Kwaheri, Kwaheri

Well, this is it...our last week in Africa! Remember when I said back in March that rainy season had arrived? Well, I was wrong. That was just a week-long fluke. Rainy season has actually arrived now, making the 45-minute long walk to school this week nearly impossible. On top of that, it makes the walk to school extremely difficult on half of our students, and turns the school into a mud-pit. Time for spring break? I think so!

The hallway at school. Muddy!



Clare had a wonderful idea awhile back to take the kids from the big class to Shanga, the bead-making factory that employs people with special needs, to show them potential vocational work for their futures. Unfortunately, Shanga was not able to have us visit while Clare was still in Arusha, but Scottie, Hannah, and I were able to take the kids there this past Tuesday. The field trip went amazingly well. Our guide, Andrew was great with the kids, and spoke to them in Kiswahili, so that their attention was captured the entire time. Andrew showed them each of the different areas of work, and had many hands-on activities for the kids to do. Jackson got to use a very scary saw to cut a glass bottle, and a few of the kids had the opportunity to blow glass. One of the workers at Shanga gave us a sign language lesson and all of us got to bead a bracelet and take it home as a souvenir. The best part of the day was when we sat around with all the kids and asked them to tell us something they learned or liked about the trip. So many of the kids said they were surprised to learn that a place like this existed in Arusha, and felt hopeful for their futures because of it. It was such a rewarding feeling and I truly feel that the children and the teachers got a ton out of the experience. Hopefully St. Dymphna's and Shanga will connect in the future for more pre-vocational work together.

Jackson cutting a glass with the saw. I was so proud of him/scared for his fingers!!

Aslamu blowing glass. So cool!

Learning sign language.

Showing off the braclets they beaded.



On Wednesday, Scottie spent time with another volunteer from our program shopping with money that he raised for our school. They managed to buy enough food for the school for an entire quarter as well as many new toys and school supplies. The teachers were very appreciative and I think the supplies will make a big difference for the children at St. Dymphna's.

Thursday was our last day at placement. We've seen quite a few volunteer's last day of placement, so Scottie and I had a pretty good idea of how our last day would go; however we didn't factor the weather into the equation and we ended up having a different day than we expected. Scottie and I arrived to school late, because we had to wait for the rain to stop before we started our hike to school. The school was flooded and covered in mud, and only half of the children were there because the roads were so bad. Instead of separating into the normal classrooms, the students all crowded into one room, and Scottie and I (teacher-less, as usual)  attempted to do some activities that worked for all the different ages and ability levels. We had promised the teachers that we would stay for a special lunch they were making, but ended up having to wait an extra hour for our director to show up for lunch. When she arrived, we did the regular goodbye ceremony, where Scottie was given a traditional African shirt (which we were told he should wear to our wedding) and I a beautiful kanga (whose message reads, "One who feels the pain of her children"). The children sang us songs including the "Kwaheri (goodbye)" song and then we ate lunch together before we said goodbye. While it was a very nice last day, it was perhaps our own fault for having any expectations about how it was going to go. If we've learned anything in Africa, it's that nothing goes according to plan. We were sad to leave, but I feel like I didn't get the closure I was hoping for, especially since we weren't able to say a proper goodbye to some of our favorite little ones. At least it made for a less painful transition home.

Singing "Kwaheri, Kwaheri"

Hugs for Sipora, who tied my kanga on.



Showing off our gifts. Crappy picture courtesy of Teacher Prota.



I truly can't believe three months have already gone by. Each day in Africa seemed to take ages, but each week flew right by. I am grateful to have had this experience at all, and I think Scottie and I have learned a lot of things; some that we expected, and some that we didn't.

Scottie and I have definitely grown closer together on this trip. We learned a lot about each other and ourselves by working together in a new environment, and I can safely say (while we never plan on spending this much time together ever again), we are better for it.

Working in the Tanzanian education system has been enlightening for us as well. Scottie commented that he feels like Tanzanians skipped a few steps along the process of modernization. Many Tanzanians have cell phones and televisions, but few have yet to figure out a way to manage their educational system or bring water to their homes. And while it is easy to judge or criticize, it makes me think about development at home, and the similarities that exist. We live in such an evolved society in the Western world, but still struggle to work together and help those less fortunate than ourselves. Living in Africa has taught us that there are some sad universal truths that exist everywhere, and while I don't know if we are any closer to fixing them, being here has at least made us more aware of them.

Another thing that I am grateful for is that our experience here has come full circle. Initially, being here was extremely difficult for us. There were many moments where I felt hopeless for the children at our school and considered coming home early. I didn't know if there was any way to help our kids or make a difference in Tanzania and I resented this country and our school for the way things were being run. Over time however, and with the various experiences we've had, such as visiting our students' homes, playing with orphans at Cradle of Love, fixing the school's swing set, and making new friends, we've learned to love our experience here and realize the value of it. I know we haven't changed the world, and I don't know if we've even significantly changed the lives of our students or improved our school, but I know we've had some sort of small impact and that has made this trip worthwhile.

I am curious to see how life for us will be different at home. Scottie and I constantly try to predict if we will respond to things differently than we did before we left. I'd like to think I will be a little less stressed about the little things in life, and Scottie hopes he won't take for granted the convenience of having technology available at all times. As always, our life at home won't be very different than it was when we left. Scottie will be going back to his job, and I will be starting a short-term sub position while writing my thesis. I'm sure we'll experience some reverse-culture shock when we get back, but I'm hoping that being here and returning together will lessen it a bit. I think maybe the hardest thing about going home is realizing that the thing that's changed the most while you've been gone is yourself.

Again, we feel so fortunate to have been able to have this experience at all. We know how truly lucky we are to have been able to come to Tanzania, and we've realized how much we take our lives at home for granted. I know that is something we will be more aware of from now on. We've gotten to do so many unique, amazing things in Africa and we've learned a lot through some of the hard moments we've had here as well. Thank you to everyone for supporting us with kind words and encouragement throughout our time here, as well as so many of you for helping us get here in the first place. We can't wait to see you all when we get home and catch up on what we've missed since we've been gone.

Much love from Africa,
Laura and Scottie

Becoming One with Africa's Wildlife

Disclaimer: This is a (very) long one, but a good one.

This past week, Scottie, our friend Hannah, and I took a six-hour-long bus ride to meet Clare and Joe for a mini-vacation. We met them in Lushoto, which is a little bit south of Arusha and located within the Usambara Mountains.

Simply getting on the bus was an ordeal in itself. Hannah, Scottie, and I shared a cab to the bus station at 5:30 in the morning and, loaded up with our giant backpacks, got out of the cab in the dark to try to find the ticket stand we had bought our tickets at earlier in the week. Although we've been to the bus station a few times, it looks remarkably different when it is dark out, and all three of us (pre-coffee) struggled to get our bearings. We walked back and forth amidst the crowd of people hassling us, pulling us towards their buses, and shouting the various names of different cities, attempting to look confident with where we were going. By the time we finally found our man, paid for our bags, and got on our bus, we felt like we had already put in a full day's work. Luckily, Lushoto was beautiful, and made the crazy bus station and long bus ride, worthwhile.

Lushoto is (as the name suggests) lush! The green mountains seem endless and the contrast of the red dirt roads is a beautiful, stark contrast to the perma-brown roads in Arusha. Our first day, we decided to do a day-hike with a guide that Clare and Joe had met earlier in the week. The hike was relatively easy, and mainly took us through different villages and some wooded areas. People in Lushoto rarely see mzungus, so many children and adults came running to get a glimpse at us. The goal of the hike was to reach Irente Viewpoint, which is rock which overlooks the Usambara mountains and the Massai plains. The view was breathtaking, and well worth the hike.

The Irente Viewpoint

Joe got it in his head during a hike earlier in the week, that he wanted us to sleep overnight at Kiguu Hakwewa Hill, an old German World War II bunker, which we nicknamed "The Hut". Hannah wasn't feeling well that night and stayed back in Lushoto, so it was only our guide Yassin, Clare, Joe, Scottie, and I that went up. We brought with us warm clothes, some sleeping bags, ingredients for guacamole, and enough booze for a small army (including some contraband "home brew" that we bought in a village during our hike the previous day). The hike up to the hut was treacherous, especially with our heavy bags, but it was amazing to walk through the Magamba Rainforest and see colobus monkeys swinging from the trees, and some chameleons crawling across the road (wildlife encounters #1 and #2). The view from the top of the hill was impressive; you could see all of Lushoto, the Usambara mountains, the Massai plains, and even the Irente Viewpoint from the day before. We set up camp inside the hut (which we had to break into because the park ranger never showed up); Clare and Yassin began making guacamole, and Scottie and Joe started a small fire. By the time the sunset, we had full stomachs and were comfortable drinking, listening to music, and swapping stories. For the most part, all of us slept well that night, safely inside of our hut as the wind whistled loudly around us. The next morning, all feeling a little wobbly from the "home brew," we made our way back down the mountain through the Rainforest, which was a peaceful and beautiful walk, and a perfect way to end our time in Lushoto.

"The Hut"!

The view from The Hut

From Lushoto, we took a sweaty bus ride to Tanga, which is a port city on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Tanga was pretty quiet when we arrived, so we decided to spend only one day there doing a bicycle tour of The Amboni Caves and the Galanos Sulphur Springs. The bicycling part of our tour was very cool; it was fun to bike through villages and get to see the different buildings and greenery of Tanga. Many of us were a little apprehensive about actually going into the caves, but our tour guide reassured us that there were very few small spaces and that we would be safe. The caves were spectacular. We walked into the giant openings and got to see stalactites, stalagmites, and thousands of sleeping bats. At one point, our guide made us crawl through a very narrow tunnel, which unfortunately, three of us were very uncomfortable doing. It wasn't a long tunnel, but it definitely got my mind thinking about the walls caving in, and after that point, I felt my breathing get a lot shallower. Once we were through the tunnel, the guide had us look up at more bats. Now I wouldn't say I have a particular phobia of bats, but I prefer them where they are; sleeping, way up above me. Our guide however did not hold the same belief as me, and started shining his lantern at the bats in order to make them all swoop around our heads screeching (wildlife encounter #3). I would like to say that I kept my cool during this time, but needless to say, this signified the end of my cave tour, as well as my dignity. Scottie and the rest of the group braved the remainder of the caves and even faced Hannah's fear of giant spiders (wildlife encounter #4). After the caves, we biked to a crocodile-infested river (wildlife encounter #5) and took the world's smallest canoes across in order to see the very smelly and very small sulphur springs. I can't say any of us were very impressed, but at least we conquered yet another scary, only-in-Africa sort of experience. Unfortunately, our tour was not the greatest, but we got a good workout in and managed to find a wonderful lunch before heading to Ushongo--the beach!

Bats!

This is right before I crouched down into the fetal position and started crying

The ride to Ushongo was treacherous and required taking a ferry across the crocodile-infested Pangani river (wildlife encounter #6). We booked "safari tents" at our resort ahead of time, which ended up being unnecessary because it is the off-season and we happened to be the only people at our resort. When we arrived, the sun was just setting and I was feeling a bit skeptical of our safari tent accommodations. The price was right, but I wasn't loving how rustic the banda was, and I timidly checked out the thatched roof for giant moths and bugs. At this moment a bat began flying around our room, swooping past my head as I screamed and ran out of the tent followed by said bat (wildlife encounter #7). Again, I wouldn't say I exactly have a phobia of bats, but after my hellish cave experience the last thing I wanted coming screeching at me as I entered the room I was staying in for the next three nights was a freaking bat. After a proper melt-down (where Scottie was most wonderful and patient), I made my way back to our tent. Joe reassured me that he had spent the last 20 minutes banging all the planks in the tent and saw no other sign of a bat. As he was talking, another bat (wildlife encounter #8) began fluttering around and I again, ran out of the tent hysterical. I'd like to say I'm a pretty outdoorsy type of girl and do my fair amount of camping and roughin' it in the Midwest, but I was at no point excited to be along the coast of Africa in some deserted resort with not one but two bats in my room and I decided  to make sure the manager knew and did something about it. Unfortunately, I failed to remember in this moment that TI(F)A and that the grounds people at our resort are only concerned with keeping monkeys out of the tents. No discount, no moved room, no apology.

Needless to say, the wine flowed that night and I enlisted Scottie and Joe to be on bat patrol and get the bat the hell out of my tent; which they did with glee. Breakfast and the beach the next morning more than made up for the ridiculous night I had and I was feeling much better with our tent the second night we went to bed. That is until I woke up in the middle of the night to the noise of bush babies (small nocturnal monkeys) shrieking right next to and on top of our tent (wildlife encounter #9). For whatever reason, I got it into my head that these monkeys had evolved like in The Planet of the Apes and were intent on figuring out their way into our tent and murdering us. It was a long, hot, scary, sleepless night.

In the morning, Joe reassured me that bush babies are harmless and actually quite adorable (cough) and I had nothing to worry about the night before. Feeling silly, I went to brush my teeth, and happened to see a green mamba slithering away on the path (wildlife encounter #10). Highly poisonous? Yes! We spent the day on the beach playing volleyball and had a wonderful dinner (truly, our resort's saving grace was the food). That night, the bush babies were much quieter, and I mastered nonchalantly shining my flashlight out the window to scare them off while remaining semi-asleep. The next morning it was time to move on to Peponi, a well-established beach resort closer to Tanga, but before we left, was nearly trampled by the resort's horses doing laps around the paths (wildlife encounter #11). Peace out, Ushongo Beach.

When we arrived at Peponi we were immediately thrilled. The friendly staff and owner greeted us and helped us with our bags, and we could already tell what a step up Peponi would be from Ushongo. While walking to our five-person beach banda we were cut off by two large monkeys chasing one another loudly (wildlife encounter #12), one of which was badly bleeding. Not a good start, but to be honest, at this point, I think we all brushed it off like it was nothing. Screeching, bleeding monkeys? Hakuna Mattata! Our beach banda turned out to be wonderful, with a big bathroom, nice beds, a hammock, and even ceiling fans! Because Peponi is located on a rocky beach with is frequently at low tide, they also have a POOL, which was easily the best part. We spent our first day in Peponi swimming and laying by the pool, eating good food, and in general enjoying the proper vacation we feel like we earned after our last few nights. For our last full day in Peponi we took the resort's dhow "Pepi" out snorkeling and got to see loads of fish, sea urchins, and coral. Hannah and I were not particularly keen on the snorkeling, especially after I realized that I was repeatedly being stung by very, very small jellyfish (wildlife encounter #13). Hannah and I spent most of our time on the dhow, but Clare, Joe, and Scottie seemed to really enjoy the snorkeling and all of us enjoyed spending time on the white sand bar that appears during low tide in the middle of the ocean. We spent a bit of time swimming, snorkeling, snacking, and in general avoiding getting completely roasted by the hot, hot sun. Joe and Scottie saw a giant eel (wildlife encounter #14) swimming right alongside the small island, which was very cool, although I think Joe would admit that he practically jumped out of the water when it initially came after him.

Our dhow, "Pepi"

For our last night together, we gave one another "fines," just like we did after the cricket match, which was a fun way to wrap up our three months together. Saying goodbye to Clare and Joe in the morning was difficult; we are going to miss spending time with them and are sad to see our rafikis go, but I know we will meet up in the future for more adventures.

The Group!

All in all, it was kind of a trip of facing our fears. I felt like we had the opportunity to experience the rougher, rustic side of Africa, and was happy we did it in the end. And now on the plus side, when I see geckos, giant millipedes, and wasps crawling around my room, I just think, "Hey, at least it's not a bat."

All craziness aside, Scottie and I both agree that this was one of the best vacations of our lives because of the friends who were here with us. There was a point during this whole three-month-long experience where Scottie and I weren't sure we would ever bond with anyone, or make any lifelong friends. We both feel so happy and fortunate to have done so, and feel like it has made this journey that much better.

Our bus ride home today took three hours longer than we expected and the bus managed to break down and drive through a crazt political mob/celebration all in nine hours' time...certain things in Africa I'm sure we won't miss once we're home. One week left until we're home!
Much Love,
Laura and Scottie