Tanzania Trip Day 8

Morning assembly did not disappoint. In a ceremony run entirely by the student prefects, they hoisted the flag, sang the national anthem, sang other patriotic songs, went over some disciplinary issues (make your beds or you will be punished!) and then sent the students to their classes.

We then sauntered back for breakfast and then headed off for our morning in Morogoro. Our first stop was a visit to the Hero Rats of APOPO. These are African Pouched Rats which have exceptional senses of smell, and are trained for two different purposes. The first is to detect landmines - they are used in about a dozen countries to find landmines and unexploded ordinances which can then be disabled (they are 100% effective at finding explosives if they get within a meter). Their other mission is to detect the presence of tuberculosis in samples sent from clinics. TB today kills more people than malaria and AIDS combined. Third world clinics are only about 50% accurate at detecting TB using microscopes. APOPO receives samples from clinics and can detect TB in samples that did not get discovered by the labs with about 80% accuracy - those they indicate on are confirmed under a more expensive and powerful microscope procedure than the clinics can afford. Some of the patients who are indicated by the rats and who are deemed not to have TB under the microscope later develop TB, so it is possible that the rats are more accurate than the system the checks on them - this is being researched.

We saw them in action as they worked on some samples and then got to hold a couple of the rats. The kids were a bit freaked out at first but came to love them (well, except Rory).

From there we headed to the horticulture area of Sokoine University - the country’s leading agricultural institution. We met Elias, who has been working there since 1977, and he led us on a tour of the fields and orchards. We saw mango trees regenerating, citrus trees beginning to ripen (got to sample grapefruit and pomelos - like a large grapefruit), citrus shoots being grafted onto rootstock to make new trees, and their spice area where they were growing cardamom, vanilla, and peppercorns (got to sample these) among others. Elias is a guru, and we appreciated him leading us on this horticultural adventure.

After picking up some supplies in town, we headed back to SEGA for a late lunch, then spent the afternoon ordering custom clothes and bags from Hussein the tailor (using the cloth they had bought), doing our own laundry by hand, playing netball (like basketball without a backboard) with the SEGA students, and helping Loveness cook dinner.

After dinner and a dance party, we settled in to get ready for another day of adventure.

Tanzania Trip Day 7

Started today with a lovely breakfast prepared by our cook, Loveness. We then had a welcome ceremony with the whole school (they sang and danced their welcome song for us) and a tour of the campus by our host students.

It is quite an operation here - they grow some of their own vegetables and have a chicken farm that produces meat and eggs for them.

 There was even a physics lesson happening on a Sunday morning - we look forward to seeing the school in full action this week. We then boarded the bus for our day in Morogoro.

 Our first mission was to buy some fabric for when the tailor (who will be making custom items for us) comes to visit tomorrow. We visited three shops where the kids were all able to pick something out.

We went to a downtown hotel, the Oasis, for lunch. Indian food was their specialty and we had a spicy and leisurely meal. The last stop of today’s tour was to meet up with our SEGA host students at the Mgolole Orphanage.

This was  a home run by Catholic nuns for several dozen kids whose families had been hit by disease or other tragedies. The SEGA and Monomoy students brought supplies (diapers, cooking oil, etc.) and then played with the kids for a couple hours. They had a chance to hold babies in the nursery and play games with the others on the covered part of the courtyard - too hot to play on the playground (mid-90’s). Our students were wonderful with them, giving and receiving love, entertaining them to no end. It was hard to pull them away at the end. After another fine dinner at SEGA, we took some time to debrief and talk through their experience today and so far on the trip. They seemed to have a new perspective on what we have, what is important, what we can learn, and how different experiences can be for people in the same society - here and there. They had the evening to relax before bed - up early tomorrow for morning assembly at 0720.

Tanzania Trip Day 6

Travel day! OK, we were not exactly set up for success on this day. Everyone has some degree of sunburn, with several of us in a fair bit of misery, Then the pleasant live band that we went to sleep to at 2200 became a most unpleasant, twice as loud, room shaking DJ at 0030, and continued until after 0300. So we were sleep deprived and in pain as we piled into the bus at 0745 for our drive to Morogoro.

There is one two-lane road from Dar to Morogoro, and it seems to function as one massive open market for the first 40 miles or so. So it was slow going.

We stopped for a buffet lunch at a nice roadside restaurant, continued our journey into the hills of Morogoro and arrived at the SEGA Girls Secondary School around 1400.

After dropping our bags at the lodge, we headed over to the main courtyard where they were having a presentation of skits by different classes on female empowerment issues, such as genital mutilation and relationship violence.

They closed with a big group dance to a song on this theme - Break the Chain. We then got to relax in our rooms for a couple hours (and stay out of the sun) until a sunset dinner in our lodge common room. After dinner, there was a school dance back at the main courtyard that about half of us felt up for, the rest saving strength for our first full day here tomorrow.

Tanzania Trip Day 5

Friday started with the usual breakfast then loading up for the waterfront and our beach day at Bungoyo Island Marine Reserve. We ended up on a later boat and got to sample the souvenir shops on the slipway that we will come back to this evening.

 We had a magical three hours on the island, swimming, eating, relaxing, and more swimming. The water was wonderful- warm and refreshing and not too salty.

We caught the 230 boat back, which thankfully was a bit faster if a bit smaller. Despite everyone putting on sunscreen on the way over and our encouragement to reapply, most of them got at least some sunburn - lucky we weren’t there any longer. We went back to the Triniti House for showers and recuperation. A couple hours later we were on the bus riding back to the waterfront. This was our main chance to get some souvenirs at the 100+ shops on the slipway.

After this, we sat down for a dinner at the waterfront, enjoying the view of the sunset and some excellent food. Dinner was followed by some ice cream and strolling along the waterfront, then we headed back to Triniti around 9 to pack for the morning- getting an early start tomorrow.

Tanzania Trip Day 4

Happy Valentine’s Day! The day started with breakfast at 0745 and loading up the bus at 0815. Originally, this had been planned as a bike tour, but there was a mixup with the company and they had all their bikes with a group outside the city. So, it became a tuk-tuk (paj-paj here) tour as we loaded three apiece into a train of seven vehicles – three-wheeled covered mopeds with wide back seats.

This turned out to be a blessing as it was really hot again today (90+ and humid, we are starting to adjust), and this allowed us to do a longer tour then we could have on bikes. Ferdinand was our lead guide, and the tour was designed to show us the heart of the city, which tourists don’t usually see (this is an innovative program developed by AfriTours). We started at a shop where a salesman sells the best shoes that he can get from the apparel drops that happen at the African Market (which we saw later).

 We then visited a coffee seller who grinds his beans in a large pistol and mortar, brews the coffee in a large pot (Arabica beans are served unfiltered), then serves it black in the street for a nickel a cup (expresso size) served with a piece of kashata (a soft peanut brittle). We got to try grinding and sample the coffee and brittle. Ferdinand taught us a lot about Tanzanian culture – as a country of 120+ tribes with none dominant, and with the influence of Arab culture on the coast, Swahili (developed from Arabic, German, English and other influences) became a unifying force and has helped Tanzania avoid the violence that has plagued so many other African countries. He also talked about the transition from the African Socialism of the founding father Julius Nyerere, to capitalism under his successors, and how this has led huge growth in Dar Es Salaam and increasing difficulty in finding a way to scratch out a living in the city.

 We visited Mama Amina (they take their nickname from their first child – she is the mother of Amina) who serves chai masala and chapatis and kitumbua (like small square plain doughnuts) which we also sampled.

We then traveled to the Tandale area, which features single-floor six room concrete and tin roof houses with a different family (up to 6) living in each room.

There were lots of kids who wanted to say hi to us, and we crossed the stream that drains the area which is full of trash.

 We then met Bibi Zituni (grandmother of Zituni) who is the neighborhood’s faith healer and midwife – she showed us the plants she grows and their medicinal properties, and also sold us some animal carvings. We visited an herb shop and learned about what the different herbs are supposed to help, and a fabric show, selling khangas which include phrases to help people convey messages.

 Our last stop on the tour was the huge African Market, which featured food of many varieties (huge piles of mangoes!) and which took us 15 minutes to manage to walk through. We also saw the adjacent market where bails of donated clothing and shoes from other countries are opened and auctioned by the piece – this practice has had the effect of decimating local industries for clothes and shoes.

This tour opened our eyes to the life of ordinary people in Dar, some of whom living on 1.5 dollars a day. We went back to Triniti for lunch (same great menu as yesterday) then visited a local supermarket where the kids could get snacks or ice cream or smoothies.

After a rest, we went to visit a mosque that Taylor had contacted. We dressed nice and brought scarves to cover our heads. We were invited to visit with their Koran students who recited and sung Koran verses that they had memorized.

We then headed for dinner at the Mamboz Grill – a sidewalk barbecue in the center of the city, where we had veggies and fish and beef and chicken and shrimp, all barbecued with a variety of spices and a range of heat.

We capped our night with a nightlife tour, visiting three separate spots with music, having some sodas and mocktails at one and a dance party at another. Tomorrow we head to Bungoyo Island for our beach day!

Tanzania Trip Day 3

It was a bit of a groggy wakeup as the kids gathered around 0830. Breakfast was a wonderful collection of eggs and bacon, fresh fruit and juice, toast and chapatis – like a crepe, adding toppings like peanut butter, honey, mango jam, etc. Our morning journey started by changing money at a small “bank” so we will have some Tanzania Shillings.

We then went to the National Museum, which had some fascinating items, but was a bit sparse – we were the only visitors during our two hours there. The highlight was the excellent exhibit on human evolution, highlighting the many key discoveries made by the Leakeys and others in places like Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli.

We learned about the history of Tanzania also, about African rock art, saw some modern art, and experienced a moving outdoor memorial to the victims of the US Embassy bombing in 1998.

We returned to the Triniti Guest House for a lovely lunch – the kids had their choice among pasta, curry dishes, fish and chips, etc. After some down time, we loaded back up at 1400 to go to the Village Museum where they have many examples of traditional homes from various parts of the country.

We got an unexpected performance of dramatic improv from some of the workers there and then traditional drumming and dancing, with all of us participating in the second part of the show.

We then visited the Nafasi Art Space, a community of local artists who have a campus of all their studios. We saw dancers and craftsmen working looms.

We met a famous cartoonist and the best graffiti artist in the country (according to his colleague). We attended a talk with their current artist in residence – a young portraitist working in charcoal.

The kids showed great patience sitting through the talk which was mostly in Swahili (no shame if some eyelids rested for part of it). The final stop of today’s journey was dinner at Addis in Dar, an Ethiopian restaurant. We sat on their upstairs deck eating various spicy vegetable and meat dishes, served on huge collective platters lined with a thin bread and the dishes on different parts of the platter.

Without utensils, you use the bread (which had a tart taste) to grab some of a dish and have a bite. This was some adventurous eating, and the kids embraced it. They were rewarded with ice cream for dessert, and we got back to the hotel at about 2100. After some more check ins with home (everyone has to gather in the reception hut/bar to have wifi), and some showers to wipe the day’s sweat away, we settled in for an early sleep, hopefully waking tomorrow recovered from our jetlag.

Tanzania Trip Day 1-2

It’s not easy to get to Tanzania. Our journey started by getting up for school Monday having finished our packing the night before losing some sleep also to nervous energy, getting through a school day preparing to miss the next five, and piling in the Cape Destinations bus after a nice sendoff from the assembled parents, wheels rolling at 1430. The bus ride to Logan was quick, going against traffic, and check in at Delta went smoothly. After grabbing some dinner in the terminal, we boarded the A330 and settled in for the 1930 flight to Amsterdam.

The plan was to try to sleep through this flight to set our body clocks closer to our new time - this was partly successful. This was a nice flight with a dinner after takeoff and a breakfast before landing. We landed 0815 local time (jumping forward 6 hours), and after a long want through Schiphol Airport, got to our gate, got another snack, and got on our 777 for our 1015 KLM flight to TZ.

 In theory we would stay awake for this flight so as to be ready to sleep when we got to the hotel. But of course, most of us slept for most of the almost 9 hour flight, given our exhaustion. We didn’t get quite as much food on this flight - a nice dinner after takeoff but only a small snack before later. We landed in Arusha at 2045 (2 hours further ahead) where most of the flight deplaned - those going to Kilimanjaro and the other main tourist spots like the Serengeti.

We got up and stretched for 30 minutes, then the plane loaded up with those on their way home from Arusha, and we took the 45 minute flight to Dar Es Salaam, arriving at 2230. There were only about 40 people who got off in Dar, so customs wasn’t too bad, though it’s never quick. We then met Taylor Klinefelter, our TFT Trip Manager, and loaded in our bus for the drive to the Triniti Guest House.

It was midnight by the time we arrived, and after getting our room assignments, checking in with our families on our first wifi in a long while, we settled in for a fitful sleep at about 0100. These are some intrepid travellers - looking forward to seeing Africa in the daylight!