Time flies when you're having....

fun?  Not always, but it's sure been interesting!  Now that we're back from our big splurge on Safari and all the full time attention that required, we've rejoined the normal day to day life around Moshi and have been trying to get the kids back on schedule with the school work and get into some of the "volunteer" work we wanted to do while here.  No pictures this time as we don't feel comfortable taking them in the Orphanages or at the Women's Clinic, so words will have to suffice.

We love the people here, both the expats and the locals, but man can it be frustrating getting even simple things done!  Just a simple trip into town to get a few things for the Women's Clinic can be a two day ordeal.  Our Pamoja Guesthouse is about a mile out of the centre of Moshi.  We have about 3/4 of a kilometer walk on a very rough dirt road beside homes that are either gated and reasonably nice or shacks that would be considerably worse than anything you'd see in Canada - it's interesting how there doesn't seem to be segregation between "nice areas" and "poor areas"...  despite this, we feel perfectly safe and would venture out at night (despite warnings in the guidebooks not to do so|) except for the fact that there are no street lights and power here is very intermittent - we had it for about 8 hours yesterday (which was far worse than average).  They drive like maniacs here and I'd be worried about getting clipped by accident.

The locals never fail to light up with huge smiles when ever you greet them in Swahili (as simple as "Jambo!" (Hi), responded by "Jambo!", or at least 5-6 sentences which we are slowly picking up.  As I've said before, greetings are extremely important here and they really appreciate Muzingu who take the time to learn it.  We've also discovered local shops (there is a guy next door with a small room behind iron grates who will dispense bread ($0.50/loaf), pops ($0.30/bottle), and other usual sundries like fresh eggs (probably from his chickens in his back yard we can hear at all hours - especially the rooster!).  The kids love going over there for a Orange or Purple Fanta (the Purple is sort of like a grape Dr. Pepper - YUCK! But the kids love it).

There are a few ladies down the street that have a table set up and sell local fruits and veggies... so generally, we just buy what we need for the day.  On every second day or so, we run into town to get stuff we need such as more money from the ATM (which only dispenses it in $160 chunks - 400,000 Tanzanian Shillings) or supplies for our project at the Pamoja Women's Clinic.  Even getting something as simple as ziploc bags which we are using to contain the post-partum kits we are putting together is a huge ordeal as 99% of people have never even seen one.  Same goes for safety pins to hold the diapers together!  It seems there is a special store for most items and we've only found two "supermarkets" - and we treat those like gold!

For these kits, we needed to get ziplocs, 2 cloth diapers, an infant baby jumper, a wool hat, some maxipads and then some medical supplies (vitamins, suture kit, surgical gloves).  I think I may have mentioned this but women need to bring these in when they are about to deliver.   We didn't suspect we'd have a tough time finding diapers/safety pins, and thought that the ziplocs/baby jumpers/maxi-pads would present the biggest issue.... but we found an outdoor "mall" called the Memorial Market outside of town that had baby jumpers galore and we were picking up brand name (used) jumpers for 500 shillings each (there are 1700 shillings in a US dollar).  You had to see this market to believe it.  There must have been 300-500 vendors selling stuff at temporary tables (usually covered by a tarp and some temporary roof) with stuff laid out on the ground, on tarps, what ever.  Mostly clothes, but its like the biggest open air bazaar you'd ever seen.  My guess is that this is where most of the stuff you give to Sally Anne eventually ends up.

Maxi-pads were also easy to find and were surprisingly inexpensive although the girl in the store did raise her eyebrows somewhat when Jen told her she wanted to buy 16 large packages of the most absorbent kind.  You could see her thinking... "poor woman"!

Cloth diapers were the biggest surprise.  They cost about 5 times as much as the baby jumpers...  and more than the average woman could make in a day's work...  We have no idea how they afford them.  Even more than the prices of these items, the experience of shopping for them was quite enlightening/frustrating.  The moment we hit the second roundabout in Moshi (the start of the downtown strip), we end up getting tagged with all kinds of touts trying to peddle something.  I'm pretty used to being hassled by street touts but these folks put it into a new league.  They all want to know where you are from (standard old line), then they'll tell you their line about what ever it is they are trying to sell and then when you make it clear you aren't going to buy from them, the continue to walk with you for the rest of your trip, following you into shops and trying to help you decide to buy something from that shop.  We're sure that they work off of some sort of commission  system as a few times, we were walking down the street unmolested (it helps to walk very purposefully in a specific direction and ignore the touts altogether) but the moment we turn to enter a shop, someone would spring off the sidewalk and enter with you and then act as your "assistant".  It's quite frustrating as you know you are going to end up paying more.

I've noticed that they don't do this when you go into the "supermarkets" (basically old style general stores - our Hawkestone General Store would be a "supermarket" here - and in Costa Rica).  I suspect this is because the supermarkets have the prices printed on the items and they use (IBM) cash registers to scan the items on checkout.  We tried to buy some shampoo and a bar of soap at one shop (with a tout "assisting") and they wanted 5000 for the soap and 15000 for a completely generic brand of cheap shampoo.  When we told them no way, they immediately dropped the price on the shampoo to 5000.  That really annoyed us but we politely walked out and then down to a local supermarket where we bought a brand name shampoo in a fancy bottle for 8000.

Unfortunately, this additional "pressure" has made us somewhat reticent to go into town.  It really gets at Jen and I'm not keen on it either.  We know we are representing our country and don't want to be rude, but these folks are SO persistent it's hard not to be.  We've scoped out different ways to enter the town centre without passing by the spots where they sit to pick up their targets.  Its too bad the shop keepers seem to encourage this as I'm sure they'd do a lot more business if their customers didn't feel so much pressure.  We now head into town knowing which banks/stores we want to hit first so we aren't carrying around bags (when you have a bag, you've shown you are willing to buy something - although getting to the ATM also tells them you CAN buy something).  Then we call for a taxi in our last store (the SIM card I bought for my BlackBerry has been a godsend in more ways than one) and put all the stuff in the car and head home directly.  It sure makes you appreciate the super stores back home!

The last few days, we've been doing school work and shopping as well as acting as nurses for the doctors at two different orphanages as they were doing general checkups.  Jen and I would set up an assembly line where I'd measure their height, arm circumference and weight while Jen would create a small school booklet with their name, sex, date of birth, etc.  Then we'd send the kids off to see one of the doctors for a checkup.  Most of the kids were fine, but many of them had fungal infections in their hair or skin that left untreated could leave disfiguration that could result in bald patches or scars on their faces.  They are also checking on the teenage girls pretty heavily as they are mostly all anemic.  They then schedule secondary checks the next day.  We've seen about 30-40 kids at each of the orphanages and we have another one next week.  While Jen and I are doing this, Rachel and Shawn play with the kids to keep them out of the doctor's equipment.

We've found that they are exceptionally well behaved when it comes to following instructions.  We could give them their booklet and ask them to go to the doctors, and they'd wait there patiently for up to half an hour for their turn.  In North America, the kids would be bouncing off the walls.  The ones we haven't seen yet, or have already been through would play games.  The first day, Rachel and Shawn would play soccer or   a game that the kids played (boys against the girls passing the ball to each other).  Rachel has really been missing the team sports so really enjoyed this.  We've made it a point to bring a new soccer ball to each of the orphanages as we've come and it's been a big hit.

Yesterday, the kids had a sand pile (not much more than a sandbox without sides) and two bags of sand piled on top of each other.  They'd run at the sand bags and then use them as a launching pad to do flips and cartwheels of amazing dexterity.  We were quite impressed by how they'd amuse themselves.   The kids are also picking up that each of the kids doesn't have anything... as you'll often see boys wearing pink crocs or shirts with female specific sayings on them... or girls with pants and boys clothes.  As all school kids here HAVE to have their heads shaved, its really tough to tell the young girls from the boys - especially when they are all cross dressing with what ever fits.

We've loved working with them but are under no illusions that we are changing the world.  These poor kids are coming from so far behind, they'll likely never have anything even the most poor Canadian would take for granted.   I was transcribing from the Orphanage records yesterday to make our lists, and they listed the parents of these kids.  About half were orphans with no known parents, the other half had either a mother or  2 parents that were separated.  Its quite sad to see whole families there.  In many cases, the family breaks up and neither parent is able or willing to care for them.  At the orphanage at least they are getting some meals, a place to stay and the opportunity to go to school (if someone donates a school uniform and shoes for them).   If they make it to secondary school (they start primary school at age 7 so go until they are 15 or so and then move to secondary school for 4 years), they will learn some English but most know basic greetings and answers to questions like "what is your name/age?"

We're here in Tanzania for another month and have been trying to figure out how long we should stay here but we know we'll be here for at least the next 10 days or so.  While its frustrating, the smiles of the Tanzanian people and kids, make it all worthwhile.  There are so many issues here its frustrating because the system is so busted its hard to figure out what needs to happen to fix it all.

Free and fair elections would be a good start.  The last bunch apparently the government went around on such a spending spree buying votes that its out of money now.  Between the government and the NGO's siphoning off the aid, very little of it is reaching down to the people who need it the most.  We're very conscious of not doing things that take away other peoples (potential) jobs but it also seems that the folks who do have jobs are all on a union time card system as they seem to spend as much time finding ways to avoid work as doing it.  We're told that this is endemic here and that once they become adults and get a job, they feel entitled and then don't push for change or to get ahead.  Teachers are especially bad as they make nothing and rely upon volunteers to do most of the heavy lifting but then don't carry on any best practices.

The one exception I've seen is the local ditch diggers (they are putting in sewage pipes along the streets|).  These guys are digging a 4' deep trench along the side roads by hand with shovels and picks.  You see these guys hard at it all day long.  Their stamina is very impressive.  None of them weighs more than 120 lbs.  The soil here is rock hard and they are also digging up some very large boulders.  Its great to see them putting in sewage pipes.  Hopefully garbage collection is next.  They seem to dig deep holes anywhere (the middle of the street is OK), and dump stuff in that they can't burn - water bottles, cans, etc.) and fill them up until its about 1' from the surface and then start another hole.  Everyone has a fire going in their backyard (or in the ditch in front of their house) to burn garbage.  At least it keeps the mosquitoes away!

Power here is pretty intermittent and the internet connection was down for 36 hours because something happened to some tower somewhere.  Until they can get reliable infrastructure, any business would be nuts to set up here even if they had a decent education system (which they don't).  A lot of people think the government actually tries to keep the infrastructure back as it helps them keep the people under control.  This is a democracy but there is a large block on Zanzibar that votes uniformly (Muslim) and they have the most seats and therefore the levers of power.  Until they have a (peaceful) change of government with some competition, I'm not sure things will ever change.  For sure the NGO's aren't helping much as most of the money seems to go into providing the expat NGO supported workers with nice homes/cars etc rather than into the people who really need it.  That's one of the reasons we are so taken with what is happening at these orphanages and at the Pamoja Women's Clinic.  They are really run by people without ties to the NGO's and are doing things on a shoestring directly for the people who need it most.

These folks really are saints and make us feel very humble indeed.  I'm glad our kids are getting a chance to see this as its starting to sink in how lucky they are - which was our main reason for doing this in the first place (we aren't under any impression that any work we are doing will make a significant difference beyond easing our consciences a bit).  We'll certainly never forget the advantages we have as Canadian's.  This is nothing WE did.... we were just lucky enough to be born Canadian.  It makes our problems seem rather insignificant in comparison.  You always "know" that, but living this, really drives it home.

We just watched our first big downpour here... it lasted about 20 minutes and came down pretty hard but now is clearing up so we're heading into town to pick up some supplies for ourselves and the guesthouse/women's clinic.  Wish us luck!

Pamoja Women's Clinic

We’d offered to help anyway we could and Dr. Mino offered to give us a tour so we got up and walked down the dusty road to through the slums to the clinic about 8-9 blocks from here.  We arrived at this nice white house, and were ushered into the clinic as honoured guests.  It hasn’t opened again yet (this week sometime)  so we got to crawl around a bit.  Looks like it will be a step up from what we saw in Costa Rica.

Jen and Rachel spent the morning putting together kits for expectant mothers and inventorying what we’ll buy tomorrow to leave them in good shape.  Apparently mothers have to buy their own suture kits and surgical gloves.  These kits will have knit hats for the babies, some jumpers, maxi pads for the mothers, a few diapers and some post natal vitamins.  The plan it to give these out in exchange for a prenatal visit that will check for the presence of HIV so they can get the mothers on the right drugs prior to the baby’s birth.  

It’s a worthy cause so we’ve offered to pick up a bunch of the supplies to create a bunch of these kits.

They then also spent the better part of the afternoon acting as computer printers.  Nobody has printers or photocopiers here so they created 162 inventory sheets for the various drugs and supplies they need.  Shawn and I played at being Pharmacists and dispensed hundreds of small bags of medications as the local staff is useless at counting out pills so they wanted prepackaged amounts of highly used drugs they could just hand out.  We got to learn about all kinds of drugs.  We had a lunch at a local canteen (Dr. Mino and the 4 of us).  With tip, it came to less than $4 for all of us.  Finally a place that exceeds our budget requirements!!!  The food was quite good to boot.

Then back to the guest house for some schooling for the kids and time for me to sort out the internet issue and get caught up on the blog.  We have been having some fun with the internet here and our access to our bank has been shut off due to repeated attempts at access (not by us).  We will get it sorted out but the 8 hour time difference is playing havoc.  Jen is also looking forward into Europe and Asia to figure out our next stops.  Phew…  10 days in one.  That is where we are now… safe and sound back in Moshi, trying to do some volunteering and figuring out our next steps.  Love to all!

The HASH

No, we didn’t get ideas from the Hadzabe and start toking with our kids…  we found out about this thing called a HASH that was happening at a Muzungu’s house up on the slopes of Mt. Kili.  Apparently it’s a world wide phenomenon for expats and travellers but neither Jen nor I being current with the latest hostel scene had ever heard of it.  One of the doctors in the guest house (Mino) told us about it and invited us to come along.  As we understand it, it was invented in the 30’s when the British expats in Malaysia would get together every Saturday for a big drink up… after many Saturdays and a lot of drinking, some wise sod decided that they should actually do something before they all got sloshed and decided to create a on foot rally of sorts… with a trail made of flour with false branches, and the like.  It was really just an excuse to get some exercise, explore some new areas and STILL get staggeringly drunk. 

Mino assured us that there would be lots of kids, so we said sure, piled in the van and took off for the suburbs of Moshi to find the HASH.  Turns out it was being held on Lutheran Church property at the house of a local missionary and his family who showed up from Collingwood, Ontario only 4 weeks ago!  Small world.  Sure enough about 10 minutes after we showed up about 20 kids were on scene so ours had a ball.  The actual hike was good fun and went for something like 7kms up and down the slopes of Mt. Kili through people’s back yards and throughout the local neighbourhood.  Most of the local Tanzanian’s were watching with fascination and were quite helpful in pointing out where the rest of the Mizungu (white people) had taken off for. 

Then we went back to the house and had some local food and beer.  Good fun was had by all.  Best of all, the choir in the church behind us was on full volume and the music was amazing.  I’m not into church music or even gospel, but this was enchanting.  Then we piled back into the van and headed into Moshi for a dinner at a local Indian restaurant that was quite good and back for an early night to catch up on our z’s.

Hujambo!

(THESE POSTS HAVE BEEN SAVED UP ON MY COMPUTER FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS WHILE WE SORTED OUT OUR INTERNET ISSUES HERE.  THE CONNECTION ISN'T MUCH BETTER THAN TWO TIN CANS AND A STRING SO I WON'T PUT UP MANY PICTURES AND THOSE I DO WILL BE LOW QUALITY UNTIL I GET A BETTER CONNECTION).

Hujambo!

That’s How are you? (one of about 10 different variations) in Swahili - or more correctly Kiswahili as they would say here.  Greetings are very important and we have been doing our best to try to pick up a few words although the French lessons the kids and Jen have been working on have thrown a real monkey wrench into their ability to retain anything! 

We arrived pretty much on schedule after a long but uneventful flight to Amsterdam and then Kilimanjaro.  For some reason, although it was a smooth flight, both Rachel and Shawn were looking particularly green as we touched down.   I figured that because we were second row from the back in the cheap seats, we’d be last off the plane but after the first class/business class cabin disembarked, they opened up the rear doors and we were able to jump the rush.  Nancy had told us that there would be a big line up to buy our visa’s so we raced over there and got to the head of the line (which had several hundred passengers in it by the time we were finished.  No real issues there and our bags all arrived eventually in good shape.  We were picked up by Abi and a van driver and taken to our “house” for our stay in Moshi. 

                                   Our little "guest house".  We have the whole wing on the right.

We had expected that this house would be out in the boonies from Jen’s dealings with the great folks handling our safari/volunteer work… but we were very surprised to find it really was more of an estate!  We had also thought we’d have it for ourselves but it turns out that they have full time security guards, gardeners, three ladies to do cooking/beds and it had two Canadian doctors and an Aussie one to boot!  So much for worrying about medical care in Tanzania!  The doctors are here volunteering at a local medical clinic/shelter for women (many of the women here are beaten and abused not to mention mutilated due to religious beliefs) so we are in very good hands.

The next morning we met Simbo, our safari operator and Abi took us for a tour of the Tulane Children’s Orphanage where we were planning on volunteering as well as of “downtown” Moshi.  The Orphanage is only a 10 minute walk from here through “subdivision” streets.  It was every bit as sad as we thought it would be.  It is run by a former orphan lady who donates all her money into supporting 40 some odd kids ranging from 2-18.  The teenagers stay with her in her home and the young ones are at the orphanage with her former orphans who look after them.  They bunk about 3 to a room (normal bedroom size for home) but the conditions are very primitive to say the least.  Chickens have free run of the place and sometimes also sleep with the kids. 

When we got there, most of the kids were in school but about 5 young ones were sitting at a table just hanging around.  Big smiles on all of them.  The young girls that were running the place didn’t speak much English but made us feel welcome.  They spend their days making meals, cleaning up and making dresses for sale in the local market.  I think it was a real eye opener for everyone.

As you may know, Jen and I have been really bothered by the recent change in Tanzanian visa charges.  On top of the normal tourist visa, they want another $550 US each for us to volunteer (even for a day) so have been thinking we’d rather just donate the money to the orphanage rather than sending it to some fat cat in Dar es Salam.  Even the locals have been telling us that its all a scam.  Luckily the lead doctor here (who also doubles as the house manager) told us that we could do some volunteering under the covers on a casual basis so we plan to do that. 

After the visit to the Orphanage, we walked into town (about 20 minutes) to get some supplies and a SIM card for the BlackBerry so we could get a decent internet connection.  Moshi is a typical third world village with a daily population of around 2M we were told (although I find that impossible to believe).  I suspect they added 3-4 extra zero’s to that.  Lots of street vendors selling locally made goods/clothes (often sewing them right there in front of you!) and doing things like using a bike to drive a string powered grinding wheel (mounted on the handlebars) to sharpen knives and machetes.  We felt quite safe.  Costa Rica was a good training ground.  We had lunch in the local farmer’s union restaurant formed by 65 local coffee growers.  It is a bit of a tourist hangout so we’ll likely spend most of our time either cooking for ourselves here (breakfasts are included) or dining at a local shop.

The kids are in heaven because they have 2 female dogs much like red versions of Simba/Gabby – one of them with 5 puppies!  The youngest puppy is called Simba and looks just like him to boot.  Of  course they are covered in fleas but the kids enjoyed helping wash them in the special shampoo the doctor got for them.   We have trees in the garden that have everything from Pomagranites to Mangos, Bananna’s, Oranges, and others.  We’re in behind a gate and with the security guard and the dogs, we feel very safe.  As they say… Hakuna Matata!

Today (November 4th), we spent the day at the Orphanage.  One of the nurses here on a volunteer mission had been working to paint the kids rooms and had one left to do so we offered to go do that.  First we had to wash down the walls which were pretty disgusting, clear out the cockroaches (or “beatle’s as Rachel calls them without correction from Jen/I).  We had to do it with old brushes as anything not nailed down disappears and with the watery paint (definitely not Benjamin Moore!), it was a bit of a challenge but we got it done.  Pink on top and beige on the bottom (it’s a room for 3 girls).  They each had their own single bed (one was a bunk) and a TV/dvd player…  but its clear that they don’t take a lot of care with their stuff.  I guess they have volunteers come in and paint/clean up so they don’t focus on that too much – they don’t sweat the stuff that would drive us nuts… but I did notice one of the girls sweeping the large enclosed dirt yard with a hand whisk broom.    It took us about 4 hours to get it done to our satisfaction and we were met with smiles all over which made it all worthwhile.

Tomorrow morning first thing, we head out on safari.  Not sure how good the internet connection will be out there but we’re told it will be just fine – although on the landline computer here at the house, I suspect there are tin cans and string in the connection somewhere.  Jen booked the tickets to South Africa and our first safari there as well.  We fly out of Tanzania (Dar es Salam on the coast) to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwae (through Jo’burg) on December 18^th to start a 20 day camping overland safari through Zimbabwae, Botswana, Nambia, Swaiziland and then down to Cape Town.  We’re sure it’s going to be tough but we’ll be looking forward to that.  After spending a few days in Cape Town, we’ll drive the “Garden Route” ourselves back up towards Johannesburg before flying out to Singapore in mid-Jan.

Wish us good luck on this Safari.  I’ve waited 44 years to do this (ever since Mom/Dad took us to see Born Free in Germany).  I’m very excited about this and have been LOVING Africa so far.  I’m up at dawn every morning and just sit out and listen to the sounds of the locals singing in their “choirs”… it may be on radio as I haven’t seen them, but I love the music.  The sounds of Africa!   Next stop, the Serengeti!