. Their day
starts with a wonderful prayer & song assembly, and I have enjoyed attending
that a few times.
Another part of her job is to work with the women who have started small
businesses, to help them get loans and keep their business alive. We have met
some of the women at the market in town, where they sell eggs, or fruits, etc.
The town of Karonga is quite something - the market filled with little wooden
stalls where every kind of fresh food is sold in very old-fashioned setting,
while nearby is a modern bank. They don’t seem to go together, and yet they
do.
We had quite an adventure when we traveled to a nature preserve last Friday
to have a walking safari. We stayed in little bamboo huts right where the
animals live. While sitting around a fire Friday night, we heard a loud noise
in the bushes right behind us, so we quickly jumped into our little hut. Very
soon, an elephant came right out of the bushes and began tearing at branches
to eat from the trees near the huts. Pretty soon, there were at least 6
elephants all around us, thrashing at the trees and making lots of noise. We
huddled inside the hut, not sure what we should do. At one point, Molly, her
friend, and I peeked out through the slats in the back of our hut and a BIG
elephant was turning right toward us – just about one foot away!! Oh my
gosh, we moved swiftly and silently away from that back wall, and stood
shaking in the center of the hut! After two hours of being very scared, the
elephants went away and we ran to the only brick structure around – the
bathroom! We spent the rest of the night there. We will not ever forget that
night, for sure!
As we have traveled, we used many forms of transportation, since Molly does
not have a car. This included:
- mini-vans that act like buses, picking people up and dropping them off along
the way. However, these mini-vans, which should hold about 11 or 12 people,
end up with 17 or 18 people and many bags, etc.
- dala-dalas, which are bigger buses, more comfortable, but still over-crowded
-matolas, which are basically very large pick-up trucks, where we sat in the
open back part, and again picked lots of folks up along the way. At one
point, we were in the back of one with 36 adults, 2 small children and a live hen!
- and our most unusual ride, when the Coca-Cola delivery truck slid open its
large grated side door and we climbed up in there and rode along with the
armed guard! (Bottles of pop here are called “minerals” and they are a big
treat. When the delivery truck comes to a town, people are lined up with
their crates of empty bottles and hoping they’re going to get refills
of Coke, Sprite and Fanta. The truck is completely unloaded of its full
crates, then refills with the empties, and drives away before anyone can even
start getting new minerals. Molly and her housemates have waited for hours
sometimes and then got nothing!)
I will have many pictures to share, but it is too hard to download them in the
quick time I have to send this while the power is on.
Friday-Sat July 3-4:
We boarded the Tazara train in Dar es Salaam with hundreds and hundreds of
other passengers. Many of them carried large parcels
on their heads, as well as having a baby attached to their back or chest with
a colorful cloth. Our family has a compartment that could actually sleep 6
people, even though we are only 4. But it's a good thing, since our suitcases
take up a lot of space. In the compartment next to us, several families are
traveling together, and probably have about 12 people in the same amount of
space! The train is very old and I feel like I could be on a Channel 11
special! There is a narrow corridor outside the compartments, and some
children spend the whole ride looking out the window that is outside our
compartment. Four "mzungus" (white people) are quite unusual for the Africans
to see - so we attract a lot of attention. There is a dining car, where we
were served a chicken thigh with rice or mugali, a sticky mixture that is like
cream of rice, only thicker. We drink African tea (lots of milk), and then
back in our compartment have a snack of a granola bar.
We have gone through beautiful country, and saw several different animals when
we went through a game park: tall, skinny monkeys, giraffes, herds of zebra,
wildebeests, hyena. Sometimes it is hard to believe this is all real! (Next
year's 8th graders: Remember that the Chinese laid this railroad line
to help get their goods further across Africa? I have a picture of the
Chinese characters carved into the cement laid under the track!)
We had quite an adventure about our sleeping, which I will tell in person,
because it's too long to relate here. Just to say, we did not get much
sleep. The train makes many stops, and although it seems we're way out in
the middle of nowhere, large groups of people appear at 2 in the morning,
either preparing to get on the train, or loudly greeting those who are getting
off the train. Then they disappear into the darkness behind the station,
walking through pitch black to their villages. It is quite amazing. Mbeya,
which was where we got off, is the largest place we have seen since leaving
Dar es Salaam, and there were many taxi drivers who hoped we would pick them
to take us to our hotel. At the hotel, we have our own rooms, but share a
common bathroom, and could take a "bucket shower" with cold water if we wanted to.
As we arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon, we could hear a nearby
loudspeaker, giving the call to prayer to any Muslims in the town. It was
quite something to hear this several different times - since we know they must
pray five times every day towards Mecca.
More to come later...
Thursday, July 2nd (It was hard to figure out what day/date it is!)
Greetings from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!
(Look on the east coast of Africa on a map to find us.) We've had two long
flights and arrived at about 7 this morning (we're 8 hours ahead of
Chicago). We have an embarrassing amount of luggage, because we're bringing
many things that my daughter needs for her second year. I'll feel less like
one of those "wealthy Americans" when we're on our way home without the two
extra suitcases for her.
Today, after napping, we walked around a bit here, and ate fish (caught in
the Indian Ocean) and chips in a local spot. Then we were given a wonderful
tour by car, seeing beautiful flowers, lots of streets filled with tiny
shops selling cloth, foods, baskets; very crazy traffic; and the expensive
tourist areas along the Indian Ocean (tourists are mostly from India). We
took our shoes off and waded in the Indian Ocean! Saw cargo ships from
Asia, waiting to unload the goods that had sailed from China and India to be
sold here. Weather is beautiful - about 25 degrees Celsius - and the hotel
where we will sleep tonight is much nicer than anywhere we stayed a few
years ago in Uganda. We exchanged US money for Tanzania shillings. $1 US =
$1300 shillings.
Yesterday, we had a 7-hour layover in London between flights, so took their
Underground (subway) into London and walked around some. Saw Picadilly
Circus, lots of theatres, a large street display of notes and pictures in
memory of Michael Jackson, and ate at a little cafe where the waitress just
moved here a few months ago fro St. Charles, IL - a suburb of Chicago!
Tomorrow starts the big train adventure across Tanzania; won't have internet
access until at least Sunday or Monday...and by then, I will finally have
seen our daughter!! Hooray.
