Last Post From Africa

Saturday, Spetember 25 - This is my last scheduled post from Africa.  If there is another African post, it will mean I've had transportation problems of some type.

Don in front of his new TZ business

Typical Marketplace Shop

More Shops

Dala-dala - Holds 20 people

Peddle-power Sewing Machines

My favorite memories of TZ will be the warm, open, friendly, helpful people and the amazing animals.  This is a place you should experience.

That's all until I get home.

Hard Work

I am totally amazed at how hard people here work.  Many people work at manual labor jobs where people-power is used rather than machine-power.  This is good because it employs more people.

Education is another place where we see hard work in action.  Primary school (K-6) is provided by the government.  There are also private primary schools.  There are national exams which last all day for a week to get into secondary school.  If you don't get a high enough score, you move to the manual labor group.  You may be selling oranges or cell phone chargers on a street corner or working on a farm. 

There are both private and public secondary schools.  Only 10% of the students attend secondary school.  If you score well enough to enter seconary school, there are 4 levels.  These are called Forms 1-4.  Each year you must take a national exam (all day for a week) to see if you can progress to the next form.  If you complete all 4 forms, you can go to Forms 5 and 6.  Forms 5-6 would be similar to our community colleges.  It is very unusual to get through Form 6.

Then you can apply to a university.  Again there are public and private universities.  As in the US privates cost substantially more than publics.  The government offers loans (no scholarships) to university students.  These are repaid with interest beginning one year after graduation.

I spoke with a Form 3 girl yesterday who told me her dream was to attend university, but that she needed to really excel if she was to achieve this dream.  She wanted a career where she had her own job, rather than working in her father's restaurant.

Good sites

Tee shirts and sweatshirts are very popular attire for people in TZ.  Many of these are donations from US groups.  It makes for some good laughs seeing what some people are wearing.  Last Sunday we were in Bomalongombe and attended church at one of the preaching points of the Lutheran church.  We saw a girl approaching the Roman Catholic church wearing a bright pink sweatshirt that said in large letters across the front, "I'm not FAT. I'm knocked up!"  I wonder if she knows what it says.  This morning we saw a young guy with a "Chick Magnet" tee shirt on.  Again, does he know what it means?

I'm at a place called Neema Craft which employs handicapped people who make clothing, jewelry, greeting cards, etc.  It's a neat group to support.  They have an awesome restaurant with a balconey overlooking the street.  It also has an internet cafe and is a WIFI hotspot.  Good group to support.

Two days until I leave for my return trip to the US.  I'm taking a public bus from Iringa to Dar Es Saalam.  That should be interesting.  I will catch a taxi from the bus depot to the airport.  The rest should be easy.

Thoughts on Tanzania

I am nearing the end of my time in TZ.  Today I walked for over an hour alone in Iringa and never saw another caucasian.  I wandered through the markets, past small shops and through the hospital grounds.  I never felt threatened in any way.

TZ is an interesting country.  Religion is a very important aspect of everyday life here.  About 1/3 of the country is Christian and 1/3 Muslim.  The rest have no belief or believe in traditional, "native" religions.  Everyday I see kids walking to school.  There will be groups of Muslim girls walking with groups of Christian girls.  I have seen very little friction of any kind.

This is a year of the presidential election in TZ.  We asked one of the university research assistants that Don works with if religion played a part in the election.  He gave us a funny look and asked why would religion play a part in politics.   Interesting comment.  I can remember when John Kennedy was running for president and the "talk" was that if he was elected, he would be taking orders from the pope.

Don is off at a pastor meeting talking about agriculture and the need for the pastors to be leaders in this effort.  I opted to stay back in Iringa, read, relax and explore.  We had a very traditional meal last night at a small place called Mama's.  It was kitimoto, ugali and chipsies.  The chipsies are like French fries.  The ugali is the traditional dish of the working poor (most of the country).  It's corn flour dropped in boiling water and made into a ball of tasteless goo.  It is thicker than oatmeal or grits.  It will stay in a ball shape if you mold it into one.  The kitimoto is cooked pork.  The cook will hack away at a side of pork and cut everything into pieces about 2" in size.  It can be deep fired but last night it was cooked in a hot sauce.  You eat everything with your fingers.  It would have been nice to have a napkin, but pants and hankie had to be my substitute.

All in all, this has been a marvelous experience. I look forward to returning.

Safari Time

On Tuesday, September 21, Don and I drove to Mwagusi Camp for our safari. This camp is in the Ruaha National Park. The park is 100 km west of Iringa and the camp is 25 km inside the park. Mwagusi Camp can be checked out at www.mwagusicamp.com. The camp holds 26 people at maximum capacity and has 35 full time staff along with 12 trainees. That means you have almost 2 staff per guest. If you want to sit at a table, there is always someone to pull your chair out and help you sit.

We stayed in a banda which is a tent with a thatched roof, a porch overlooking the river and a full bathroom. Thatched roof structures make up the office, dining room and every other structure in camp. We had a large, male elephant in residence in the camp. He was standing outside the banda of one couple who were to join us for the afternoon game drive yesterday. They couldn’t leave until MR. ELEPHANT left. So, we waited for them.

Going on a safari has been a lifelong dream for me. This was better than I expected. Ruaha Park is unusual because there are very few tourists at any one time. In the Serengeti if one group finds a pride of lions, they will be quickly joined by 10 other groups. It has become very commercialized. On 3 occasions we sat along with groups of lions. We were so close to a giraffe that I needed to use the wide angle setting on my camera to get all of the creature in the picture frame.

The food in camp was beyond wonderful. Last night we had dinner under a full moon at a table sitting on the dry bed of the Great Ruaha River. This was not the trip for weight reduction. I guess I’ll work on that next week. For brunch today, we sat overlooking the Great Ruaha River and watched herds of 100s of impala coming for a morning drink of cool water. I have more pictures than I know what to do with.

We are off to a meeting tomorrow to see a group of pastors. I wonder if they will be as exciting as the Ruaha animals.

Greater Kudu

Zebra Brothers

Nap Time

Good Ears

Tea Country

Today, Monday, September 20, I spent the day with Ray Menard and his wife Lonnie touring a tea producing cooperative.  This was near the town of Mkonge which is south of Iringa past Mafinga.  This area is at the same altitude as Boma, around 6,500 feet above sea level.  The countryside is made up of gently rolling hills covered in tea plants.  The tea fields were a brilliant green.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Tea grows on bushes which seem to be only 12 - 18 inches tall.  These remind me of bonzai trees.  They are constantly being trimmed to keep them at this helight.

We saw people hunched over with large baskets on their backs plucking tea leaves.  They work a 12 hour day and are paid $2.65 per day if they pluck 200 pounds of leaves.  Seems like a really good way to have a back ache at the end of the day.  Migrant workers are used by many of the large corporate plantations.  We were meeting with a cooperative made up of over 500 small farmers.

Once the tea is plucked it must be taken to the processor within a couple of hours.  Otherwise, it starts to spoil.  At the processing plant it goes through a drying process and is chopped into fine pieces.  It is then sorted and graded and fermented before it is packaged for sale..  TZ tea is supposed to be among the best teas in the world.  We'll see.  I bought some to bring home.

Tomorrow our safari begins.  Two days of animal viewing should be a blast.

Bomalongombe #2

This is an amazing place.  It sits about 6,500 feet above sea level.  There are lots of trees and the soil is very fertile.  This is a stark constrast to the other parts of TZ I have seen.  I've rarely seen greeen trees and the soil seems to be red clay and difficult to farm.  Corn and potatoes are the main crops in the Boma area.  The houses are different from Iringa, Kidibaga and Tungamalenga.  Here wood is the basic building material rather than bricks.  This structures in this town resemble Guatemala which also has an abundance of wood.

Boma has electricity because CEFA, an Italian nonprofit aid organization, built a hydroelectric plant.  They built a dam on a small river at the top of a hill and directed the water through a spillway and into pipe.  The pipe ran down the hill to a building which held a turbine which was spun by the rushing water.  Pretty slick.

We took part in a 2 1/2 hour worship service.  It was shorter than usual because the main pastor wasn't there.  It was the most spirit-filled, liveliest and most fun service I've been to in a long, long time.  The time flew by.  The music absolutely rocked.  I recorded some of the music on my phone.  It's pretty good.

We then had a 2 hour meeting with the town leadership where Ray Menard updated the group on the plans to build a potato storage facility.  The town wants it done immediately.  Ray has convinced them to form a co-op to gain group buying and selling power.  It was a really positive meeting.