July 1, 2011 - The Definition of Resilience

Happy 144th Birthday Canada!

Went to the owner of KidzCare’s home not far from Mikocheni B. We had coffee and talked about the orphanage. Then her driver took us out to Kerege Farms to visit the kids for a couple hours. There were a few new members to the orphanage! This one little girl I met had lost both her arms when she was two years old to a pig. Her family lived in a village and she was sleeping in a crib-like bed with one arm hanging out when a pig wandered inside their hut and bit her right arm off. When she used her other arm to try and get the pig off her, the pig bit the other one off too and got a bit of her face in the process. Her parents died a few years later and she was sent to a boarding school that was very dirty, overly crowded and didn’t have a proper education plan in place. She would have had no future there. The owner of KidzCare found her with mud caked onto her clothing and took her in and now she will be staying here and going to the local school where she will be able to grow and use her abilities. She is a remarkable kid…by only watching me take a picture and then go back to look at it once, she figured out how to hold the camera, take a picture, review the picture, and get back to the screen to take another picture all on her own! She refused help! She even opened my zippered pocket after I put my camera away to try and get it (she loved taking pictures!). She has no problem fitting in with the other kids, she colors, eats, and plays games all on her own. She even wrote Kara, mine, and her names in the dirt and then later drew a giant heart in the dirt and stood inside it. I asked her if I could come in the heart with her and she said yes and then we just sat in it for a while. She is the definition of resilience and I can see her going far if she stays with KidzCare and continues to have the positive attitude she does! She is only nine, yet inspires me to strive for my best and use the abilities I have. We must be thankful for what we have because you never know when you will lose it. When I got home that afternoon I wasn’t feeling well and went to bed for about 4 or 5 hours with a fever, chills, achy skin, and nausea! Later that night it got really bad so my professor took me to TMJ hospital to get a malaria test, but I luckily didn’t have malaria! I must have the flu or a cold or something L

Of the world’s population, 10% of people have a disability, but in developing countries that number is as high as 80%. With disability comes stigma, discrimination, seclusion, lack of voice and marginalization to name a few. That’s hard enough without having to also deal with poverty, disease, and unemployment. The goal of the United Nations is to achieve equality for persons with disabilities and one way to do that is through mainstreaming disability in development, such as including policies in the Millenium Development Goals directed at persons with disabilities. http://www.un.org/disabilities/

In an article titled “Discussing the relationship between disability, education and employment” it was found that the common belief is that people with disabilities, even when educated, will not use their education or are less likely to enter the workforce. When you look at the statistics from a study done in Nepal, this is not actually the case, with the return on investment in education between 19.4 and 32.2%, which is quite high. They did find that persons with hearing impairments had the least return on investment in education corresponding to the lack of schools catering to those with hearing impairments. For people with disabilities, years of schooling has a positive effect on the probability of employment and factors such as age and type of disability also determine rate of employment. Although it is considerably harder for people with disabilities to enter the labour market, education does help and it was found there was a positive relationship between years of schooling and employment.

http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/newsletter/2011/july/trends.shtml#tre1

Thursday June 30, 2011 - Why am I here?

Being in Tanzania and working with the Boona Baana and KidzCare kids, I frequently found myself pondering the question of why I was here. Am I really making an impact? Am I here purely for selfish reasons? Am I doing more harm than good? Volunteering in an orphanage is at first glance an amazing experience that should benefit the kids, but when you are actually there and you realize that over the last two months you have bonded with these kids so much and soon you will be just another volunteer that has come and gone, it hits you hard. Maybe I am doing more harm than good by being in their lives for such a short amount of time and then leaving, but I’m trying to think positively about it and think that even just bringing smiles to their faces and doing fun things with them is worth it. I also plan to stay in touch with the kids and work to try and make a long lasting impression, one that won’t end on the last day I visit Boona Baana and the KidzCare home.

Group photo after having fun with pipe cleaners!

We found baby rats under those bricks!

Geographic observations/differences between Arusha and Dar es Salaam:

Arusha is situated inland and its climate is much cooler than in Dar es Salaam. As we were driving there was a noticeable transition from drier, yellow grass and trees to more green and luscious ones, especially higher in the mountains as the climate is not as dry and hot. There was also less garbage, less people, and cleaner air.

Tuesday June 28 and Wednesday June 29, 2011 – Mimi akaanguka katika upendo na Arusha (I have fallen in love with Arusha)

June 28 went to the cultural museum in Arusha today but it turned out to be a souvenir store with a bit of museum stuff to look at, but mostly an art gallery. After that we walked down to some local street markets and I ended up buying some kanga, which is the African fabric that all the women wear. They make skirts, dresses, scarves, hats, you name it out of this stuff. It`s really pretty and colourful. We walked around until it started getting dark then headed back to our hotel. That night six of us piled in a taxi (four sitting in the back with Alex lying across all of us and one in the front, haha) and then went to this local bar called Empire State Bar for their Reggae Jam Night. It ended up being a lot of fun!

Feeding the babies mashed avocado! 

On Wednesday we had a WildTracks coffee plantation tour planned so the company picked us up from our hotel at 9am and then headed up towards Mt. Meru. If you ever go to Tanzania please come to Arusha, it`s gorgeous! When we got to the village of Nkuaranga in Mt.Meru we met our guide for the day and then he took us to a small shop where part of money from this tour went towards buying some kg`s of rice, pasta and fruit for an orphanage we`d be visiting shortly. We walked a short distance up to the orphanage and were warmly welcomed by the Mama. Our guide told us this was an orphanage of about 24 kids. The primary aged kids were out at the school, but we got to sit, play and cuddle with all the babies that were there. When I walked in, there was about six babies lying on the floor on an old mattress and then toddlers playing around the room. There were some volunteers staying there that helped take care of the kids but there was nowhere near enough volunteers for the amount of kids. It was sad to see and the experience left a strange feeling in my stomach. The kids were dirty and smelly, but none the less happy. I picked up one of the small babies and cuddled him or her (we weren`t sure who were boys and who were girls because they were just dressed in plain clothes. The baby was so content and I think really enjoyed the cuddle! Their lunch came out and we fed them some mashed avocado. I`m not sure if it was because they were babies or if it was because I knew that this was a really good orphanage and the thought of what else is out there in the world was…let`s just say more than depressing.

The gorgeous flowers along our hike/walk!

We then visited the primary school just for a bit before we headed up the mountain through a beautiful, lush forested area. There were countless banana trees and nature galore! I was in my element. We went to a coffee farm owned by a local and got to see how the coffee looks when it`s on the bush and then the rigorous process it takes before the coffee even reaches the point to when it can be roasted. Let`s just say I will appreciate every cup of coffee I drink from now on because the work that goes into making it (especially from places like Tanzania and fair trade coffee companies alike). They showed us the different stages they must do with the plant before it`s ready to be planted again and then grown to maturity and ready for the beans to be picked and then sorted and then dried and roasted. We saw three different natural pesticides they use, which (and I may be naïve but I had no idea) are actual plants! I was so impressed with how much they use nature to their benefit and a bit envious. These plants have special compounds in them to ward off bugs and insects, so this coffee and the all the coffee I bought is 100% organic! Also I had a bandaid on my finger that day and immediately the owners son noticed and told me they don`t use bandaids there and he took me to this plant that is used to rub on cuts and then it stops them from bleeding and helps them heal! There`s even a very soft plant they use as toilet paper and one`s they use as a medicine against malaria (its actually a tree and they scrap off the bark). I`m a sucker for nature and can really appreciate it so I was just loving every second of learning all this. Oh and the flowers up on this mountain were breathtakingly gorgeous! I think some of the beauty might have come from the combination of run down poverty stricken houses in the backdrop of luscious green forest and being in this village made me feel like I was in another world (and it was another world compared to Dar!)

Fixing the coffee plant to prepare it for re-plant

For lunch we walked to the owner`s of Wild Tracks house and had a traditional Tanzanian lunch and the coffee from the farm we just visited on their patio. The food was the best I`ve eaten yet and when I mentioned how wonderful the rice and everything else was she explained that the rice came from a lady down the street, the banana`s or ndyzi also from down the street, and everything else also local! After lunch we saw them roast the coffee and the process all the way to the coffee being sealed in airtight bags and put in cloth bags and tied with dried banana leaf string! I even got to package the coffee that I bought! I loved seeing the whole process and knowing that what they do is so amazing. This company also employs locals and gives them fair wages, which is such a great thing in Tanzania because so many people are exploited and taken advantage of when it comes to employment. Today was an amazing day that I will never forget! Asante Sana Arusha!

Bagging my coffee!

Please check out their website at: http://www.wild-tracks.com/coffee_english.html

Monday June 27, 2011

The crater was my favorite! There were so many animals there and I was really glad we did it last because it was like a finale!! We saw a hippo out of water and we even saw lions up close and personal....there was one so close to our jeep that if I bent over I could have petted her! Today I learned that ostrichs can run up to 70kms/hr! It was an all around amazing day today and not much went wrong with the vehicle to boot! Today was our last day on safari, it was the best four days EVER and I wish I could keep going for another four days. In summary I think we had: three flat tires, one broken clutch, three times that the jeep overheated, stuck in the mud twice (once where we had to push), one roof that wouldn’t close so we got soaked, and three nights four days of pure African safari bliss! Maisha ni nzuri....a.k.a....life is good!

Sunday June 26, 2011 – Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

We are Masai!

Nzuri Sana!

Woke up bright and early, had tea and then headed out for a morning game drive. We ended up seeing three leopards, a bunch of elephants, zebras, wart hogs, impala, antelope, male lions and female lions, giraffes, ostrich, hippos, monkeys, and a bunch of neat looking birds! It was raining for a bit and our jeep got stuck in some mud and we couldn’t get out so we all had to get out and push! Our feet got really muddy and we were all soaking wet and so dirty, but it was a blast! Went back to camp around noonish to pick up our stuff and have lunch and then we picked up our fixed popped tire and headed towards the crater. Our guides tied our luggage and tents to the top of the jeep and part of it was in the way of our roof top shutting properly so when it started to rain again we all got absolutely soaking wet inside the jeep and water was literally pouring in! Water was even getting in through our windows on the side of the jeep and they were shut, but the seals on them were old and didn’t work properly. Shortly after our vehicle decides to overheat! We were broken down for over half an hour until another vehicle stopped to see if we were ok. One of the girls from inside the vehicle was from Abbotsford, BC, of all places (small world!). We were shortly on the road again, but just when we thought that we had dealt with all the bad luck coming our way, we got another popped tire! A different group stopped to help us and then their radiator over heated, lol, so our guides helped them! Luckily everyone is so nice! Unfortunatley from all the breakdowns we wouldn’t make it to our camp by dark. We quickly stopped at a Masai village before getting to camp because there was one on the way that lets people tour their village for a small price. We didn’t get to stay long because it was getting dark but I’m glad we went because it was really neat to experience! They took us inside their huts, which by the way the women make out of acacia trees and cow dung! Their huts consist of an entrance room with a small fire in the center, a room just big enough to fit one cow, a room for the kids to sleep and a room for the parents or grandparents to sleep. The fires burn just enough to keep the huts nice and warm and they had tiny little windows that let enough light in without letting the warmth escape or the wind and rain to get in. Masai are nomadic to they travel around the country and make new villages as they go. Then they took us to see their primary school where they teach their children right there in the village and then they tried to sell us necklaces, bracelets and jewellery for ridiculously high prices! We got to camp and it was pitch dark out so we quickly set up tent and had dinner. It was freezing cold because we were camping at the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. I didn’t sleep well because the ground was so hard and my feet refused to get warm, but I didn’t mind because I WAS ON A SAFARI IN AFRICA!!!!!

I slept in the one on the right!

Inside the house of a Masai warrior!

Masai children coming back from school (in the back)

Saturday June 25, 2011 – Serengeti a.k.a the place where you can’t see the end!

On the way to Serengeti we stopped to get some red bananas from a local because red bananas are famous in Arusha. We pulled over to the side of the road and 5 ladies ran over to the car, all selling a different type of banana! The red bananas were good but they kind of made my tongue numb, haha! We also saw a lion in a tree on the way to our game drive, which is actually pretty rare so we were lucky to see it. Then we drove through a little town and stopped at a drop hole bathroom where we had to pay 200 tsh to use it and it was flooding and I got hopefully what was water all over my feet! Jenny let me use one of her wet wipes so I was ok…this is one thing I won’t forget to pack when I come back to Africa! We later saw zebras, elephants, donkeys, baboons, buffalo, impala, and ostriches. We also had our second flat tire in Serengeti, haha. Normally on a safari you have two guides, one as the cook and one as the driver, but we had three because one guy was training to become a guide so that was good for helping fix tires and all the other bad luck we had coming our way!! Our guides names were Richard (trainee), Said (cook), and Hassan (driver). Jenny couldn’t say Hassan’s name right if her life depended on it, haha! Soon after we changed the tire it started to pour and we got drenched because our roof wouldn’t shut properly because some of our luggage was in the way and we couldn’t fix it because it was on top of the roof tied up really good! It makes for an unforgettable adventure though! That night we set up camp and had a delicious supper. It was kind of cold that night but nothing compared to what it would be tomorrow night at the Crater!

A curious buffalo

Elephant bum!

Hyenas are shockingly cute! Who would of thought!