Goodbye Morogoro

In less than twenty-four hours I will be getting on a bus headed away from Morogoro for good. With that, it’s time to say my goodbyes. My eight weeks here have been interesting to say the least. The best way to describe it is the answer I gave to a question on one of the many forms I’ve recently had to fill out. The question was: Describe in a few words, your experiences here. My answer: Challenging, frustrating and full of learning opportunities. At first glance my answer seems a bit negative, but only if you don’t think about it.

When I came here, I knew it would be hard. In fact, I wanted it to be hard. What would have been the point if this experience had been easy on me? I did get what I wanted, though at the time, I was not always happy about it. Now that the end is very near, I realize that this has made me a lot tougher. Difficult things at home will seem a lot easier and when bad things happen, they probably won’t seem as bad.

I’ve also made a few good friends here and have become used to a way of life. That all changes tomorrow. I am a bit sad to leave, but I feel that I am ready to go. I’ve done what I came to do and now it’s time to move on. It’s definitely something that will remain in my thoughts in the years to come. Here are some of the things I will think about:

Things I’ll Miss

• The friendliness of everyone
• The mountains that can be seen from town
• The friends I’ve made
• Seeing the effects (however small) of my work
• Trying to learn Swahili and actually being a little successful (though not as much as I would have liked)
• Bucket Baths (surprisingly, I kind of like these)
• Being sweaty and that being a normal thing

Things I won’t miss

• Ugali
• Oppressive heat in the middle of the day, every day
• The dust
• Getting punched by little kids who want to give me five but also hurt me

So what happens now? If you’ve been reading for a long time, you would have read all about my travel plans. On Monday, the bus will take us to Dar where we will have a short debrief session during the day. At night most of the other volunteers take off for Canada. The next day the last volunteer leaves (Evan and I get to spend a night in Dar together) and I will find my way to Zanzibar where I will begin my vacation. From there it is on to Arusha and a Safari, then to Kigali, Kampala, Jinja, Nairobi, Paris and after 30 days of traveling, back to Ontario.

Though this is the end of something, it’s also the beginning of something else. I’m excited, scared, nervous, anxious, worried but also ready for the coming weeks. Look back to this space to see how my travels are going and to hopefully see some pictures of the animals I get to see!

But for now, I say my goodbyes to Morogoro. So long and (no) thanks for all the ugali!

Local Wildlife

When people think of animals in Africa, they generally think of lions, elephants, giraffes and other big game. Though I’ve been here more than seven weeks, I have yet to see any of those animals. The truth is that in the villages and towns, there is a different set of animals that you will see on a frequent basis. Here is a short rundown of the animals I see pretty much every day.

Farm Animals

Food production and sale is a major source of income for many people here, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that there is livestock almost everywhere. The most numerous animals are chickens. On pretty much every street we walk down, we see chickens, many with a large troupe of chicks following behind. We’ve even seen one set of chicks painted purple (my guess is to prove who owns them). It is also not uncommon to see goats tied up somewhere and grazing on grass. Cows are seen occasionally on the side of the road eating the grass, though sometimes we’ve seen them being driven down the road. Ducks are less common, but we do see them occasionally. They look different from the ducks I’ve seen in Canada. They are a bit bigger and mostly black with some red.

Critters

Life wouldn’t be complete with critters. There are many insects that I see every day. The most obvious (and annoying) are the mosquitoes. There are at least two different kinds here (black ones and brown ones) that I have killed. Beyond mosquitoes there are also thousands of ants. Often they mass in large groups when there is food somewhere. I keep my snacks locked up in plastic bags.

There are also the usual spiders (some very big ones) and other flying insects. There definitely seems to be a large variety here – moreso than back home. The common housefly is, not unsurprisingly, very common here and can be very annoying when they keep landing on me (especially when I do my laundry).

The least friendly critters, however, are the cockroaches. Usually I don’t see them unless the power goes out and even then I only see them outside (except for the one I saw in my room a few days ago and tried to scare away but had to kill when it kept coming at me). They are pretty big - my estimate would be about 5-6cm. They like the dark and most of them do scatter away when I shine my headlamp at them.

The picture is actually of a very tiny praying mantis that we saw on the office screen door yesterday. You might be able to tell, but it is a bit small.

Lizards

Most people would not like the fact that there are many lizards here, but I think they’re pretty cool. There are a large number of types of lizards here, some more common than others. I’ve had four now in my room: two of them were really tiny (and one was on the inside of my mosquito net). They come in a variety of sizes and colours. I’ve already included some pictures previously so I will not add any in the future unless I find some nice looking ones.

Flying Animals

There are a variety of birds around here. Most common are the tiny brown, white and black birds I’ve seen almost everywhere I go (sparrows?) and black crow-like birds. Also, if you pay close attention at night, you can see bats flying around.

Pets

I don’t think many people actually own pets here, but I have seen a few dogs and several stray cats. The cats look a little more like the wild cats of Africa (other people disagree with me, but I stand by my views). Generally the dogs are all similar, though we saw some tiny white yappy dogs at a restaurant owned by a Canadian.

Obviously there are more animals here, but this is just a snippet. In a few weeks I will post some pictures of your more sought-after African animals

Weather and Climate in Morogoro

Before I begin discussing the weather and climate here, I should note that I have only been here seven weeks and that is not really a good sample size of what the weather is like here, so read this post with that in mind.

When we first came to Tanzania, it was very hot and very dry. There was a lot of dust everywhere. I had heard that rain has been scarce throughout the country in the last few years and a lot of greenery has died off because of that.

Generally, days were very hot and sunny with a few clouds. Most people rest and stay out of the sun from about 11 until 3 or 4 (my estimate). Walking home for lunch (and then back into town after) can cover me in a lot of sweat. It’s kind of gross, but everyone here is sweaty all the time, so it’s not that big of a deal.

The mornings and evenings, however, are generally quite cool, though I would not go so far as to say they are cold – which some locals would try to tell you. If it weren’t for the mosquitoes that come out then, it would be a very nice time of day.

Soon after we arrived, we were told that the short rainy season (which typically begins in November) would arrive early because of the El Nino effect. A few weeks into my stay, we started to get some brief spurts of rain. It would come down for a few minutes. Sometimes it would be hard. Sometimes it would spit. We had about a week of rain and then a couple weeks of a lot of sun. This week we had a couple of pretty big downpours. I read somewhere that there have been landslides triggered in Tanzania due to the large amounts of rain that have been falling after such a long time without them.

For about a day after each big rain, it gets a little humid here and the dust dies down. But due to the heat, the water evaporates and the dust comes back very quickly.

These rains will likely (according to my friends here) continue to December or January. Then from March to May there will be a lot of rain. I’ve been told that sometimes the downtown streets completely flood at that time. After those rains, it’s pretty dry again until the fall.

Lately the weather has been cooler and I’m hoping this continues for my traveling (which starts in just over a week!). Hopefully the rains don’t pour down on me when I’m camping.

Anyway, that’s a brief snippet of the weather and climate here. It is by no means scientific and based solely on what I’ve seen and heard from people who live here.

Religion in Morogoro

There are two main religions in Morogoro: Islam and Christianity. I have seen a Hindu temple, but generally the two I mentioned are the main ones here. There are many churches and mosques around and often you can hear the call to prayer at various times throughout the day – sometimes we are woken up in the mornings (which is a more common experience for our friends volunteering on Zanzibar).

Though there are large groups of people who in other parts of the world could not coexist peacefully, the people here have found a way and there seems to be no problems (at least none that I can see) between the two religions. People frequently ask us if we are Christian or Muslim (and consequently get baffled when we tell them neither).

So far, none of us have gone to church with our families, though we have been told that the shortest service here is Catholic and lasts for 3 hours. Even if I wanted to go to church, I probably wouldn’t go for that long.

Religion seems like an important thing here for the people, but it’s not something that causes major problems. Though, like I said above, this is from my perspective and I don’t know what’s really going on…

Another Set of Pictures

Here is another grab bag of pictures from my stay here. 1) I thought some people might find this funny (you know who you are). 2) It's blurry because the light was fading and I didn't want to use a flash, but this is a very large load of baskets balanced on a bicycle. This is typical of how people transport things around here. 3) Gasto with his Hallowe'en costume and "candy." 4) Melissa with some children (at playday). 5) Ilimara (a girl who lives in my house) showing us here dance moves. She likes the camera a lot. 6) Mee-gook lang-gwi-chi seu-kool (hahaha). I have seen many bags with Korean writing on them. I think the green bins go directly here. This one was from one of our Outreach events. 7) Pouring rain at the Faraja office. 8) My street at night. This picture was the best one, but it doesn't do the view justice. 9) Nicole and Melissa doing Good Governance (actually this was us waiting to meet with the Headmaster of the school - this was before all the problems we had with starting this program).

Cultural Differences

Being from Canada, I have noticed many cultural differences between there and here. Most of them are pretty small, but some can often be a bit jarring at times.

Most people in Tanzania (and I’m pretty sure all of East Africa) eat with their right hand only. It is considered an insult to eat with your left hand. Though I won’t go into exact details why (I know at least one of my family members will have a smile on his face about this), it has to do with what they use their left hand for. Shaking hands or waving to people with your left hand is apparently a bad thing too, though we have mistakenly done that many times and have not had any problems.

Greetings are an important part of life here. When we walk down the street, many people will greet us randomly. The thing is, though, that greetings can go on and on for a long time. Those of us in Morogoro have developed a quick reaction to most of the greetings that get thrown at us. Some of the Tanzanians we’ve met even seem to think it’s funny to throw as many at us as they can. We also get laughed at often for not knowing the correct greeting. Once, in retaliation, we tried it in English with many different greetings.

People here are also mostly laid back. There is not really a sense of urgency when it comes to getting something done, getting somewhere or just in general. Sometimes that attitude is nice and relaxing and at other times it can be very frustrating when we only have such a short time here.

To be honest, these are all gross generalizations. Obviously there are people who are extreme in the above cases and people who do not fit them at all. These are also only three things I noticed and I’m sure that given more time I could come up with a better picture.

We Went To a Soccer Game. Oh… you mean a Football Match.

In my first four weeks in Morogoro I have twice been to a football match (I once asked about any soccer games and people were very very confused). The first was a local game. There was a local under-17 team playing a team made up of some policemen. There were hundreds of fans at the game, lining the sidelines (which were not really defined). The U17 team was very skilled and was doing well considering the police had a size and age advantage. Whenever the U17 team scored, the fans went crazy, running onto the field to celebrate and dancing on the sidelines. Near the end, the police team thought they tied the game but the ref called back the goal. Some pushing of the ref ensued and the crowd rushed onto the field. The game was called and we left very quickly so as to not be involved in the growing soccer riot (sorry, football riot).

The second game was at Jamhuri Stadium and was less well attended – probably because admission was charged. The game was more formal with sidelines and three refs (the first did not have linesmen). The game was interesting, but lacked the appeal of the crowds going crazy for every goal. I got to try some sugar cane at the game (see the picture). You chew on it to get the liquid out and then you spit out the solid bits when it doesn’t taste so sweet. I didn’t see if this game ended in a brawl as we left before it ended.

Obviously soccer is a big sport here in Tanzania, but that’s another post for another day. Here are some pictures of the two games: 1) The first game. The police team is in yellow. Notice the crowds. 2) Some children sitting near me at the game. 3) Fans running onto the field after a goal. 4) Sugar cane. 5) The second game (notice the lack of crowds). 6) The view of the mountains from the stadium.

More Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from my life in Morogoro. They are somewhat random and definitely not in any sort of order, chronological or otherwise. 1) Some strange mists coming off of the mountains (it rained shortly after I took this picture). 2) Peter, one of the little boys who lives at my homestay. He does not seem to like me very much. Usually when he sees me he cries or runs away as fast as he can. Notice that he is wearing a fleece. If the temperature drops below 25, it's apparently winter time here. 3) A lizard. 4) Gasto was mad at me because I didn't do his homework. Luckily, someone took the machete from him soon after they took this photo. 5) Some dark and ominous clouds slowly coming over the mountains. This was a few hours before the first rain of the season. 6) An inspirational t-shirt I saw someone wearing at one of our events. 7) Ants. 8) The mosquito net/bed in my homestay room. Notice how I am keeping many things nearby when I sleep.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures. More posts should be coming soon (loading pictures takes a long time, but I have a few posts ready to go).

Transportation in Tanzania

There are many ways of getting from point A to point B in Tanzania, though they are not all exactly the same as they would be in Canada or Korea (the two places I have the most experience with). Here’s a quick and short overview of all the options that you have in and around Tanzania. I should also note that Tanzania (being a former British colony) drives (and walks) on the left. This can be very confusing at times because I always think the cars are coming from the opposite direction that they really are. I’m slowly getting used to it and I haven’t been hit yet.

The Heel-Toe Express* (Kutembea)

This is the most popular form of transport in Tanzania. I use it as much as I can because it’s the cheapest and probably the best for my health. Many other Tanzanians choose this, but due to the slowness of this method of transport, it often gets replaced with one of the following in the event that someone is in a rush (which doesn’t really happen all that often here, but there are other reasons for avoiding this particular mode of transport). Not recommended to be used at night alone (even in a group it can be difficult to see)

Dalla-Dalla

Quite possibly the symbol of transport in this country. A dala-dala is pretty much a small passenger van set up as a bus. They are cramped, hot and falling apart (some of them, to be fair, many are in quite good condition). The rides are bumpy but the upside is they are a cheap form of transportation (only 250 TSh – about 20 cents Canadian or 250 won). They also go to pretty much every where I need to go. When I’m in a rush this is what I’ll take. Not a recommended form of transport after dark.

Taxi (Teksi – sounds like “Tex”)

Basically the same deal as back home, but you have to negotiate the price beforehand as there are no fare boxes or whatever they are called. More expensive than a Dala-Dala, but they are still very cheap (about 3000 shillings from town to my ‘hood, 2.50 Canadian, 3000 won). Also, they are a much safer way to travel at night.

Motorcycle Taxi (pikipiki)

Same idea as a regular taxi, except you ride on the back, usually without a helmet. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

Bicycle (Baisikeli)

Apparently you can rent bicycles here. I don’t think I’ve seen many cyclists with helmets here (as in Korea and other places I have visited outside North America). I have yet to try this and am a bit afraid because of the throngs of people and seeming lack of traffic rules. It seems a good enough way to get around if you can brave the streets.

Private Cars

Though there are way less here than in other places I’ve lived, there are still several privately owned cars, as well as many larger trucks (compared to Korea where the small blue truck with goods to sell on the back rules the neighbourhood roads). This is not really an option for the average Tanzanian, but it is a mode of transport so I added it here.

Long Range Bus

Nicer than a city bus back home, but not quite as nice as a Greyhound or Go Bus in Canada and definitely not as nice as the buses in Korea. Usually these go from city to city in Tanzania. They are cramped but the windows open for a nice breeze. The trip we did from Dar Es Salaam to Morogoro took about 4 hours with no bathroom breaks. I will be taking much longer bus rides in my post project travel so hopefully those ones do stop. Not too expensive. For a trip to Dar from here it is about 6000 TSh (approximately 200km).

Ferries

I have yet to ride the ferry to Zanzibar, but will after my volunteering. It’s either $35 or $50 US and takes about 2 hours. Apparently it can be choppy, but the arrival into Zanzibar is apparently absolutely gorgeous.

Airplanes (Ndege)

I will give more info on this when I actually take one within Tanzania, but there are several small airlines that go between cities. I have a feeling they are small propeller planes. Lucky me.

That’s about all I can think to talk about when it comes to transport. I hope this was educational.

* For those who don’t understand this reference, it means walking (and Kutembea means to walk)

Karibu Morogoro!

Written: October 3rd, 2009

Before I begin, I should note that free time is at a premium here, and often I have other things I need to do to stay sane, so I am sorry in advance if I miss some time. I will do my best to keep people up to date, but if my schedule this first week is indicative of my future schedule, the entries may be less than stellar. I will try my best though.

I guess it has been a while since I last wrote (not including the previous entry which I probably posted at the same time as this one. A lot has happened since then. To keep things interesting, I will use this post as an overview and then go through one by one the major things about my life here.

We (assume I mean Nicole, Melissa and I, the three YCI volunteers here) arrived in Morogoro on Wednesday night and were brought to our homestays. I will be as honest as I can. My first impression was not one of being happy about my situation. I'd be lying if I said this was the worst place I've stayed, but it is definitely the worst place I've stayed more than a few days. The house is basic, though we do have electricity (when there is not an outage), running water (sometimes, I think only in the mornings, but I have not asked). I have a bed and a lock on my door. I also have a fan (not the first night) to keep me cool while I sleep. The Hilton it is not, but I should be able to survive here for the next 7 weeks (me having already completed my first week... well almost). The facilities (i.e. the washroom) are not what one would hope for, but I will say that it's suprising what can seem normal when you don't really have a choice.

The family I am staying with is very nice, though basic English is a bit of stretch. Still, I am learning a bit of Swahili and we understand each other mostly (my Swahili-English dictionary comes in handy often). The food they make me is edible and tastes good. I probably won't be seeking it out often when I return, but I am pleased. There is a strong emphasis on white bread and white rice, but surprisingly I am feeling mostly healthy and energetic (this might be the multivitamins at work).

Mosquitoes are numerous (I've killed 7 today... I really should have started with a tally), but they don't seem to bite me. One of the other volunteers (not sure who) has a theory that the malaria pills make me less enticing. Any medical professionals (or soon to be medical professionals – I know I should have both reading this) want to comment? I've been bitten a few times, but so far I have had no signs of malaria, yellow fever or Japanese encephalitis (or any other mosquite-borne bugs).

Morogoro is definitely very different from any other city I've lived in (since I get this question a lot, you'd think I'd have an easy time explaining things, but I don't, so specifics will have to come in bits and pieces over time). Some big things that are noticeable: 1) No traffic signs (rules?): for those of you who live(d) in Korea, this place makes Seoul look like a well ordered city when it comes to traffic. And they drive on the left, so I'm always forgetting which way to look for traffic. Hahaha. It's all ok though. 2) Buildings are very basic. This is hard to elaborate, but as I post pictures, you will see over time. 3) There is sand/dust everywhere. I have to clean my feet when I come home. 4) People talk to/greet each other much more often than those in any city I've lived in. Honestly, there are more differences to list and I could probably write a blog post on all of them (maybe I will if I have time, tough I think that is unlikely.

As for what I did the first few days in Morogoro. Orientation and tours of where we will do our projects was the first order of business. Things are coming into focus and I've actually been assigned some of the projects. The only ones I'm not doing (see the post about the projects) are the Secondary School HIV/AIDS club and working with the older PLHIV kids (though I probably will help with them). I will be busy planning I think, but it does look like I will have a good time and be able to use my skills to help people. There will likely be much more (perhaps I'll do a very in-depth post on each project I am working on) at a later date here.

We have met many people here (I have forgotten most of their names) but as time goes by, I'll probabl do formal introductions of all the important people in my life here.

As for now though, this post is getting way too long (congratulations if you managed to get this far). Sorry, but I don't have many pictures of Morogoro now (you'd understand why if you were here – more on that later), but I will try to get some shortly (the post after this will have some). Thanks for reading and keep on keeping on!

Tutaonana! (See you later – yes, I am a language snob, get used to it).

Placement: Morogoro. 모로꼬로 갈거예요.

In recent days, I was informed that I have been officially placed in Morogoro (as opposed to Zanzibar) for the bulk of my volunteer expedition. For those of you who don't know, Morogoro is a city of about 200,000 approximately 200km inland of Dar Es Salaam. Of the group of 6 that are travelling together, I will be placed with 2 others in Morogoro while the other three volunteers will be in Zanzibar. I'm looking forward to my placement there, which is coming up very quickly (about 7 weeks now).

Here is a map for reference:


View Morogoro in a larger map

In other news, I would also like to thank Nancy Martin and Chuck Conlon who donated some money to my cause, bringing to total up above $4000 raised for my trip (much more than I ever expected to raise). So thank you Nancy and Chuck. Your help is greatly appreciated.

That's all the news I have now. I will keep you posted.