We arrived to Tanzania Tuesday afternoon, after a long yet uneventful trip. Our first view of Africa was upon decent into Ethiopia, thick beautiful clouds dissipating and rolling green hills slowly coming into view. The land was a patchwork of bright greens and dark greens, clumps of buildings laid sporadic, their gleaming tin roofs reflecting the sun. Ethiopia was so wet and humid, as we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac, the humidity and chilled air washed over our sticky, airplane skin. Although the weather was cool, it was welcomed, a pleasant change from what we have experienced the last few months, Cambodia included. The Addis Ababa airport was small and very white. We ended up getting stuck inside our arrival gate, as there were so many people milling around and no signs to explain where to go. Finally we realized we were to go to a downstairs gate, but unfortunately, there was no way to get to the shops or food kiosks on the outside of the gate area. Our two and a half hour layover went by quickly, though, with a few card games spread out on the floor. I was slightly concerned about the reception of our mainly blonde, mainly female group, but we were never the center of attention, good or bad. This last flight into Tanzania was quite quick, I slept most of the way, and woke up to a view of Kilimanjaro peeking up over the clouds. Getting through customs in Kilimanjaro was a lengthy process, with 11 people and only two customs gates. There were many foreigners on our flight so it took us about an hour and a half to finally make it to the baggage claim. Bags in tow, we headed out to the small reception area, where Krissy and I hugged for, I can only imagine, much longer and tighter than the Tanzanian people were used to. Two little blonde girls wrapped tightly around each other jumping up and down for about seven minutes is probably not too common. She and Lisa Marie had begun to think that there was a complication on the other side of the gate, but this was just an example of working on “Africa Time”, as we would quickly learn. Tanzania’s first impression was quite different from Ethiopia, much more desert and dryness. Unfortunately, I could not keep my eyes open for the ride from the airport to the guesthouse, so I did not get a good look at the landscape. Upon arriving to Arusha, the town center was much smaller than I’d imagined, I kept waiting to see the main city, finally realizing there was none. We were introduced to Jason, Kelvin, Loth, Dada Dotto, and Oscar, our Tanzanian family for the time we are here, ate a delicious meal and settled into our new home. The weather is quite chilly, as Krissy and Lisa Marie warned, so bedtime consists of layering up like camping and crawling into my mosquito net tent.
Wednesday was spent touring Arusha. Rasta John and Jason met us at the guesthouse and we walked to the clock tower in the middle of town. This clock tower is not what you would imagine it to be, nothing grandiose, nothing fancy, but the people of Arusha are quite proud of it. To one direction lies the police station, and next door lies the jail, now a well-known hotel. We made our way to the Natural History Museum, where Rasta John gave a very entertaining, unique tour. Everywhere we went, Rasta John led the way, shaking hands and yelling hello to nearly everyone on the street (he seems to be quite the local celebrity), while Jason followed in the rear, keeping everyone in line and on point. Our next stop was a brief tour of the Masai Market, which is quite touristy, but we were all able to get a feel for how to interact with the locals a bit more. The African Market, however, was not used to seeing a group of 13 muzungas. This market is for food and spices, and is exponentially cleaner than the markets in Cambodia. Everything smells delicious, but maybe that is because we didn’t go near the raw meat. Rasta John led us around, picking up different foods for us all to try. I’m not sure if he paid anyone for the things he took to feed us, but no one seemed to mind. When the locals say hello, they expect you to reply in Swahili, and if you don’t, they will tell you the proper response. From here we went to a cultural museum and saw local art from upcoming artists. Some of the paintings were so beautiful, it made me wish I had a few thousand dollars on reserve, and a nice house to hang them in. Tanzanian people are very proud of their heritage and history, it’s inspiring how they love to share it. Although we saw under 10 other white people all day, I never felt uncomfortable or out of place. The Tanzanians are so warm and welcoming, it was no problem to fit in.
Today was our first day at the school. It was bigger than I was expecting, yet similar to the school in Nicaragua. All the children wear navy blue uniforms, and despite ragged torn sweaters and pants, they all look very put together and nice at all times. Most of the children, boys and girls, have shaved heads, so you have to pay close attention to whether or not they are wearing a dress, earrings or girls shoes. Every teacher was dressed to the nines. The women wore beautiful kongas, their hair was braided perfectly and their large infectious smiles radiated from across the yard. The men wore suit jackets, nice shoes and looked very groomed. Our students were all assigned to a specific classroom, from “baby” to “class 7”. I began the day in “class 7” where we worked on different tenses of English and math lessons that I think I learned towards the end of my high school career. There were problems I didn’t know the answer to, and it was all I could do to not sneak a look at my calculator. Unlike Cambodia, the children were reserved and more private. It took some work and persistence for them to open up and begin to talk to us. The class sizes are quite large, and no matter what age, it is quite intimidating to try to teach or engage the students. I spent some time in the baby classroom and found that keeping them entertained with a book or dance was much more difficult than it would be back home. Some of the students and teachers have very fun, interesting names: Gifty, Glory, Angel, Witness, Bright, God Listens, Honest, Innocent and Happyness are just a few. My last few hours of the day were spent helping a teacher, Madame Lily, grade papers. To grade exams and enter grades is not simple like importing them into a computer. I had to write down test scores, then go through and arrange them into class ranking, while Krissy was averaging the grades out. It was so much time and effort, I can’t imagine how they complete it on their own.
Our last bit of the day was spent on a home visit, which was much more powerful than I was expecting. We went to the home of the mother of Lasarian (the husband of Maria, the founder of the school). She takes care of Gifty, who is her great nephew. After talking to her, we discovered that she is an herbal healer, which is how she has come to house so many children. Her grandson, Eric, came to live with her when her daughter and her son-in-law died of HIV. Eric too has HIV, but does not take medication because he does not get sick, although the medication could prevent him from developing AIDS someday. While telling us all this, Grandma began to sob. She then explained that Kingy, another child that lives with her, was brought to her by his parents to be treated for tuberculosis. While Grandma was treating him, Kingy’s parents (Masai villagers) ran away, leaving Grandma to care for him. This was two years ago. Kingy’s real name is Simon. Grandma gave him the nickname Kingy because when he first came to her house, none of the other kids liked him because he was always coughing. This made Grandma mad, and upon telling the other children they were to treat him as a king, the nickname stuck. For some reason this story broke my heart. I was devastated for Kingy, left alone in a time of desperate need for love. I was so touched and sad for Grandma, who has suffered such personal loss, yet continues to better the lives of so many others who are struggling. It was such an intense day in so many days.
I have much more to write but I am exhausted. I hope you enjoyed my brief rundown of my first few days in Africa, more to come.
