2 & 3) Ana's class, happy happy children, they especially loved the camera!
4) The board of governers - Ana, Mama Tesha, Me, John, Baba Tesha
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Photo's of the nursery school
1) The courtyard, a previous volunteer drew the alphabet letters.
2 & 3) Ana's class, happy happy children, they especially loved the camera!
4) The board of governers - Ana, Mama Tesha, Me, John, Baba Tesha
2 & 3) Ana's class, happy happy children, they especially loved the camera!
4) The board of governers - Ana, Mama Tesha, Me, John, Baba Tesha
Some photos
The photos are:
1) This is Mo and his house keeper and security guard up on the farm.
2) Mo's lounge - pretty cool
3) Sekei road, where I live, this doesn't do the poor quality of the road any justice whatsoever - it's truly like a roller coaster
4) This is where our guard lives, with a huge knife under his pillow!
5) The lounge at Mama Lydia's, not exactly roughing it!
1) This is Mo and his house keeper and security guard up on the farm.
2) Mo's lounge - pretty cool
3) Sekei road, where I live, this doesn't do the poor quality of the road any justice whatsoever - it's truly like a roller coaster
4) This is where our guard lives, with a huge knife under his pillow!
5) The lounge at Mama Lydia's, not exactly roughing it!
Friday, 21 May 2010
Mo's farm
On Friday after the nursery, Mo (a guy who was born and raised in Tanzania to Irish/English parents) picked me up and drove me out to his farm. It's about 30km NW of Arusha back towards Nairobi and then off the highway for the last 10 or so.
Although it's not too far out of town, the difference is fairly dramatic. Along the way Maasai men were with their animals and small boys were doing the same, and when we got there, all was quiet. We had tea and African donuts (poor copies of American donuts) with syrup on – not quite as sweet as it may sound, but not far off! And then he did some work whilst I read about the Maasai in a coffee table book, then wondered round to take some photos.
Very calm and relaxing.
On the way down we stopped at the lily farm which is near his property and Goodlove gave me a tour of the place. Mo encouraged me to ask any questions I could think of about lilys, I could think of none – but you'd be amazed at how much there is to know about lily farming! The main fact I remembered is that to be export quality there need to be at least 3 buds per stem, below that they are sold locally, or destroyed.
Then we drove back to town loaded up with crates, carrots and mint. We had breakfast (at 5pm) in a quite fancy place owned by one of Mo's friends, then did some deliveries before stopping for a drink.
I went back home for tea, then headed out to a local bar to meet Elisa, Chris and baby Jacob and some of Chris' friends, who mainly work in the safari business. I think a lot of people who come here never go to the local bars, and to be honest, if I didn't know Chris, I probably wouldn't either, but it just seems strange to me that you would live somewhere and never go to a bar that 90% of the population go to, and just stay in the bars run by foreigners. That said, safety is always an issue and the colour of my skin suggests that I will be carrying something worth taking, so you have to be on the look out. After that bar we went to another much closer to our house and had another drink, though this bar was almost totally empty. People pour a huge amount of attention onto babies here, even teenage boys, so wherever you go with Jacob you get lots of people coming over to chat. The bar man (boy – he looked about 14) was playing with Jacob and said to Chris that he also wanted a Mzungu wife. Probably a good time to leave.
Although it's not too far out of town, the difference is fairly dramatic. Along the way Maasai men were with their animals and small boys were doing the same, and when we got there, all was quiet. We had tea and African donuts (poor copies of American donuts) with syrup on – not quite as sweet as it may sound, but not far off! And then he did some work whilst I read about the Maasai in a coffee table book, then wondered round to take some photos.
Very calm and relaxing.
On the way down we stopped at the lily farm which is near his property and Goodlove gave me a tour of the place. Mo encouraged me to ask any questions I could think of about lilys, I could think of none – but you'd be amazed at how much there is to know about lily farming! The main fact I remembered is that to be export quality there need to be at least 3 buds per stem, below that they are sold locally, or destroyed.
Then we drove back to town loaded up with crates, carrots and mint. We had breakfast (at 5pm) in a quite fancy place owned by one of Mo's friends, then did some deliveries before stopping for a drink.
I went back home for tea, then headed out to a local bar to meet Elisa, Chris and baby Jacob and some of Chris' friends, who mainly work in the safari business. I think a lot of people who come here never go to the local bars, and to be honest, if I didn't know Chris, I probably wouldn't either, but it just seems strange to me that you would live somewhere and never go to a bar that 90% of the population go to, and just stay in the bars run by foreigners. That said, safety is always an issue and the colour of my skin suggests that I will be carrying something worth taking, so you have to be on the look out. After that bar we went to another much closer to our house and had another drink, though this bar was almost totally empty. People pour a huge amount of attention onto babies here, even teenage boys, so wherever you go with Jacob you get lots of people coming over to chat. The bar man (boy – he looked about 14) was playing with Jacob and said to Chris that he also wanted a Mzungu wife. Probably a good time to leave.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Working and local life
I have now done 2 days at the nursery and am getting to know the children in my class (beginners). My initial observation s are that they are pretty well behaved for a crowd of 30 4 year olds, but obviously some are more mischievous than others. There is a boy who sits in the back corner who I would definitely have up at the front! But they seem to like me, they like just holding my hand and generally looking at and touching my pasty pale skin.
The lessons are quite different to at home for nursery level. In that they are lessons, to begin with. There is no colouring or drawing, no play time, no learning the clock or life lessons of any sort, all they learn is English and maths. I've not been there long, but I the impression that it is that everyday, other than Fridays when they have an hour and a half of exercise as well as lessons.
So the children I am with seem to be about 3 and 4 and they are learning the letters and counting, all in English. There is a very mixed ability in the class, with some children finishing the work within 5 minutes and others struggling with forming the letter shapes still. Unfortunately for the ones that finish there is then nothing else to do, so they are expected to sit quietly until everyone has finished. I think I will come up with some ideas and maybe suggest them, like a lesson learning about the clock and how to tell the time, etc. If anyone has any ideas, let me know, as obviously nursery teaching is not my speciality!
Children here are generally lovely. I live North of town in a fairly ordinary residential area so the are not so used to mzungu as in other areas of town and each and every one will shout out at you as you pass by them, asking how you are or running up and talking your hand to walk along with you. Very sweet. Adults reactions can, generally they are very friendly and say hello or want more of a chat. Sometimes they want to sell you things, but not in an aggressive way, or others in an aggressive way and they won't leave you alone, and sometimes they are just blatantly checking you out.
The other night we went out for Bob Marley day – the celebration of his death (is that weird?). They are absolutely mad about him here and most places will have some kind of event. I went to Via Via which a bar used by both white and black locals and tourists, so a real mix there. There was a live band singing Marley songs and a really good atmosphere, though it was weird seeing Maasai men in the robes and car tyre shoes on the dance floor! Elisa says it can be a bit of a meat market on some nights, with black men going there specifically to find a white woman. It's interesting talking to her, as she has a baby with a local man, but is constantly warning me about the drawbacks! In summation, she says that the men are very lazy and expect women to do the majority of the work. This is clearly a generalisation and not a given, but I would assume that marriages are not as equal as they are in the west.
Maasai men are allowed to have multiple wives, and regularly do. Lesaloy, who I work with at Shika, is Maasai and about to get married so I was talking to him about it. It is an arranged marriage and he has not yet met his wife, but he seems happy that his parents and community will have made a good match for him. Äsa was questioning this and asking what he would do if he found her to be dull, but then I thought that maybe arranged marriages (where everyone is willing) are not such a bad thing, as when people have a free choice they often seem to make a mess of it!
I've mastered the Daladalas and don't find them intimidating at all any more. There are basically 4 routes and each is depicted with a coloured band on the side, and I pretty much know where each goes now, or certainly the ones I need. As in Nairobi, each is individually owned, though presumably not be the driver but by someone who owns a few, and there is a driver and conductor on each and you all just pile in, 16 sitting, up to 3 standing, in something the size of a small people carrier. I think they're safe enough, or certainly as safe as the No.8 night bus, I just keep my change ready to pay so I don't have to go fishing about in my bag.
I'm also getting better at the language, due to a few hours studying. So I now have the greetings all down, and a few other essentials about transport and buying things. I could do a with a proper dictionary though, so I can learn what the children are saying to me and prepare replies! For instance Cute was talking to me today, and I had no idea what she was saying, but I heard the word 'pepe' so assumed that she needed the toilet, so told she was allowed to go, only to be told by another teacher that she was in fact saying that she wanted some sweets. Oops!
I wore a skirt this morning that I thought would be long enough (down to mid knee) but than walking to the daladala I got a lot of stares and was concerned that maybe I had gone too short. I asked Mama Tesha and she said it fine – that the young people wore all sorts these days – even to church! And that is was fashion and people did not judge on it in the way they used to. She was admiring my bag (my little brown leather one) and asking where I had got it, I said from a second hand shop in London. She was surprised that we had second hand shops in the UK, that we needed to. I tried to explain that at times it was fashionable to wear older clothes, but think that I failed with that one.
It's interesting here, as in some ways the way of life is extremely sustainable, there are not a huge number of cars in the country, goods within town are mainly transported using handcarts, excess water is reused for washing, etc. but then in other ways people are quite wasteful. I suppose like England a few years ago, the cars are absolutely filthy, carrier bags are given out for every purchase no matter how small, electricity is used wantonly (when the power is on) etc. etc.
The lessons are quite different to at home for nursery level. In that they are lessons, to begin with. There is no colouring or drawing, no play time, no learning the clock or life lessons of any sort, all they learn is English and maths. I've not been there long, but I the impression that it is that everyday, other than Fridays when they have an hour and a half of exercise as well as lessons.
So the children I am with seem to be about 3 and 4 and they are learning the letters and counting, all in English. There is a very mixed ability in the class, with some children finishing the work within 5 minutes and others struggling with forming the letter shapes still. Unfortunately for the ones that finish there is then nothing else to do, so they are expected to sit quietly until everyone has finished. I think I will come up with some ideas and maybe suggest them, like a lesson learning about the clock and how to tell the time, etc. If anyone has any ideas, let me know, as obviously nursery teaching is not my speciality!
Children here are generally lovely. I live North of town in a fairly ordinary residential area so the are not so used to mzungu as in other areas of town and each and every one will shout out at you as you pass by them, asking how you are or running up and talking your hand to walk along with you. Very sweet. Adults reactions can, generally they are very friendly and say hello or want more of a chat. Sometimes they want to sell you things, but not in an aggressive way, or others in an aggressive way and they won't leave you alone, and sometimes they are just blatantly checking you out.
The other night we went out for Bob Marley day – the celebration of his death (is that weird?). They are absolutely mad about him here and most places will have some kind of event. I went to Via Via which a bar used by both white and black locals and tourists, so a real mix there. There was a live band singing Marley songs and a really good atmosphere, though it was weird seeing Maasai men in the robes and car tyre shoes on the dance floor! Elisa says it can be a bit of a meat market on some nights, with black men going there specifically to find a white woman. It's interesting talking to her, as she has a baby with a local man, but is constantly warning me about the drawbacks! In summation, she says that the men are very lazy and expect women to do the majority of the work. This is clearly a generalisation and not a given, but I would assume that marriages are not as equal as they are in the west.
Maasai men are allowed to have multiple wives, and regularly do. Lesaloy, who I work with at Shika, is Maasai and about to get married so I was talking to him about it. It is an arranged marriage and he has not yet met his wife, but he seems happy that his parents and community will have made a good match for him. Äsa was questioning this and asking what he would do if he found her to be dull, but then I thought that maybe arranged marriages (where everyone is willing) are not such a bad thing, as when people have a free choice they often seem to make a mess of it!
I've mastered the Daladalas and don't find them intimidating at all any more. There are basically 4 routes and each is depicted with a coloured band on the side, and I pretty much know where each goes now, or certainly the ones I need. As in Nairobi, each is individually owned, though presumably not be the driver but by someone who owns a few, and there is a driver and conductor on each and you all just pile in, 16 sitting, up to 3 standing, in something the size of a small people carrier. I think they're safe enough, or certainly as safe as the No.8 night bus, I just keep my change ready to pay so I don't have to go fishing about in my bag.
I'm also getting better at the language, due to a few hours studying. So I now have the greetings all down, and a few other essentials about transport and buying things. I could do a with a proper dictionary though, so I can learn what the children are saying to me and prepare replies! For instance Cute was talking to me today, and I had no idea what she was saying, but I heard the word 'pepe' so assumed that she needed the toilet, so told she was allowed to go, only to be told by another teacher that she was in fact saying that she wanted some sweets. Oops!
I wore a skirt this morning that I thought would be long enough (down to mid knee) but than walking to the daladala I got a lot of stares and was concerned that maybe I had gone too short. I asked Mama Tesha and she said it fine – that the young people wore all sorts these days – even to church! And that is was fashion and people did not judge on it in the way they used to. She was admiring my bag (my little brown leather one) and asking where I had got it, I said from a second hand shop in London. She was surprised that we had second hand shops in the UK, that we needed to. I tried to explain that at times it was fashionable to wear older clothes, but think that I failed with that one.
It's interesting here, as in some ways the way of life is extremely sustainable, there are not a huge number of cars in the country, goods within town are mainly transported using handcarts, excess water is reused for washing, etc. but then in other ways people are quite wasteful. I suppose like England a few years ago, the cars are absolutely filthy, carrier bags are given out for every purchase no matter how small, electricity is used wantonly (when the power is on) etc. etc.
Arusha
Arusha is a pretty nice town, largish but easy to orientate and I have been taking long walks around the place to get my bearings.
People are overwhelmingly lovely here and want to chat, but obviously there are the people who only want to sell you something and they can be quite hard to shake off.
The children are delightful, I was just walking past an orphanage infant school as it let out and the children came and held my hand as I walked along. I really need to learn more Kiswahili so that I can talk to them. A man I bought pears from today was trying to teach me some, but it really goes in one ear and out the other, I don't understand why I find it so hard to learn languages, definitely a weakness.
A lot of the beauty is beyond the city limits which I have not really seen yet, but will do soon. Elisa has offered to take my next time she takes Jacob to see his fathers family in a Mount Meru village, and I can go trekking for a day round there quite safely on my own, and the countryside round there is lovely.
Another interesting thing that is happening in Arusha is the UN trial for the Rwandan genocide, which has been going on since the mid nineties. Anyone is free to go in and watch the trial. Mama Lydia works there, so that is something that I will definitely do at some point.
The way of life here seems to be quite mixed, for white and black people. People who work for the safari companies earn a lot of money and spend a lot of money. Obviously those working or volunteering for the charities are earning little or nothing, but can still end up spending a lot, yet of course it is possible to not spend a lot whilst you are here, eating locally and not drinking too much will help.
I haven't met any other volunteers yet, but a lot of people who live here permanently and make a living (or almost a living) here and have fallen in love with it (or a local!)
People are overwhelmingly lovely here and want to chat, but obviously there are the people who only want to sell you something and they can be quite hard to shake off.
The children are delightful, I was just walking past an orphanage infant school as it let out and the children came and held my hand as I walked along. I really need to learn more Kiswahili so that I can talk to them. A man I bought pears from today was trying to teach me some, but it really goes in one ear and out the other, I don't understand why I find it so hard to learn languages, definitely a weakness.
A lot of the beauty is beyond the city limits which I have not really seen yet, but will do soon. Elisa has offered to take my next time she takes Jacob to see his fathers family in a Mount Meru village, and I can go trekking for a day round there quite safely on my own, and the countryside round there is lovely.
Another interesting thing that is happening in Arusha is the UN trial for the Rwandan genocide, which has been going on since the mid nineties. Anyone is free to go in and watch the trial. Mama Lydia works there, so that is something that I will definitely do at some point.
The way of life here seems to be quite mixed, for white and black people. People who work for the safari companies earn a lot of money and spend a lot of money. Obviously those working or volunteering for the charities are earning little or nothing, but can still end up spending a lot, yet of course it is possible to not spend a lot whilst you are here, eating locally and not drinking too much will help.
I haven't met any other volunteers yet, but a lot of people who live here permanently and make a living (or almost a living) here and have fallen in love with it (or a local!)
First day at the nursery
Today I met Äsa and she took me to the St Margaret's Nursery in town to meet Mama Tesha. Mama Tesha set up the nursery in 1993 purely for orphans. It continued this way for a while, with only a handful of students, but then she was struggling to continue the operation with no income, and had the idea of combining paying students with orphans. This continued and she built up a reputable nursery, which parents were keen to have their children enrolled in. She carried on this way for a while, and had volunteers helping her run the school. Some of these volunteers from America paid for a return ticket for her to visit the US and try and raise funds for St Margaret's, which she did very successfully.
With this extra funding she was able to buy some land outside of town and start building a primary school, and it is the primary school that we visited next, as Mama is keen that I help out in both places, in the nursery helping directly with the children, and in the school setting up a library.
I really want to do a mix of both of these, as originally I came out here to volunteer for Shika, but presently they are in the process of setting up a new after school centre so I can only be of limited use. I can see my time being 3 mornings a week at the nursery (which closes at midday) 2 full days at the school, and 3 afternoons trying to help set up the new centre.
The nursery is very central and is behind a very unpromising looking door. Mama T managed to rent the rooms which were originally being used as a brothel, and converted three of them into classrooms. She now has 4 classrooms and 2 toilets, and a small kitchen where someone prepares food for the children. All the classrooms look out into a courtyard where, when we arrived, they were doing the morning dances. 20 minutes of songs like 'The Hokey Kokey' getting the children energised ready for learning. The children all wear a uniform provided by the school and all look very smart – green and yellow for this school. It was the first day of school for a few of them, to varying degrees of success. I met Evan who spent about 2 hours crying before being brought out to Mama T and sitting with her drinking tea and eating cake, at which he seemed very happy, only descending into tears again when he thought he was being sent back to class. When we left he was still wandering around with his backpack on ready to leave!
The school is on a different scale all together and is pretty huge. I was shown around by the head teacher and shown every class with the same greeting in each, all the children get to their feet and say 'Good Morning teacher' to which I said good morning, how are you?, 'We are fine, thank you, how are you?' I'm fine also. All exceptionally well behaved.
In the science class we went into, it was children of around 8 and they were learning about HIV/Aids and how it is transmitted and what the virus actually is. The government in Tanzania has a policy that children should be taught this from a young age which is great.
They seemed a little more like English school children when it cam to lunch time and the bell rang. I was standing near the serving area and was nearly crushed! But they are asked to line up and everyone makes sure that their laces are tied and then they pray thanking God for the food they are about to receive, and then they are allowed to get a plate and their lunch.
The teachers eat the same food at lunch so Äsa and I also ate, it was rice and beans and was pretty good!
Not all schools, public nor private, provide food for the children, but as St M's was set up in order to help children, it is part of the philosophy that providing a decent meal for the children is as important as the rest of the education they receive.
For the past 10 years or so, St M's has never been below the top 6 schools in the entire country, which has approx. 14,000 schools, so it is definitely doing something right. I asked the head teacher what he thought contributed to this and he agreed that the food definitely helped, but it was overwhelmingly the management of the teachers that was the key. Making sure that they are well chosen, that their pay is fair so that they do not need to have another job and that any conflicts are sorted out at cause.
They are building new classrooms and have nearly finished a new canteen and are clearly getting good funding from somewhere.
After lunch we were dropped off at the Shika centre where Äsa introduced me to everyone. Although they do not have any children yet, they have the building and have almost finished preparing it and are currently entangled in Tanzanian politics about how to find the children who need the sponsorship. Michelle (the founder of Shika) would like to continue with the children they have been sponsoring so far, but some obstacle has come up and this is seemingly not possible. The new centre is supposed to open on 1st June, so hopefully it will be resolved by then.
I met Lesaley who is the assistant manager (Äsa is the manager), Edward is the teacher and Shaolin the guard. All are of Maasai descent, though Edward is the only one that I could tell from his features. And Lawrence, the dog. There used to be two dogs, but they got out one night and Star was stolen and sold, so only Lawrence remains. Apparently they have not yet told the children about this, which will be hard. Dogs are not generally well treated in Tanzania, so part of the centre was aimed around teaching the children to care for animals.
After this Äsa and I got a daladala to a hotel where we said goodbye to Michelle and Rob who were flying back to the UK that night. A daladala is a communal minibus where you just jump on and pay 200Tsh (about 10p) to go somewhere along the route. This is how I hope to get around mainly (during daylight hours) as it is obviously the cheapest option, but want to feel a bit more confident about how to tell where they are going before just hopping on. Arusha isn't that big though, so I should have it sorted pretty quickly.
At the hotel I also met some other new people, Elisa and her baby Jacob who live next door to me, and Jacob's father Chris who is from a local village as well as another Aussie women who has a baby and is living here.
Elisa gave me a lift back to the house and we had a good chat, and she is going to wander around town with me to help me orientate and work out the daladalas.
With this extra funding she was able to buy some land outside of town and start building a primary school, and it is the primary school that we visited next, as Mama is keen that I help out in both places, in the nursery helping directly with the children, and in the school setting up a library.
I really want to do a mix of both of these, as originally I came out here to volunteer for Shika, but presently they are in the process of setting up a new after school centre so I can only be of limited use. I can see my time being 3 mornings a week at the nursery (which closes at midday) 2 full days at the school, and 3 afternoons trying to help set up the new centre.
The nursery is very central and is behind a very unpromising looking door. Mama T managed to rent the rooms which were originally being used as a brothel, and converted three of them into classrooms. She now has 4 classrooms and 2 toilets, and a small kitchen where someone prepares food for the children. All the classrooms look out into a courtyard where, when we arrived, they were doing the morning dances. 20 minutes of songs like 'The Hokey Kokey' getting the children energised ready for learning. The children all wear a uniform provided by the school and all look very smart – green and yellow for this school. It was the first day of school for a few of them, to varying degrees of success. I met Evan who spent about 2 hours crying before being brought out to Mama T and sitting with her drinking tea and eating cake, at which he seemed very happy, only descending into tears again when he thought he was being sent back to class. When we left he was still wandering around with his backpack on ready to leave!
The school is on a different scale all together and is pretty huge. I was shown around by the head teacher and shown every class with the same greeting in each, all the children get to their feet and say 'Good Morning teacher' to which I said good morning, how are you?, 'We are fine, thank you, how are you?' I'm fine also. All exceptionally well behaved.
In the science class we went into, it was children of around 8 and they were learning about HIV/Aids and how it is transmitted and what the virus actually is. The government in Tanzania has a policy that children should be taught this from a young age which is great.
They seemed a little more like English school children when it cam to lunch time and the bell rang. I was standing near the serving area and was nearly crushed! But they are asked to line up and everyone makes sure that their laces are tied and then they pray thanking God for the food they are about to receive, and then they are allowed to get a plate and their lunch.
The teachers eat the same food at lunch so Äsa and I also ate, it was rice and beans and was pretty good!
Not all schools, public nor private, provide food for the children, but as St M's was set up in order to help children, it is part of the philosophy that providing a decent meal for the children is as important as the rest of the education they receive.
For the past 10 years or so, St M's has never been below the top 6 schools in the entire country, which has approx. 14,000 schools, so it is definitely doing something right. I asked the head teacher what he thought contributed to this and he agreed that the food definitely helped, but it was overwhelmingly the management of the teachers that was the key. Making sure that they are well chosen, that their pay is fair so that they do not need to have another job and that any conflicts are sorted out at cause.
They are building new classrooms and have nearly finished a new canteen and are clearly getting good funding from somewhere.
After lunch we were dropped off at the Shika centre where Äsa introduced me to everyone. Although they do not have any children yet, they have the building and have almost finished preparing it and are currently entangled in Tanzanian politics about how to find the children who need the sponsorship. Michelle (the founder of Shika) would like to continue with the children they have been sponsoring so far, but some obstacle has come up and this is seemingly not possible. The new centre is supposed to open on 1st June, so hopefully it will be resolved by then.
I met Lesaley who is the assistant manager (Äsa is the manager), Edward is the teacher and Shaolin the guard. All are of Maasai descent, though Edward is the only one that I could tell from his features. And Lawrence, the dog. There used to be two dogs, but they got out one night and Star was stolen and sold, so only Lawrence remains. Apparently they have not yet told the children about this, which will be hard. Dogs are not generally well treated in Tanzania, so part of the centre was aimed around teaching the children to care for animals.
After this Äsa and I got a daladala to a hotel where we said goodbye to Michelle and Rob who were flying back to the UK that night. A daladala is a communal minibus where you just jump on and pay 200Tsh (about 10p) to go somewhere along the route. This is how I hope to get around mainly (during daylight hours) as it is obviously the cheapest option, but want to feel a bit more confident about how to tell where they are going before just hopping on. Arusha isn't that big though, so I should have it sorted pretty quickly.
At the hotel I also met some other new people, Elisa and her baby Jacob who live next door to me, and Jacob's father Chris who is from a local village as well as another Aussie women who has a baby and is living here.
Elisa gave me a lift back to the house and we had a good chat, and she is going to wander around town with me to help me orientate and work out the daladalas.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Bus to Arusha
I was allowed on the bus despite them not having my booking, but was given the worst seat with no curtain to shade the sun, and no opening window to allow the breeze, so was a boil in the bag Kate for most of the 6 hour journey.
The journey was pretty amazing, when I could keep my eyes open. They are rebuilding the road, by hand, for the whole stretch between N and A so we travelled along a dirt track to the side. At some points there would be a glistening newly paved road 10m away but we weren't allowed on, so at points I wished I had worn my sports bra. I did manage to get some shut eye, though I'm wondering how, and if I would actually be able to sleep in an active tumble dryer.
When I wasn't doing a nodding dog impression, the sights were pretty spectacular. They are approaching the end of rainy season so all is lush and green, and most of the way was decorated with white flowers.
It's a Saturday so I think the children only had morning lessons, and many none at all and they were in abundance the whole way, playing with a ball, herding cattle or just randomly sitting, shooting the breeze. Many had a friendly wave for us, which is impressive given they must see at least 20 shuttle buses each day.
Adults were a mix of Maasai and Kenyon then Tanzanian people, men and women, all working or resting in the shade. The men were either road building, to which an impressive number of man hours was devoted, or bartering and selling goods.
The women were washing clothes, herding or carrying goods, often accompanied by tiny children.
Though I did see one woman driving one of the scarce pieces of machinery involved in the road building – striking emancipation, I thought.
The border crossing was surprisingly little hassle, as has been everything I have done so far. At first glance Tanzania is much the same as Kenya, though after a couple of hours it did start to show greater signs of poverty, with a higher number of dwellings being mud huts and the standard of clothing decreasing.
This all changed on entering Arusha, though, which seems to be a thriving town of quite a large size. Enterprise is in full swing in Arusha and it seems you can buy pretty much anything you want without leaving your car. My Mum would kill to visit one of the garden centres they have, they set up along about half a mile and sell all kinds of exotic, beautiful plants. I was chatting to Hallelujah later on and he told me that the government gives them the land and watering facilities for free as they create such a nice environment along the roadside. They leave the plants there all the time, he says that no one steals them, as they would have no one to sell them to. Thefts are only of phones, laptops, etc.
I got picked up by Asa and brought to my homestay with Mama Lydia. It's lovely! My room has a little sink, a four poster bed (complete with mossie net) and (what I always wanted as a little girl) a dressing table with a little seat and a mirror, as well as a desk and a wardrobe.
I am beginning to think that Africa is not a quiet place. Admittedly I have only been here for 2 days, but I don't think there has been a quiet second in that time.
On the first night I went for dinner with Michelle (who runs Shika) who has been over for a week with her husband Rob trying to set up the new after school centre, and also Asa who runs the charity from Arusha, her boyfriend David and an American girl called Jackie.
We went to a Thai restaurant which is quite newly opened, which is quite rare. It was in a lodge on top of a hill and you could see the lights of Arusha below. The food was pretty good, though everyone thought the bill was fairly extortionate, it came to about 25,000 Tsh each, about £14. I think that may be the most expensive meal I will ever have in Arusha.
We then went on to a Karaoke bar, (not my choice!) which was interesting, people singing badly is one thing, but people singing badly when they don't the language is something else entirely, almost painful when at high volumes.
It was good though as it is a bar mixed with all sorts of people. Then David drove us home – my house is up a track about 100m long, but the worst road I have seen in my entire life, David has an old Landrover, but I don't know how the normal cars get up there, but they do manage. Given that it is dangerous at night – I have no choice other than getting a taxi – apparently taxis are the main expense here – food and drinks are very cheap!
The journey was pretty amazing, when I could keep my eyes open. They are rebuilding the road, by hand, for the whole stretch between N and A so we travelled along a dirt track to the side. At some points there would be a glistening newly paved road 10m away but we weren't allowed on, so at points I wished I had worn my sports bra. I did manage to get some shut eye, though I'm wondering how, and if I would actually be able to sleep in an active tumble dryer.
When I wasn't doing a nodding dog impression, the sights were pretty spectacular. They are approaching the end of rainy season so all is lush and green, and most of the way was decorated with white flowers.
It's a Saturday so I think the children only had morning lessons, and many none at all and they were in abundance the whole way, playing with a ball, herding cattle or just randomly sitting, shooting the breeze. Many had a friendly wave for us, which is impressive given they must see at least 20 shuttle buses each day.
Adults were a mix of Maasai and Kenyon then Tanzanian people, men and women, all working or resting in the shade. The men were either road building, to which an impressive number of man hours was devoted, or bartering and selling goods.
The women were washing clothes, herding or carrying goods, often accompanied by tiny children.
Though I did see one woman driving one of the scarce pieces of machinery involved in the road building – striking emancipation, I thought.
The border crossing was surprisingly little hassle, as has been everything I have done so far. At first glance Tanzania is much the same as Kenya, though after a couple of hours it did start to show greater signs of poverty, with a higher number of dwellings being mud huts and the standard of clothing decreasing.
This all changed on entering Arusha, though, which seems to be a thriving town of quite a large size. Enterprise is in full swing in Arusha and it seems you can buy pretty much anything you want without leaving your car. My Mum would kill to visit one of the garden centres they have, they set up along about half a mile and sell all kinds of exotic, beautiful plants. I was chatting to Hallelujah later on and he told me that the government gives them the land and watering facilities for free as they create such a nice environment along the roadside. They leave the plants there all the time, he says that no one steals them, as they would have no one to sell them to. Thefts are only of phones, laptops, etc.
I got picked up by Asa and brought to my homestay with Mama Lydia. It's lovely! My room has a little sink, a four poster bed (complete with mossie net) and (what I always wanted as a little girl) a dressing table with a little seat and a mirror, as well as a desk and a wardrobe.
I am beginning to think that Africa is not a quiet place. Admittedly I have only been here for 2 days, but I don't think there has been a quiet second in that time.
On the first night I went for dinner with Michelle (who runs Shika) who has been over for a week with her husband Rob trying to set up the new after school centre, and also Asa who runs the charity from Arusha, her boyfriend David and an American girl called Jackie.
We went to a Thai restaurant which is quite newly opened, which is quite rare. It was in a lodge on top of a hill and you could see the lights of Arusha below. The food was pretty good, though everyone thought the bill was fairly extortionate, it came to about 25,000 Tsh each, about £14. I think that may be the most expensive meal I will ever have in Arusha.
We then went on to a Karaoke bar, (not my choice!) which was interesting, people singing badly is one thing, but people singing badly when they don't the language is something else entirely, almost painful when at high volumes.
It was good though as it is a bar mixed with all sorts of people. Then David drove us home – my house is up a track about 100m long, but the worst road I have seen in my entire life, David has an old Landrover, but I don't know how the normal cars get up there, but they do manage. Given that it is dangerous at night – I have no choice other than getting a taxi – apparently taxis are the main expense here – food and drinks are very cheap!
Nairobi
I got off the plane and for the first time I was met by someone with my name on a placard – very cool.
It was a lot less hassle than I thought at the airport, no one was trying to sell me anything, so once I had met the cab criver that Kaajal had hired me for the day, we headed to Kaajal's husbands office to drop my bags. I had a good chat with him about the history of the place, though obviously very much from the point of view of an Indian born Kenyon, which I suspect would be quite different to that of a African Kenyon.
He went to Manchester University, so we had the Curry Mile chat. They had a tea lady whose only job was to make tea, though I only realised after I accepted that it came made with half milk and 3 sugars – almost a meal in a cup! Apparently all soft drinks here are very sugary – I had a Vimto Special with my dinner that night, which turned out to be 50% cordial, 50% lemonade – too sweet even for me.
In the industrial section of Nairobi they have Kate House – clearly a place making very high quality goods.
Driving around during the day I was pretty much the only white person other than in the posh ex-pat communities, but no one took any notice of me, other than the children who would always wave. People were very chatty though, friendly and wanting to talk about Kenya and the UK.
The traffic in Nairobi is as you would expect – mad, flashing the lights indicates both 'you can go' and also 'have you seen me, I'm about to go' with often intersting results. Thye have traffic lights at the roundabouts, but no one pays any attention to them, so they also have 4 traffic police on each roundabout controlling the flow. It's common to drive in the wrong lane if the first 2 are full. There are some paved roads, but mud tracks for roads are common and the potholes make the London streets seem like they really are paved with gold.
All the cars and PSVs have cool sayings on them like 'God's gift' 'Patience pays' 'time will tell' (on a hand drawn cart) and oddly 'desired'. Either that or some kind of football allegiance, normally MU or Barcelona.
There is nothing really in Nairobi, not even for tourists, so spent the day driving around looking at things and people, and having lunch in the expat area feeling weird with my black driver whilst people stared.
At one point a Baboon crossed the road, and they have cool birds, especially two at Ngong Hills, black with red under feathers on the wings, and a very distinctive call.
Ngong Hill overlooks the Rift Valley to one side and Nairobi to the other, so we climbed up to the top of the hill and saw the wind farms and view, talked to a nice farmer and waved at the children. We walked no further, as the park ranger told us it would be dangerous.
When I got back to Kaajal's house I napped on the sofa as I had only got 4 hours bad sleep on the plane, and she gave me some snacks, Arrow root crisps and fresh avocado from her parents garden. Then we went to her mum's house to get a mattress and I was given more food, spicy fried plantain which was great, but filling, then she also tried to give em a banana, but I had to refuse, and asked if I could maybe eat it tomorrow.
We went out in the evening for great Indian food and afterwards a beetle leaf – a leaf of some sort piled high with spices and seeds that is meant to be eaten to aid digestion and things like that, though I had the baby one – no tobacco! I was definitely in the Indian area of town and was the only white person in both the restaurant and the bar that we went to afterwards.
I came to realise that in Africa it's not what you know, but who you know and Kaajal's family know a lot of people – everywhere, which should be useful when I come to travel later on.
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