August 28th, 2008

I have written this entry so many times inside my head, that now when I have the time, partial energy and computer to put the thoughts on to, I am not sure where to begin.

Having left Toronto at 6pm Tuesday August 26th, 2008 my journey continued until 9pm August 27th when I arrived at my temporary new home in Tanzania. The flights weren’t too bad aside from Kung Fu Panda being the movie choice for the trip to Amsterdam (I fell asleep watching it this time too! I guess I owe Adam an apology).

On the flight to Kilimanjaro I met a nice guy from Romania who entertained me with his engineering knowledge and stories about his pregnant wife and young son. The flight wasn’t full so we were able to stretch out and each seat had its own seat to enjoy a myriad of choices. I settled in with “Vantage Point” then promptly fell asleep after my seat mate interrupted the movie to share that Canada has the next killer active volcano in the world and that it is probably best that I am going to Africa. The remainder of the flight consisted of sleeping to the sounds of Jack Johnson and Michael Buble, and watching 3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (all from season 1).
I am going to backtrack because this is my blog and I can do what I want to. As many people know, I have been incredibly annoyed by the repeated accolades from people calling me Brave. Yes, Brave with a capital B. Well, I’m not sure if the message finally got to me or if it was Freya’s tearful screams as I said good bye to her, Danielle and my dad, but the minute I stepped into the KLM baggage line all I could think was “what am I doing?” Why do I need to go to Africa to learn and by myself! Hmmm well the line was a bit too short because I still had these questions twirling in my mind when I put my 50 Lbs backpack on the belt to check in. Part of me was excited when the woman across the desk said, “I’m sorry but you are going to have to take that over to the overweight drop off” AH Ha! My bag was too heavy, it was a sign, I couldn’t possibly travel with less stuff so perhaps I shouldn’t be going. My thoughts were interrupted by the same woman saying “its not too heavy but because of the straps we prefer if it travels with the overweight luggage”. And here I am writing in Tanzania.

Customs was a blur with only stamp and a thank you before the baggage pick up. I did not realize until this morning that he never asked to see my immunization record. I was really looking forward to sharing that too! When my bag quickly came around the baggage carousel, I grabbed it not remembering how much it weighed. Oops! Thankfully a very nice man was behind me and helped me find the straps. Peter was waiting just inside the doors with many other men with signs. My name was typed and printed on a plain white piece of paper probably in 18 type font. I did need to get quite close before I realized he was there for me. The ride here on the left side was uneventful. The only animals I saw were dogs roaming the pitch black streets. Peter’s English is slightly better than my Swahili, but we managed to have some broken conversations for the 30 minute drive. At one point we were stopped at a police check point. The officer was very nice but I wouldn’t doubt that Peter’s side of the conversation included “this crazy Canadian thinks she can survive here without speaking Swahili!”

The Midlands Lodge is not very big, the parts I have explored so far anyway. When I arrived I was greeted by Cuthbert and he showed me to my room. When I asked if the place was always this quiet, he replied that it was night and everyone was asleep. It was 9pm.

When I arrived in my room last night I was comforted to see a letter from Yusuph at Mkombozi (where I am working) welcoming me with a list of contact people and numbers should I need to get in touch with them. My cell phone was not working so I put the letter aside and figured I would worry about that in the morning.

My room at the Midlands Lodge is quite a bit nicer than I expected. 2 single beds are pushed together to make the person walking in excited that they have scored a Queen sized bed. There is a mosquito net which hangs above the bed during the day and at night provides visual distortions when trying to find the clock. The 2 windows in the bedroom overlook the dining room and sitting area when the thick Asian inspired curtains are left open. I cannot complain about the ample closet space, many shelves and just enough hangers if I were to decide to hang up my clothes and one of the cabinets’ locks so I can store any valuables in it when I am out. The bathroom is nice too: sink, toilet, and tub with hand held shower head. The toilet tends to run way after I attempt to flush it, but stops on its own and the taps to turn the water on in the tub I think are labeled wrong which may have contributed to the five minutes after my shower last night that were spent trying to turn the water off.

After getting settled I realized that I didn’t have any water and from what I remembered tap water is not safe. I went out to the bar/dining area and asked Cuthbert for a bottle, when I held out my $20US to pay he laughed and said I could pay him tomorrow when I have smaller bills. Really, He can’t break the equivalent to 20,000 shillings? I am curious to find out how much the water costs though, as I forgot to pay him when I returned tonight, I was told he would chase me down if I don’t pay, so I’m not completely worried about forgetting. And for those of you (most likely Erin) who are worried that I can’t drink the tap water, there is a water cooler at work that I can use whenever I like. And I am considering trying to find a kettle in town so I can boil water at night to put in my water bottle during the day. And of course find some Mr. Noodle, just kidding! Sort of.

So this morning when I got up for a 7:30 breakfast I felt pretty good considering it was actually the middle of the night back home. The only problem was that aside from a welcome letter with phone numbers, I had no clue as to what I should be doing. I decided that I could either find my way into town, or find my way to Mkombozi. I did the later. Cuthbert, one of the very helpful people at Midlands walked me down the street to Mkombozi, which happens to be only approximately 100 metres from the hotel. Through the gate and around one of the buildings we ran into Lyn. Lyn is the HR manager at Mkombozi and also happens to be Canadian. She introduced me to many of the staff and explained that they did not think I would be up for anything today and was surprised to see me. (oops!) Yusuph gave me the schedule of my orientation for next Monday and Tuesday and I learned that tomorrow I will be going to the Arusha office. I also met William who is currently the acting director and my direct supervisor in the community engagement department.

Yusuph then took me on a short walk down the street to the children’s residence. The boys are between the ages of 10 and 24/25. There are dormitories, classrooms, dining hall and kitchen area. I met a few of the social workers, all very friendly and a couple of whom are students studying social work from Dar Es Salaam. Hilda finished the tour and answered many of my not-directly-related-to-work questions. The water is not safe to drink, but she drinks it because it is much cleaner than where she grew up. The last volunteer left 2 weeks ago and was from the U.S. working there for one year. She does not know if any more volunteers will be arriving during my stay and while the sun rises before she does, it sets between 6 and 6:30pm every night all year round.

I was given a guide book for Moshi which I think will be very handy, as the information on Moshi in my travel book is only a couple pages. It includes a map but Mkombozi is not quite on it. This leads to my first conundrum, do I try to find a place to live closer to town for more less money or stay here where I can roll out of bed and be there very quickly for $12.99/night including breakfast. Another thing to consider is meals. I don’t have a kitchen in the room I am staying now. Lunch is included at the centre and we all eat with the children every day (today was rice with beans, some sort of shredded boiled spinach and peri-peri which I had forgotton was HOT!). I also have the opportunity to eat dinner with the children as well sometimes, but other times I would have to eat in the hotel restaurant or go into town, or perhaps stalk up on PB & J…hmmmm

In the afternoon I went into town with Yusuph and a few of the other workers. The roads outside of the main town core are very bumpy to the point where not only would I not attempt rollerblading, I would not attempt biking, running, or even driving if it was on the right side. Within the town they are paved but very cramped with people, cars and bikes. There were many people out in the streets, selling things or just relaxing this afternoon and I wonder if it is always this busy with people.

The buildings appear to be old, not exactly run down, but not quite loved either. The tallest building I saw was probably four stories high. Most of the buildings are filled with shops of various specialties: electronics, groceries, variety stores and cloth material. I cannot imagine at this point venturing into the city alone to shop. I think I spotted 4 people who appeared to be foreigners, and not a single person who was wearing shorts. Oh did I fail to mention I decided on my new comfy MEC shorts to wear today? They aren’t short, but they don’t cover my knees either. Perhaps they will be my evening/weekend shorts. Although no one at work said anything to me about them, they were all wearing pants.

Temperature wise the morning was quite cool and I put a long sleeved shirt over my tank top to stay warm, until 11 am or noon I had wished that I had worn pants or a thicker top and was starting to mentally go through my backpack…uh oh not enough clothes to keep me warm? Then the sun hit. And it hit with a vengeance. The temperature must have gone from near 15 degrees to over 25 very quickly. One of the social work girls told me that they had a very cool, almost cold June/July and that they anticipate the next 2-3 months will be overly HOT.

Hmmm….mostly likely in the 30s everyday. Oh global warming, and I say this because she said in the past 24-26 was the norm, but not in recent years, it had been getting hotter. Glad I read that manual on what to bring. Oh and if last was an indication of what the nights are like, it was great! Very warm but not hot. I walked off the plane into pitch black warmth and wished I had packed away my sweater before disembarking.

Ok this is quite a long first post. So I think I will get some extra sleep tonight. We are leaving for Arusha at 7:30am and I think my jet lag finally caught up with me. I will leave you with some random thoughts and facts.

- Billboard with David Beckham in Moshi advertising for Pepsi
- It is against the law to take a picture of a government building, if you are caught pointing a camera at a gov building you will get in trouble
- 4GB chip for camera with USB adaptor for card cost 13 Euros in Amsterdam (I forgot to bring the cord for my camera to attach it to the computer
- Karibu means welcome in Swahili, almost everyone says it all the time, it is very Karibu-ing
- Breakfast and Lunch food on KLM comes in little pods, quite cute, wish I took a photo
- Flying over the Netherlands, Alps, Venice, southern Italy (I saw the heel of the boot!) and the Mediterranean was Amazing. I did take photos of the alps using my phone camera. The flight to Tanzania is worth it for these views.
- No Kili spotting yet, will keep you updated
- In the Amsterdam airport 15 minutes of wireless internet costs 6 Euros. That is why you are reading this now, not then.
- I have wireless internet at work, will need to work out system where I write emails then load them onto internet briefly at work and upload emails from friends and family.
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(Posted August 29th, 2008)