These are all thoughts and stories from my first two weeks in Tanzania. I apologize for any poor writing and how long this took to get up.
Al Torigian is also blogging volunteering at Hanga though the BVC. He has done a much better job of keeping his blog recent with stories, and I have been present for almost all his observations. His blog is: alectorigian@blogspot.com
We traveled for a week with an Australian couple. There blog may get pictures of Hanga sooner than Al or I, so check here if you are desperate for some pictures: www.dawsonsoverseas.blogspot.com
First Blog Post From Africa:
We have arrived in Dar es Saleem safely. Minneapolis to Chicago to Frankfurt to Ethiopia to Kilimanjaro to Dar. We got delayed on the ground in Chicago, which meant we had to have a special escort in Frankfurt to catch our flight, which they held for us. At one moment they had told us that we would not be able to catch the flight and we were going to have to book a later flight. However, thankfully we made it to Tanzania as scheduled and one of the Monks was waiting to take us to the Guest House.
Our flight landed at 3:15am and by the time we had made it through Immigration, filled out a missing luggage form (it arrived the next day so no worries) and driven to the Guest house it was past 4 in the morning. Having only slept a few hours the previous two days while traveling you would have thought I would have fallen right to sleep, but I lay in bed with a million thoughts rushing through my brain. Finally I fell asleep, but found myself waking at 7 to the call of a rooster. Unable to fall back asleep (I am blaming jet leg) I went to breakfast. Having only been told that breakfast would be up the stairs we wonder around the guest house for a few minutes before we found the refectory.
We walked in on 20 people sitting, eating breakfast. They were all very welcoming and began passing us food and asking our names and where we were from. However, the English of many of people at breakfast was limited to greetings. After breakfast and learning the Swahili for water (maji) our exhaustion set in and we slept till 3:30.
We went back to the Airport that evening to pick up Alex Kurt and Simon Sperl, who are also volunteering through the BVC at the Brother Monetary of Hanga. It was nice to have a few more familiar faces around.
Some thoughts after a few days:
We have been learning about Africa time. Which means there really is no schedule for anything. Any time or date that is set can be changed for any reason, with or without any form of notification. You can either get upset, or just go with it and do what you can with what you have control over.
So one afternoon we made it to the internet, and to the beach. Both were big accomplishments. We went our first 3 days after being Dar without being able to check our emails or tell anyone we had made it safely. We also spent a lot of time at the guesthouse without much of a clue what we should/could do. The beach was beautiful, including the sailboats in the distance, and cows being herded down the sand.
We have lots of free time at the guesthouse as we wait for our ride to Hanga. Al and I have been playing lots and lots of Rummy 500. Occasionally changing the rules to keep it interesting. I have also finished three books since making it to Dar. Things are good, but it will be nice to make it to Hanga.
The city center is crowded. There are shops everywhere, cars everywhere and people everywhere. We exchanged money, bough some cell phones, and walked around trying to avoid traffic. People tend to dress nicely, with collared shirts and pants. Everyone seems to have a cell phone.
It looks like we will finally be leaving Dar after spending almost a week here. There is a difference between being a volunteer here, and being a tourist. We are volunteers, so we are left to figure much out for ourselves. The tourists have much tighter schedules and the monks working at the guesthouse are busy taking them to and from the airport. This being said, many of the monks are very friendly and are giving us lessons in Swahili vocabulary and talking about Tanzania with us. Many of the conversations seem to come to the conclusion that it will be nice to get to Hanga.
Trip to Hanga:
We rode in a minivan to Hanga. There was an Australian couple visiting Hanga for a week and we rode with them and a couple of Monks. Br. Patrick is our drive and is great. He recently became the Headmaster of the trade school, is a driver for the Abbey, and spent a year in America. Our journey started with fighting our way through the traffic of Dar. Once out of the city’s congestion we passed through countless villages with people walking along the road. Some were carrying things on their heads, others using carts or bicycles to carry things in and out of the city. We passed through a national park on the drive. While passing through we saw some spectacular mountain scenery (somewhat reminded me of Aspiring National Park in New Zealand, but with the vegetation and red earth of Australia). We also saw a few giraffe, some elephants, baboons, and prong horns. I really had no idea what to expect from the drive, so it was really exciting to see the wildlife and scenery.
We spent one night in Irenga, and then drove on to Hanga. There is lots of roadside villages in this more remote SW corner of Tanzania. We arrived at Hanga with enough time to drop off our bags in our rooms, catch dinner, meet some other visitors and volunteers, and go to sleep.
Day Two at Hanga.
We went for a tour of the Schools yesterday morning. First we went to the seminary. The form IV students were sitting for exams, which meant the rest of the students were not taking classes, and many had left to visit home. They have a library with a good number of books. However, many are outdated, or do not teach information relevant to the syllabus. They have biology and chemistry labs, but we did not see them.
Next we visited St. Benedicts. This is the secondary school run by the Abbey. There are over 450 students. The classes are divided between four forms, similar to grades 9-12 but form I-IV. Each form is separated by gender. We were introduced to the girls and boys form one classes.
Our tour continued on to the dispensary. It appears that the majority of cases they see are malaria cases. There is also a room for child births where they have over 100 births a year. There is also a dentistry wing and an eye specialists. When we toured there were no patients.
We also visited St. Laurence elementary school. There was national testing going on, so classes were not in session. After lunch we visited the trade school. They have 96 students studying different career skills including: carpentry, brick laying, mechanics, sewing, electronics, and plumbing. They also have over 100 pigs, 22 cows, and their own farm lands that they maintain. The dormitories for the girls are new. They have 4 girls to a room, and groups of four rooms share a bathroom and common room. The attendance of girls has increased recently because of the increase in beds. The boys’ dormitories are the next big project for the trade school. They are currently stuffed 8 to a room in old stuffy rooms. They have the site cleared to begin construction on the new building. The students will do much of the work on their dormitory, but are still trying to raise the money needed to complete the project.
Day three.
We got a tour of the abbey farm animals. They have around 6000 chickens for gathering eggs. 50 cows, and 80 pigs. They also maintain lots of banana trees.
Other points of notice.
We have limited power during the dry season. They have the power for a couple of hours in the morning, then from 7-10 at night. The internet has been off and on while we have been here. We made it to the athletic fields today. Both Al and I played basketball for a while. The hoops are in pretty poor shape, and the students play a style of game inspired by soccer. The sunset from the fields was great. The sky was splashed with a pink color, and we had an uninterrupted view of the horizon.
Food. Breakfast usually has eggs, rice, and some bread with jam. They also have lots of tea and coffee, with warm whole milk. Lunch and dinner always have rice, with meat in some sort of sauce. They usually have a boiled spinach dish. There is also either beans, ugali, or sweet potatos. Ugali is a porridge type dish made from ground maze. There are always lots of bananas, occasionally oranges, or Papua. We hear that come December there will be lots of mangos.
Still trying to find where we will fit into the community. It is nice to be getting a feel for Hanga. There are a number of other volunteers/non Africans who are here and have helped by giving us advice, teaching us Swahili, and showing us around. Currently there is a couple from Australia looking at the possibility of updating the internet access. An Italian woman who is teaching them to make cheese, and how to improve the hygiene of the farm animals. Two Austrian women who volunteered last year returning for a visit. A German student spending her summer break teaching math here. Christa is an Austrian woman who has been here for 6-7 years, and is currently working on improving the library. And a woman from Oregon who is teaching biology at the secondary school and working as the assistant of the Abbot.
Continuing our tour with the Austrian couple tomorrow by heading to Songea, and visiting some other monasteries in the area.
Vows at Chipola:
We got to the final vows ceremony at Chipola, which is a convent a couple of hours away. The ceremony took place in a packed church. It lasted 4.5 hours and had long periods of people talking in Swahili, as well as some great dancing and singing. After the ceremony there was a celebration in the village. It involved tons of music and great dancing. Also, there were huge quantities of rice and other food provided by the villages of the women taking vows. The experience was very unique and amazing to be able to experience.
Surprise Feast:
I had one of the most unforgettable nights of my life. Al and I went to dinner, then after were going to the internet. We found out that it is working, but the wireless is not. You can still use it you just need to use a cable. One our way there we got a call from the Australian couple we have been tagging along with for the last week. They said there was a pig that had been slaughtered and that there was singing and we should come. We figured there was a celebration going on for the trade school, and we figured we would go check it out.
When we showed up they were singing Welcome, come to our table, welcome very welcome (in Swahili of course) and they were having a feast for us because the Australians are leaving tomorrow. We sat at a big table in front and everyone watched us eat a big feast they had made for us (yes we had already had dinner an hour before). They had beer and konyagi (Tanzanian spirits). Then after eating there was some singing and dancing. They put on a play for us, then the headmaster of the school (who has been our driver for the last week) gave a speech were he told the students were the Austrians had stayed in Dar, and what time they were leaving the next day. Then he asked us to give a speech. The Australian guy gave a pretty good speech which the headmaster translated, and Al said a few words, but the warning signal (the power goes off at ten) went off and the feast ended.
None of us had been told about the feast. Roger, the Australian guy had brought a plate of food to his wife, and the headmaster said he would eat it. It was really amazing, and very very different that anything I had been too.
Soccer Game
So a little story about yesterday. We finally meet with the Rector (principle) of the seminary. He had been gone for four weeks (kinda crazy how they can just leave responsibility). He said we would meet Monday to talk about what we would teach. But we did get invited to play in a teachers vs students soccer game. I got to play, but they pretty much played like I wasn’t on the field. I was definitely as good as most of the players, but they just kinda ignored me. It definitely through me off a bit because I am so comfortable on a soccer field in the USA. They talked Swahili the entire time, so I had no idea what they were saying. Like being surrounded by people but feeling completely alone. The field they play on is terrible. It has a sizable slant to the entire field; the grass is just tough clumps that actually make playing worse than just on the dirt. It was pretty funny when a group of goats ran onto the field and disrupted play.
