Hard Knock Life

“The Tanzanian life is a hard life.” That was the end of one of the first conversations I had with a Tanzanian at the beginning of the semester. And each experience here makes this statement more and more true.  Let’s start with a few statistics before we get into my Tanzanian adventures. 85% of Tanzanians survive on $2 dollars a day. The Tanzanian population is 46 million and half the population is under 15 years old. The average life expectancy is 52 years old.  33% of the Tanzanian budget is aid money and most of this is pocketed by government officials. Only 15% of students move on from secondary school to college.  But the more telling part is living it. 

            Last week we began our 3-week homestay in Bangata village on the slopes of Mt. Meru.  Bangata is representative of the top 15% of Tanzania in terms of wealth.  But don’t picture mansions on the mountainside, it is far from this.

            I got extremely lucky with my family. They make me feel so comfortable, make great food, and I love our conversations and just the general vibe of the house. But easy conversations are not the norm. All 21 students went to different homes, I just happened to get the one family that knows quite a bit of English (and is on the wealthier side). Unlike the other students’ houses, my house has electricity, running water, and we have the option to cook on an electric stovetop. Most students have to fetch water (most mamas fetch water five times a day) and cook each meal over a fire. Some appliances that no one has include: washing machines, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, bathtubs, and the list goes on.  Some families have pikipikis (motorcycles), but there are very few/ no cars.  Also showers here are a bucket of water, where you kind of soap up and splash. (And remember this is the top 15% of Tanzania). A little different from America’s top 15%.  I don’t mean to sound negative of this lifestyle because I honestly feel comfortable. The water is clean in Bangata, the food is flavorful, the tea is amazing, the landscape gorgeous, and the people are fantastic. The hard part about Tanzania life isn’t not having these luxury appliances; it’s not being able to find a job.  There are no jobs here. And with 50% of the population being under 15, this is scary. Young adults have very limited options. Tourism jobs are desirable (the Tanzanian GDP is 30% from tourism) but jobs stay within families…it’s who you know, not what you know.  Also, although primary and secondary school are suppose to be free, the government has sneaky ways of charging for books, uniforms, supplies, etc. making school relatively expensive.  Further, the average Tanzanian woman has 8 kids.  So with school fees stacking up and you and your husband not being able to find a job, what are you to do? Too bad the government is too corrupt to even think about starting job creation projects.

            Wow, okay so back to some happier times with my homestay family. I have a mama (works at home), a baba (is an account in Arusha), a kaka (brother in college and lives at home), and a dada (9 years old, adorable, and goes to secondary school in Arusha). Like I said I love my family and they make me feel comfortable. But I’m trying to explore and see other families who don’t know English to get a better sense of Bangatan lifestyle.  Relationships mean everything here. Neighbors come and go as they please and it seems that everyone is somehow related. Friendships are lifetime here and helping others is just a part of living. (I think my family pays for other kids school fees.) Also you greet everyone when you walk through town…shikamoo to elders and mambo to youngsters. People always say pole to me when I run in the morning (and even sometimes when I walk), which means sorry, so I can only imagine how pathetic I look.

            Most (probably 90-95%) raise their own food (and sell some of it). We grow bananas, pawpaws, maize, onions, tomatoes, spinach, and mangoes. And most (probably 95%) have livestock: cows, chickens, sheep, and goat.  (Our family use to have 1,000 chickens at one point, to make money, but right now we don’t have any).  Meals here our super carb based (rice, maize, ugali, bread, spaghetti), which is fun for my digestive system, but I’ve figured it out and try and eat small portions. Which bring me to another point: big is beautiful here. My baba says my portions are too small/ I’m too small. I asked my Tanzanian teacher if this meant we American thinner girls weren’t as attractive. He said nah, it’s just referred to as an English woman’s body, but that guys here prefer curves and a wawowo (big butt). (o and random side note dinners here are around 9/9:30, Spain style…but I go to bed right after, shocking I know.)

            Also random cute story, the 2^nd day I was here my little sister brought me home a chocolate bar that she bought on her way home school.  The night before we had been flipping through a supermarket ad and I saw snickers and told her how much I love chocolate. She on the other hand doesn’t like chocolate or sweets, which I could not comprehend, but made the gift that much cuter.  My brother is always blasting American music: Chris Brown, Pitbull, Drake, Enrique, Rihanna, Beyonce, MIA, etc. and how could I not enjoy that. My mom and dad are informative and great at explaining cultural and political phenomenons. Some fun cultural things: the radio is always on and always on the same station: some Christian Kiswahili one because I always hear the word “hallelujah”…pronounced “hall-a-jew-wah.”  We went to a Lutheran Christian church on Sunday and my favorite parts were the songs and looking at the beautiful, colorful dresses of the mamas. The church sermon was followed by a random crop auction. The sermon was apparently telling parents to not beat their kids..probably a good idea.  The tv here is hilarious. We only watch one channel. My favorite show is called Mara Clara, originally a Philippine show with really basic English voiced over so the words never match their mouths.

            Lastly, we are learning Kiswahili every weekday at a nearby school but polepole (slowly). Also on Thursdays we have discussions with local Bangatans and a translator to get their perspective on politics and development. Last Thursday, I was surprised by how much focus the group put on western education. They really wanted further development in their schools and were very specific about what developments. For example, they want to build science labs, employ science teachers, and build libraries. I still have to wear long skirts and covered shoulders everyday, which kind of kills. But I’ve never been tanner and I’m so rocking my tan lines.  And when I run I have to wear shorts to my knees and people look at me like I’m crazy (since running is somewhat unusual here), but I am crazy.

            The longer I’m here the more I admire the people here. He was right, “The Tanzanian life is a hard life.”  But I’ve never been in a more social, interactive environment where there are so many smiles (sounds cliché, I know, but it’s true).  Let’s be honest, if I had to live this life and was struggling just to find a job that paid 2 or 3 dollars a day I would crumble and probably be a biotch that didn’t want to help her neighbors. I think I’m just starting to absorb some of the life lessons here and as a girl who grew up in Orange County, I could probably use some.

            Still loving this country and want to cry about how fast it’s going by. Until next time my friends and family…KWA HERI!

            P.s. I miss you all. 

Animals on more Animals

Hello again world. It’s been awhile. Can’t say I missed you too much internet, but my peeps from back home I miss you! I’ve been away in paradise, and what I wouldn’t give for you guys to be able to join this adventure.

            The past 2 weeks we travelled and camped in three different places: Tarangire National Park (my fav so far), Lake Manyara Forest Reserve near Mto Wa Mbu village (a village with the best campsite and pool), and Mozambai Tropical Forest Reserve in the Usambara Mountains (where we camped on a lawn next to a beautiful, old colonial Swiss chalet).

            Before we jump to the incredible animals we saw, I must describe my first glimpse of Tanzanian government corruption. After staying in Arusha for a few nights after Ndarakwai, we were off in the safari cars to Tarangire National Park. We hadn’t even left Arusha when a female police officer chose our car as one of the random inspections for registration and to ask why we didn’t have a tour sticker. Most cars just keep going even when asked to pull over. Our driver kind of swerved around her (not sure if he intended to stop or not), but she was not pleased and slammed her fist on our car and requested the soldier guys to assist her. So then about 12 soldiers with huge guns (who we were told to avoid) rip our driver out of our car, give him a slap on the back, throw him in the back of their truck, and a screaming match ensued. Of course a huge crowd developed and we had no idea what was going on since we know barely any Kiswahili. In the end, we ended up going to the police station and our driver had to pay $50,000 TZ shillings (she initially wanted 120,000..crazy) because he didn’t have his license on him. (Interesting random fact: a lot of Tanzanians have a license with a fake birth date to make them older.) We later learned that she was likely on a power trip and demanded the money because she could.  Money trumps here and government corruption will always exist as long as money has the power over justice. Sad days.

            So back to a happier note…the wildlife parks were simply incredible.  You have to view the wildlife from a safari rooftop, which suited my lazy bum just fine.  We saw impala, lots of elephants, cheetahs!, waterbuck, dikdiks, jackals, mongooses, lions!, ostriches, hippos, gazelle, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some.  The lions were obviously my favorite.  (Look at the pic, the male simba is such a boss).  Every night we could hear 2 different male lions about a kilometer away roaring to establish their territories. We also had nightly hyena visitors sniffing some of the tents, which I sadly slept right through each time.  O and we’ve been learning things too and doing field studies, so don’t worry mom and dad.

            We also got to swim at one of the fancy lodges (500USD a night). It felt amazing. With a beer in one hand, dirt finally off, my feet in the pool, and watching elephants nearby…HEAVEN.

            Mto wa Mbu village was also incredible. We got to visit a Maasai spiritual healer…a 70 year old man with 27 wives and over 100 children.  If that doesn’t take spiritual power, I don’t know what does. In the village we also toured the various ethnic groups nearby and purchased some beautiful wooden carvings and paintings and tried some banana beer and wine. But the fun really got out of hand when we went to the nearby disco…obviously we danced the night away, American style.

            The tropical forest was breathtaking as expected, the pics speak for themselves.  But the best part is the Usambara peoples’ beliefs.  They think that white people are vampires. But really, they do. All generations believe this. Although in the day they’re okay because white people are only vamps at night. Crazy. This would’ve been useful to know before our village interviews (which included interviews on agriculture, women, ethnobotany and wood fuel). Now I understand why there were about 50 school kids surrounding me and 5 other girls…they wanted to watch the vampires. (SOOKIE).

            I’m clearly still on a whirlwind African adventure and can’t get enough. This past week a few girls have gotten sick, which was painful just to watch, but I’m still gong strong (knock on wood). My favorite part of TZ is still meeting people and making local rafikis. (and we have the most amazing camp crew, who are starting to feel like family). The people here are so welcoming and I have so much to learn from them.

            Today we meet our homestay families and stay we them for the next three weeks. So nervous.
Miss you all at home. I usually only get internet for about 30 minutes every few weeks. So until next time. KWA HERI!

            Miss you all at home. I usually only get internet for about 30 minutes every few weeks. So until next time. KWA HERI!

First Impression= Mind-blown

Wow. Honestly, don’t even know where to start. This adventure has been at ultra speed and so much amazingness has happened.

If I wrote everything this would be too long for our generation’s attention span, so I’ll just do the highlights.

The first few days we camped in a place called Ndarakwai Ranch. After a bumpy bus ride (that beats Indian Jones ride anyday) and 2 pee stops in the bush, we arrived at midnight. We set up our tents, ate, and went straight to bed. The view when we woke up was incredible, with Mt. Meru to one side and Mt. Kilimanjaro to the other. The pics speak for themselves.

As soon as we woke up we saw wildlife, starting with some crazy baboons near our campsite.

By the end of the trip we saw our fair share of zebra, wildebeest, giraffes, warthogs, dik-diks, birds, vervet monkeys, bushbabies, impalas, and inlands, all wild (the two elephants we saw weren’t wild).  You know you’ve been in Africa a few days when you see an animal in the distance and then say, “Oh no wait.  It’s just zebras.”

The savannah landscape was just beautiful and the sunsets and moonrises are surreal.

Our camp crew is godly and makes the best food. I never would have thought that I would come to Africa and have too much food. (But I’m not going to lie that feels weird after learning that more than half of Tanzanians survive on one meal a day and less than 2 dollars a day). 

On Sunday while at the ranch we got to participate in a nearby Maasai, Luthern church service.  I loved the ending where we danced just outside the church. And after we went to a local bar for food (goat, beef, chicken) and beer (pombe).  The food was great, but America is definitely spoiled when it comes to beer options.

All the people we have met, at the church, at the Maasai bomba, in Arusha, at the ranch, our teachers, our camp crew, people on the street, literally everyone has been welcoming and fun to meet. I also got lucky with our group of students. Everyone is adventurous and we all get along great, which is good since we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.

One huge highlight of Ndarakwai Ranch was visiting the Maasai bomba. Look at the pics. These indigenous people have stuck true to their traditional lifestyle and survive off of cattle and goats.  Learning about their lifestyle was amazing. Each wife owns her own house, which is a circular shape made of sticks covered with cow poop, sand, and water and the roof is made of grass. I’ll go into more detail about their lifestyle after we do our homestay in a month or so. We each get to live with a Maasai family for a week. Should be incredible. We also got to buy some beautiful Maasai jewelry and I already want more.

We are currently in Arusha for a few days until we leave for Tarangire National Park and then Mazumbai Reserve (Tropical Forest). So I won’t have internet or phone for awhile, since we’ll be camping in these areas for the next two weeks.

I wish I had more pictures of Arusha but I can’t carry my camera around town since it will easily be stolen. In fact I can’t carry anything. Our money has to be in our bras and we don’t carry purses since pick-pocketing is quite impressive here. Arusha is a blast. It’s a fairly busy city. Things are fairly cheap here but we have to barter for everything because our price is usually jacked up (and rightly so) since we’re wazungu (white people).  And the buses are crazy 16-seater vans that cram in about 25 people so everyone is on top of each other. But a fun experience nonetheless. 

Almost forgot to describe our toilet and shower experiences. Often the toilets are holes and sometimes have bricks on the sides to step on and a pitcher of water to wash down your business. My first shower was a bucket with a cup, but then I upgraded to a cool bucket that dispensed water like a shower.

It can get pretty warm but it’s not as humid as I thought it would be and there are regular rain showers.

The children everywhere in Tanzania are also adorable as expected. At the Maasai bomba, the children were fascinated by me tying up my hair in a bun, since they keep their hair shaved.  I’m still getting use to the attention from just being white. Sellers will often follow us throughout town, knowing that we likely have money. It is certainly different. Practicing Kiswahili with different Tanzanians is pretty funny, but definitely a fun experience.

Overall, I’m loving loving loving this country. The landscape, the people, the vibe, the pace, the smiles, the differences, the food, the weather…I could easily live here. 

I won’t be blogging as much as expected since the semester is pretty busy and internet doesn’t come often. Coming up in the agenda is the Tarangire National Park, then Mazumbai Tropical Forest Reserve, then a 3 week family homestay in Bangata. (pics take forever to upload..I wish I could put more!)

Kwa heri!