pole pole

Sorry for not updating for a week! Eight hours of hard class time a day really got to me! So last week I felt myself reach a new level of comfort with being in Arusha. This might be a result of being able to better understand the language!

Last Wednesday and Thursday, the whole group went to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) which is only about a 15 minute walk from my apartment to watch and listen part of court proceeding. It was incredibly strange to be just one glass window away from a man who is on trial for being responsible for so many deaths in the Rwandan genocide. While I enjoyed being in the building and having a first hand experience of justice, I could not follow the witness's story and found myself frustrated by the whole proceeding. Maybe I'll go back and give it another try in a few weeks.

On Friday, I gave a group presentation with 3 other of my classmates about Tanzania and conflict in Tanzania. I really enjoyed learning more about the political and religious conflicts within this peaceful country. I now have a much better understanding of the election process in Tanzania as the country prepares for the 2010 elections. In short, Tanzania technically has a multi party democratic system but there has only ever been one party in control since the establishment of multi party elections in Tanzania. This party is named CCM which stands for Chama Cha Mapinduzi. While there are opposition parties with large followings, it seems the general sentiment is that they have no chance against CCM. In Zanzibar, CCM has been accused of rigging elections and manipulating votes in order to maintain control. The true American in me is outraged by this longterm control by one party, I can't help but support CCM because one of their presidential candidates is a woman which is huge in Tanzania where women can not run for parliament, they can only be appointed by the president.

The national elections are in October so campaigning is in full force in Arusha. I woke up on Saturday morning to BLASTING MUSIC from a truck covered in the CCM colors of green and yellow. It turns out there was a huge rally that day in support of CCM.

On Saturday, a few of us went to this snake zoo and a masaii museum. It was nice get out of town for a few hours and see a different part of the area. The most beautiful part of the drive was seeing the acres of coffee fields. It made me crave fresh coffee rather than the Africafe instant coffee... Oh well!

The power has been off and on all weekend but I have hope for today that the power will remain on! When the electricity goes out I just have to go into the "pole pole" state of mind that seems to be that of all Tanzanians. Pole pole (pronounced Po-le po-le) means slowly, without worrying. Hakuna shida is another phrase that can be used here which means no problems. I'm learning how to take a deep breath and think of everything as another part of the adventure!

Today is the first day of a normal class schedule so I don't have class again until 3pm so I'm off to the craft market with a friend of mine to find her friend a birthday present. I'm going to try to take more pictures, I promise!

Day 11

The past couple days have been filled with finally catching up on sleep and exploring the area a little more. On Saturday afternoon, two other girls and I went to the craft market which is a short walk down the street from our apartments. To tell you the truth I was very overwhelmed by the market because I was not planning on buying anything that day but it broke my heart saying no to all of the artisans who had such beautiful work. My favorite piece of the day HAD TO BE the Barack Obama themed kanga (pretty much a big piece of cloth used either as a wrap/skirt or used to make clothing). His face was on there and everything. I'll be going back to that kiosk to buy that soon! Side note: Barack Obama is EVERYWHERE! When people ask you where you are from and you say America, 9 out of 10 people will say "Oh, Obama!!!" or "Obama-land!" I saw a HUGE mural with the president's face today that was on the side of a building. I'll try to be better about taking photos so I can capture the Obamafever here in Tanzania.

Today started week 2 of classes. Instead of having our usual 8 hours of class today we just had 4 in the morning (Kiswahili) and then Roland and Friday (the program directors) took us to two NGOs in the area. The first was Shanga which employs disabled workers to be artisans, making beads, necklaces, aluminum molds, pretty much everything you can think of. We had lunch on the Shanga property which was the most amazing food I have had in a long time!!! It didn't hurt that the property looks pretty much was I imagine paradise to look like. Oh, and I saw monkeys! The second NGO was the Massai Women's Development Organization which works to empower Massai women in the area in the areas of education, economic independence, and health.

I'm really looking forward to finding somewhere to volunteer for the semester because I have a couple months to really create a relationship with a community.

Tomorrow is back to the grind of 8 hours of class.... only 4 more days of this until a normal schedule starts.

utaonana baadaye

some pictures

Here are some photos of my life in Arusha. I only had patience to put up 3...

The view of Mount Meru from the apartment.

The kitchen... There's a fridge to the right.

My room. My bed is closest to the window.

There's also a living room that I guess I never took a photo of.

hapana asante

Day 5 in Tanzania, Day 2 of classes

I titled this entry hapana asante which means no thank you in Swahili because I feel the phrase represents my experience in Arusha so far. Since we walk through the clocktower neighborhood which is the town center every day, several times a day to get to and from school we are constantly bombarded with mostly men trying to sell us one thing or another. From newspapers to shoes, or even a taxi ride. Everything is still so new so when I am offered I am kind of thrown off and just shake my head but when I muster up the courage I look the businessman in the eye and say hapana asante.

Right now I am in the Arcadia Center which is a short walk from pretty much anything. On the way there I walk past the East African Communities headquarter and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which is still in session. Before coming to the center for our two hour lunch break I decided I would walk alone for a couple of minutes just into the center of Arusha because I felt ready to take my first short walk by myself. After just a few minutes of being asked every couple second if I wanted a taxi I decided to give up and walk back to the Arcadia Center. Literally 30 seconds after making this decision a man standing on the corner started walking with me and talking to me. (sidenote: supposedly I look Spanish because several Tanzanians have told me this). He started speaking Spanish to me and I just went along with it for the rest of the block. He wasn't trying to sell me anything he just wanted to know what I was doing in Arusha. Then the man selling newspapers on the street heard that I was speaking Spanish and started following me trying to sell me El País. I finally told him that I didn't have time today to read it with an hapana asante.

THEN a man who tried to get some other students and I to go on safari with his company the day before must have recognized me because he shook my hand and and asked me the same questions he asked the day before. Instead of being rude and saying "you asked me yesterday back off" I said, "yeah I recognize you from yesterday. You're a really good businessman. Very persistent." So we exchanged names and went on our ways.

While I know for a fact not everyone is trustworthy, I kind of appreciate in a strange way the curiosity and spirit these people in Arusha have. It is a little off putting to be hawked at because I'm a muzungu but I think its kind of a welcoming... at least they are talking to me instead of completely ignoring me. I'd probably feel even less comfortable if people in Arusha were unfriendly and cold.

kwaheri, tutaonana

Karibu! First day in Tanzania

This is my first post from TZ. After getting in last night around 8:30pm in Kilimanjaro I took my first breath of African air, filled out the proper paperwork, and met the rest of the group to drive about an hour to get to Arusha. It was pitch black outside for the entire drive so I almost didn't believe I was in Africa. When I woke up the next morning (after a pretty lousy, post almost 24 hours of travel sleep) I started believing that I was in Tanzania.

Today was SO BUSY with orientation. Besides the regular introductory meetings and lectures, we had our first Swahili lesson, took a walking tour of Arusha, and had a discussion about safety with the assistant secretary of security from East African Communities. The city of Arusha reminds me a lot of Leh, Ladakh in India where I was a couple of summers ago. It has a similar look and feel. There are three east African students joining us in our program, two from Uganda and one from Tanzania so I'm excited to get to know them.

Surprisingly its chilly here... I wore jeans and a pullover fleece all day. They say it'll get a lot warmer in the next couple weeks.

Outside the window right now there seems to be a drum and singing circle.

On the agenda for tomorrow: continuing orientation until 2pm, going to the ATM, and getting more credit for my cell phone.

Hoy es el día

Today is the day! The bags are packed.. well sort of and I'm ready to start my junior year with an adventure. I'm so excited to learn a new language, meet some amazing people, and experience Tanzania!!!

Arusha, here I come!!!

10 days....

I leave for Tanzania in 10 days. Its unbelievable. The past several weeks seems to have been consumed with preparing at a deeper level for my experience. I realized that I virtually knew nothing about Tanzania besides what I had seen in the Darwin's Nightmare so I began to do some research. While I am trying to go into this experience with as much as an open mind as possible, there are some facts and ideas about Tanzania and its culture that really excited me such as:

*Of the 274 seats on the National Assembly, 232 are elected by popular vote, 37 are women appointed by the president, and 5 are members of Zanzibar's legislature.

I would like to somehow research gender politics and gender identity and how the male dominated National Assembly contributes to these dynamics. As a Women's and Gender Studies major I tend to focus on women's experiences and how gender contributes to an individual's experience within a given society. For this reason I am actually really excited about two of the classes I am taking this semester: Tanzania in the Midst of Peace and Conflict and Gender Analysis in Development Projects in East Africa. The first is the required course for all of us on the program and according to the syllabus we are going to study gender as it relates to human rights and conflict. I am assuming we are going to focus on rape as a weapon in conflict. The second course excites me because it involves a 10 week field study component during which we visit different development projects and NGOs and study gender dynamics. (The other 2 courses I am taking are Health Issues in Africa and Elementary Swahili.)

I've also been trying to pick up a little bit of Swahili before going but so far I have really only been able to pick up how to say "how was your trip?" (Habari za safari?) I'm sure I'll lean a little more while I'm actually surrounded by the language!

More to come....