A little late...

Okay, so it's been more than a month since I returned from Africa, and I'm sure that readership on my semi-defunct blog has dropped, but I'm going to post this anyway, just in case anyone stumbles upon it. One of my fellow CCS volunteers recently created a website about his volunteer placement, Tekua. It can be found at www.tekua.fusiveweb.co.uk. Tekua is an amazing place; it is an alternative school for secondary school age kids who cannot afford to go to secondary school. One of their major programs is art, and they sell their art to help raise money to keep the school open. So, if you're interested in buying some amazing African art, or if you simply want to learn about a very positive undertaking in Tanzania, check the site out.

pictures - safari

The group I went on safari with, in front of our van


Sunset over Ngorongoro


Me, Katie, and Joe in the safari van


Giraffe


Elephants


Baboon


Zebras


Flamingoes


Warthog


Hyena


Lions


Cape Buffalo(s)




Wildebeasts

pictures - Moshi, Arusha, Kigongoni Lodge

Kili


Me, with my walking stick, at the waterfall that we hiked to on the Moshi trip



The waterfall

CCS volunteers, being harassed by street vendors in Arusha


A typical street in Arusha


Hut-like room at Kigongoni


Sunset at Kigongoni Lodge


The pool at Kigongoni Lodge, with Mt. Meru in the background

pictures - CCS and Tengaru

Houses in Tengaru, with Mt. Meru in the background

Tengaru, on market day


Some of my students, in the classroom at WAMATA

WAMATA

My room at CCS

The CCS Compound

I'm ba-ack!

For my final post, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm back in Canada, jet-lagged, but in one piece. Thanks for reading; pictures will be posted this week!

I'm lovin' it...

I'm in Amsterdam, bored out of my mind on a 7 hour layover. Ironically, my first meal back in the developed world was from McDonalds... I needed a western grease fix! Only about 11 more hours of flying time, and 6 more hours of layovers 'til I get home :)

and now, the end is near...

In just over 24 hours, I'm going to be on my way to the airport for my 30-odd hour trip home. I just finished at my placement, which was sad - they do such incredible work there that I'd love to stay longer to help (and also to give them a crash course in properly utilizing their volunteers!). When I get home, I'm going to try to help them from Canada... but there's only so much I can do from 10,000 km away. The girls that I teach English to were sad to see me go, which was surprising since I really thought that they disliked their English lessons. At least I had a positive last day there...

Last night was my "last night" celebration with the CCS volunteers. Although I will be here tonight as well, most of the people that I volunteer with will be gone tonight, on safari, or on various other trips. So last night, we all went up to the lodge that I visited my first weekend here for dinner. Four of us are leaving, so we got sent off in style, with burgers and fries (just fries in my case - the concept of a veggie burger has yet to reach Africa) around the pool as the sun set over Mt. Meru. Very nice... And, to complete the trip, I'm almost done "War and Peace," which I consider to be one of my biggest successes.

I may write one more entry if there's internet access at either the Amsterdam or New York airports when I'm bored during my layovers. If I don't get the chance, thanks for reading - and I apologize for the profusion of typos! I'll post my pictures here (well, the best of my pictures... I have 400 in total) when I get home.

Mzungu!!

Remember how, way back when, I told everyone that I wanted to become Prime Minister? That idea's been losing its appeal to me for a long time now, but this trip has completely cured me of ever wanting to be famous. Being a white North American, I knew that in coming to Africa, I'd definitely stand out in a crowd. What I didn't realize is the semi-obsession that Tanzanians have with foreigners, or the fact that I wouldn't be able to wak down a street here without drawing massive amounts of attention.

"Mzungu" is the Swahili word for European, but it is a word that is applied loosely to anyone who is white, Asian, or in general, not African-looking. Walking down the street in Tengaru on any given day, I am often followed by hoardes of children yelling "Mzungu, Mzungu!" who will give chase to any white person within fifty feet. That I don't mind so much... although anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of screamng children, I can accept that I am an anomoly that is of interest to them. After all, CCS volunteers aside, there's not a lot of foreigners in the villages here. What really gets on my nerves is when I go into Arusha. The streets of Arusha are packed with street vendors who will try to sell you anything from shoes to artwork, and who seem to have a sort of radar to help direct themselves in the paths of unwitting tourists. Their approach is quite simple - they come up to anybody who looks foreign (and as a pale brunette, I definitely qualify as such), say hello, engage you in conversation, then proceed to stick by your side like a leech until you either buy something or become downright rude with them. These vendors also seem to travel in packs - on my first day in Arusha, myself and four other volunteers were followed for about half an hour by at least eight vendors. It's impossible to avoid them... if I was staying here longer, I think I would invest in a burkha (burqua? I can't spell it - but one of those head-to-toe coverings that the Taliban made the women in Afghanistan wear) just so that I could have some peace.

I think a lot of the attention that foreigners (especially white foreigners) here receive stems from the colonial mentality that is still prevalent. For so long, Africans were used to taking orders from Europeans, and depending on them, that they assume that all white people are wealthy and can provide assistance. I don't mean to generalize here - after all, there are many Africans and African organizations that are focused on ensuring their independent sustainability; but on the whole, it's very obvious that Tanzania is not accustomed to independence from European dependency. I was talking to Mama Simba (the CCS Country Director) about this, and she said that Tanzania's main problem is that most of its initiatives are funded by foriegn aid groups and other governments. I've noticed that a lot in the short time I've been here -WAMATA is funded by the Dutch government, the road to Ngorongoro was funded by Japan... Alright, I'm definitely getting too political here, eh? Trust me to turn a simple observation into a political rant.

I've only got one more day working at WAMATA, which I have mixed feelings over. The English lessons that I'm teaching are very frustrating; I really don't think that the girls care to learn English, and they don't try at all. Also, my lack of basic Swahili makes things more complicated than they should be. I've been doing a lot of data entry this past week, entering profiles of orphans needing sponsorship into the computer (figures, I'd come all the way to Africa to do what I get paid to do back home!). That's dull, but necessary. Anyone want to sponsor an orphan? They've got hundreds... The people at WAMATA are amazing, though - I'm definitely going to miss them. It's incredible to see the positive difference that they can make, despite an overwhelming lack of resources.

Yesterday, I achieved my last goal for this trip - I went to the UN Tribunal for Rwanda. Unfortunately, the people I went with didn't share my somewhat nerdy love of international law and human rights issues, so we didn't stay for too long. To be honest, I wasn't 100% sure what was going on most the time - there were translators for the witness testimony (which was given in French), but we came in half way through a sesson, so I don't know who the witness was, or who they were prosecuting. Nonetheless, I just thought it was an amazing experience to actually be in the UN and watch history being made. Afterwards, we went shopping and true to form, I bought a very cute pair of shoes...

Gotta go, 'net time's about to run out... I can't wait to get home and use a computer that doesn't have a timer on it!!

Wow

Before I recount my incredible safari experience, I just want to thank everyone who's been commenting on my blog - it really makes my day to hear from people back home... and I'm always curious to see who actually reads this!

My safari was incredible. On Friday afternoon, our guide, Gasper, met us at CCS and we (myself, Katie, and five other CCS volunteers) drove for about four hours to our lodge, situated on the edge of the Ngorongoro crater. After a fairly action packed drive, during which we saw giraffes, stopped to buy incredibly over-priced western junk food, and got stuck in the mud, we finally arrived around 8 pm. After a four-course dinner at the lodge, we had a fairly quiet evening. African hotels don't seem to have TV, so we just played cards - I am becoming an avid euchre player.

On Saturday morning, we set off bright and early for the crater. The Ngorongoro crater, which is the world's largest crater, was apparently formed when a volcano collapsed. It is now an immense, flat area of land, surrounded by mountains, and inhabited by elephants, lions, rhinos, zebras, hippos, flamingos, and countless other African animals. The first sighting of the day was a herd of zebras, followed by some wildebeasts, gazelles, and buffalo. Later on, we saw hippos and elephants. We were incredibly lucky in that we saw an entire pride of lions, and an elusive black rhino. In the late afternoon, we returned to the lodge, and I was able to watch the sun set over the crater, which was beautiful and very peaceful.

The next morning, we left in a dense fog to head to Lake Manyara. The one disappointment of Ngorongoro was that we didn't see any giraffes, so Gasper promised us that he'd find us some giraffes at Manyara. He didn't let us down. Around Lake Manyara, the trees are very dense, and while driving through, I got the sense that I was driving through a jungle. Almost immediately, we were able to see a family of elephants less than 20 feet from our car. We also saw many different varieties of monkeys, and closer to the lake, we saw the promised giraffes.

Over the course of the weekend, I took nearly 200 pictures - hopefully they'll turn out when I upload them onto my computer back home. Now that I'm back in Tengaru, I'm reminded of the absolute contrasts that exist in Africa - its incredible natural beauty compared to the ugliness of the abject poverty that the majority of its people live in.

With the end of my safari, I feel like my trip is almost complete. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to go to the Rwanda genocide tribunal, which is the main thing that I promised myself that I'd do while in Arusha. After that, I'll definitely be ready to head home. We got a whole bunch of new volunteers in last night, so those of us who arrived two weeks ago are the old timers here. I have a new roommate, who is a concert pianist from Hong Kong - very interesting lady! It feels funny when they come to ask me for advice about being in Africa, but at the same time, I guess I've learned a lot in the last two weeks.

Five more sleeps until I head home! I can almost taste the timbits already... (Mom and Dad, we can stop at Tim's on the way back from the airport, right? lol.)