Birthday in Arusha

Friends and I at my Birthday Dinner

(From left: Stephanie, Me, Jenna, Melia)

Yesterday was my 21st birthday and I had a great day celebrating it in Arusha. I had two midterm exams during the day: Swahili and Gender Analysis in Development Projects but I tried to not let those get in the way! I was awoken at 7:45am by four of my friends singing to me and dancing and yelling happy birthday! It was an amazing way to wake up haha. They also put all kind of birthday signs up all around my apartment and room, even one on the inside of the bathroom door saying "Sit down and relax, its your birthday."

For dinner pretty much all of us went out to a really nice and relaxing dinner where two of my lovely friends made amazing toasts! After dinner we came back to the apartments and ate a great cake that Frida (one of my program directors) bought as well as an amazing cookie cake! Overall I had a nice birthday.

Maridadi Women's Festival

The table at the Maridadi festival and some amazing women!

This past Saturday I volunteered at the Maridadi Women's Festival working at the table for the Rape and Sexual Abuse Care Centre located at the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre. The festival started Thursday and Friday with a fashion show and the proceeds from the weekend are going to the Rape and Sexual Abuse Care Centre.

Basically I walked around the tent that the festival was located in and gave everyone teal ribbons that represent sexual violence awareness. I met so many interesting people who are working to empower women.

(More information about the Rape and Sexual Abuse Care Centre here http://www.almc.habari.co.tz/ALMC-Abuse.pdf ... it is a PDF that you need to download).

Fabric Market and Non Profit Work

Me with my new necklace!

Midterms are next week (I know the semester is moving very quickly) so my professors for my Wednesday and Thursday classes canceled class for those two days so I have 2 days of class and 5 days of weekend this week. I'm supposed to be using this time to study for exams but its not possible to study ALL DAY so I've been keeping myself busy these past 2 days with little adventures.

Yesterday I spent the morning studying the United Nations at the Arcadia Center and printing out the necessary documents for my Peace and Conflict Studies midterm. At about 1pm I went back to my apartment, ate lunch, and set out to the fabric market with three of my friends. Our goal was to buy several pieces of beautiful fabric so that we can go to a dressmaker and have clothing made. After walking through several alleys and dirt roads we found the first shop we were looking for. It was incredibly organized and overwhelming with all of the fabrics neatly folded lining the four walls of the shop. From this shop I bought two beautifully patterned pieces of fabric. I also bargained with the salesman and got the two pieces for half of his original asking price. (My winning line was saying that I was going to take buy the exact same thing next door for my asking price.) The second fabric store we went into was INSANE! Organizationally it was the complete opposite of the first store. There were fabrics lining the walls as well as HUGE piles of fabrics on the floor so I could not see any of the actual floor and could not avoid stepping on the fabric. Now that I think about it the second shop kind of looked like my bedroom after not cleaning it for several months. I also could not help but think about how much Grandma Evelyn would love this shop. Something about it just reminded me of her love for flea market shopping! Anyway, I did not buy anything in the second shop but thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Today I volunteered at Women in Action. I decided I wanted to see a different side of the organization today instead of volunteering at their preschool like I have been doing. Getting to the WIA office was an adventure because my friend Valerie and I decided to take a dala dala even though we were not 100% sure which routes to take. We hopped on the Njiro near our apartment and should have gotten off at the place I thought we should have gotten off, but of course we did not and about 3 minutes later after taking several turns and getting completely disoriented Valerie and I got off of the dala and attempted to walk back to the main road. I asked one woman how to get to Nairobi Road and she gave me very vague directions so I asked another woman who was with her family. After a few minutes of delegation they decided that they knew where I wanted to go and sent their son to lead us. I was very nervous about having this man walk my friend and I through a neighborhood I was not familiar with but he turned out to be one of those people who make you less skeptical about humanity. His name is Julius and he is 24 years old and he did not ask for anything from us, not even money. When Julius lead us to Nairobi Road I realized that I did not know if I should turn left or right so I pulled out my cell phone, called one of my program directors, and handed the phone to Julius. It turned out we were only about several hundred yards away from the office but for those few minutes I was getting a little nervous.

Once Valerie and I got to WIA, Mama Mosha put is right to work. I started typing an info sheet for a presentation to donors that they have tomorrow and Valerie started beading jewelry. The fact sheet took longer than expected because I needed to figure out how to make custom flow charts on microsoft word and we needed to figure out the major changes the organization has experienced since 2007. The four hours I spent at WIA gave me a good look into the basic necessities of an NGO: finding grants and donations. The incredibly nice women at WIA also fed us ugali with greens and gave each of us a beautiful necklace that Valerie made today.

Tonight I am going to Via Via with the group again to dance the night away. More studying and paper writing this weekend. :(

Tanzanian Family Part 2

Today started off pretty boring-- Gender Class from 9-11am, food shopping after class... pretty normal stuff. I sent some emails and started studying for my Kiswahili exam on Tuesday. I also texted Fransiska, the girl from my homestay last weekend, to set up a time that we could meet to start her english lessons (we decided on tomorrow afternoon).

After some alone time in my apartment, I decided to go for a walk, explore a little. With my cell phone securely tucked into my bra and 2500 Tsh in my pocket I was on my way to get lost in the central market for the afternoon when I ran into the 9 year old daughter from the family I stayed with last weekend, Gifti. She had just gotten out of school for the day and saw me and ran up to me and gave me a big hug!

I asked her to take me to a fun place, so she just took my hand and lead me to her house to spend time with her mother and older sister! Words can not describe how excited the family was to see me! We talked for a little while and Fransiska taught me a little Swahili. They put on some Massai gospel music and the mother taught me how to do the traditional dance move for the women, which involves moving your shoulders back and forth and bending our knees ever so slightly. The hospitality that this family showed me this afternoon was so amazing... they were truly happy to have me in their house and they said several times how I should feel like this is my Tanzanian family. At 6pm I had to leave because I had to get back to the apartment before dark (and it took about 45 minutes to walk back).

I am meeting Fransiska (the 21 year old daughter) tomorrow afternoon to tutor her in English. My class is meeting with the president of the ICTR tomorrow morning so I will have a full day of activities!

Another Day at Pre-School

What a daladala looks like (note: I did not take this picture, I found it on google)

Today I volunteered again at the Women in Action preschool. We pretty much did the same things today as we did last week except one of the two teachers was not there so I was assigned to teach a class. Alone.

It was SO HARD because I can't really communicate with them. I taught probably about 10 of the older children (probably about 6 years old) some addition and they did really well! I was so grateful that the teacher that was there checked on me every 10 minutes or so to make sure everyone was behaving!

After snack time, my friend Katrina and I cleaned the dishes while the teacher mopped the floors. We then went outside to round up all of the children to come back inside from their play time. The children were whinier today than they were last week so it took some cajoling to get them inside!

Once everyone was inside, it was song and story time! The teacher really put me and my friend in charge of a lot more today. I wound up taking the lead on a lot of activities because it was my friend's first time volunteering there. We taught the children the "Hokey Pokey", "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" and "If You're Happy and you Know It" I really think those songs have some good vocabulary and hand motions. The teacher would also randomly turn to me and say, "ok now you teach numbers" or "ok now you teach another song". Overall it was a very fun but tiring experience at the pre school!

Getting home from Women in Action was an adventure! Katrina and I decided to brave the dala-dala system for the first time. A dala-dala for those who don't know are the public transportation mini buses that go throughout the city. They're SO much cheaper than a taxi (only about 450 Tsh which is about $0.30 instead of 4,000 Tsh) and much more of an adventure.

We asked the director of WIA which dala dala route to take back to the neighborhood where we are living and she told us the name we should look for on the vehicle but by the time we got to the place to get on to the dala dala, we had forgotten the name but we knew it started with a K. Fortunately, there was a nice guy standing near the dala dala station who pointed us in the right direction. We had to take two different routes to get home. The first dala dala we were on had maybe 5 people and everyone had a lot of room to really stretch out. We got out of that car at the central bus station and found the other dala dala we were supposed to take. Unfortunately we were the last people squeezed into this vehicle before driving away. This meant that I was standing smooshed next to the sliding door with about 24 other passengers in the van. Luckily it was less than a 5 minute ride!! I'm really glad I did that and now I'm not scared to take it again!

Now I'm taking a breath before writing a paper tonight that is due in the morning... the procrastination is BACK!

Familia Mtanzania!

Me with Franciska and the baby who was scared of me...

Church Choir

Friday night and Saturday were amazing. Exactly what I needed. I was starting to lose faith in and question why I am here and these two days have reminded me of everything I hoped Tanzania to be and more!

Last night at about 5pm, the music teacher Randall who is an American working at Malkumira University and is in Arusha working as a missionary for the Lutheran church, took us to his church to hear the choir sing. (The name of the congregation has escaped me as it was a long Swahili name!) He informed us that choirs are very popular in Tanzania and there are 800 choirs in Arusha alone! The choir that we went to see was the best out of those 800 and came in first place! They also travelled to Germany several years ago to perform at a multi faith music festival.

The choir was probably the best choir I have ever heard. They did one act of their performance in a western style church choir style. Very melodic and incredibly beautiful. They included some African drumming and dance moves and the songs were in Swahili but the arrangements were very western. The second part of their performance was in the Massai style. Their clothing was beautiful and the men did their jumping dance and chanting. It was AMAZING.

After the performance, we were matched up with our host families for the night. I was matched up with a woman named Naishiye and within the first few minutes of meeting she told me she thought I was beautiful about 10 times! I liked her already!

The walk back Naishiye's house was actually very long, but some members of the choir accompanied me through this really confusing neighborhood! While I was walking I was talking to a few younger women in the choir and they asked me my name. I said "Arielle" and they said "Harriet?" and so I said "Arielle" (pronounced like REL) and they said "Horrielle?" So I figured maybe I should have them call me Ari but it just came out sounding like Harry. I gave up and just laughed along with them!

When I got to Naishiye's house I met her two daughters, Franciska, 21, and Gifty, 9. She also has another daughter who is 23 but goes to university outside of Arusha. They too had difficulty with my name so I decided then and there that my Swahili/Tanzanian name was going to be my middle name, Esther. They were familiar with this name as it is religious and there are several stores in the area named Esther this or Esther that.

The house was nice! They had two bedrooms and a living room with a television. They cooked their food on hot plates outside and the toilet and shower were outside as well.

Franciska gave me a konga to wear in order to feel more comfortable and gave me tea to drink until dinner was ready. During the time before dinner was served, I talked with the two sisters about their lives. Franciska just finished teaching college but really wants to be a lawyer. I talked to her about learning English and we made a plan for me to tutor her in English and she can teach me a little bit more Swahili. Gifty sang me a few songs as well! At about 9pm we ate dinner, the mother, two daughters, and a cousin. We ate rice with beans and potatoes and greens. Very delicious!

Shortly after dinner it was time for bed. I had to share a bed with the younger daughter and I was fine with that until she started kicking and moving around a lot at night on top of the sounds of fighting dogs outside! I made it through though!

I woke up at about 6 the next morning. After being in a Tanzanian house, I understand Swahili time much better-- their days actually start at 6am which is the beginning of a Swahili day-- 7am being 1 o'clock, 8am being 2 o'clock, until noon which is 6o'clock.. It has not rained at all for the almost 5 weeks that I have been here but of course on this morning it was pouring and I did not bring any rain gear for the hiking we were going to do that day. Luckily Naishiye had an extra jacket that I could wear.

We set off on our hike with the rest of the Arcadia students who stayed the night and some of their families at about 8:15am. It was a much more strenuous hike than I was told it would be but it was SO WORTH IT. Also it was FREEZING COLD! It definitely did not feel like we were 3 degrees south of the equator! We hiked all the way to a waterfall at the foothills of Mount Meru. It was a beautiful waterfall and some people went under it but I did not-- fear of parasites and things like that. I did climb to the ledge that was in the middle of the waterfall and when I was climbing up there I slipped into the water all the way up to my knees and when I tried to get out of the water I fell back it. It must have been hilarious to watch!!

The hike back to the town seemed shorter but I had a chance to talk to some of the amazing people who came hiking with us. The first was a 13 year old girl named Belinda who is quiet but seems so strong and confident. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she immediately said she wants to be the president. The second was a 19 year old girl named Zawadi who is a FIRECRACKER! She's just about done with high school and can not wait to go to university. She kept being interrupted by her friends and yelling jokes in Swahili to them! I asked her also what she wants to be when she grows up and she said she wants to be a lawyer for women. She believes women need more rights and freedoms and she wants to be a person to make those changes. I gave her my contact information so we could talk about this more!

After the hike, I ate lunch of banana stew at another person's house and then went back to the house I slept at the night before. Naishiye washed my filthy pants and shoes that were covered in mud from the hike. Her neice who could not have been more than 1 year old was at the house when we got back but she was really scared of me. Every time I got near her she started crying and ran away. They told me she was afraid of my hair... I think it was because I was a stranger. The family also gave me a gift of two kongas! It was so nice of them!

Overall the time spent with the family and the members of the church was AMAZING. I feel more connected to Tanzania and its people and I am very grateful that I will be here for several more months so I can meet up with some of these amazing people again.

A Great Way to Start a New Year!

Yesterday was by far my favorite day in Arusha. It started with the beginning of my volunteer position at Women in Action for Development. I woke up early and the other girl I am volunteering with and I got a ride to the organization where we were supposed to meet the school bus of pre school students to take them to their pre school. But it turned out we got the wrong time and we were an hour late but it didn't matter, we just waited and we got a ride to the pre school which was about a 10 minute drive from the organization's office.

We got to the pre school and walked into a room of about 40 children ranging in ages from about 4-6 lined up in 3 lines. The two teachers in charge of the children lead them in welcoming us which included screaming at the top of their lungs "TEACHER TEACHER WELCOME WELCOME, TEACHER TEACHER WE LOVE YOU" or some variation on the idea. Then the children split up into their two classrooms- one for the younger children and one for the older children. I went into the classroom with the younger children where they were leaning their numbers up to 20. I helped lead exercises and assist the students who were new to the class. I also made up a dance move to help the little ones remember their numbers.

After their lessons, it was snack time. The children ate porridge while one of the teachers went out and got a plate of cassava for the "grown ups". After the children finished their porridge they went outside to play. The two teachers, Valerie and I talked a little bit over our tea and cassava and found out that one of the teachers is only a couple of months older than me. She turned 21 in June! Its so strange how much older she seems-- she has a job and is responsible for so many lives every day!

Valerie and I went outside to play with the children and it was so much fun! They are so creative with their playing... its amazing how an empty coffee can or water bottle can be the source of such a great play time. The little girls LOVED playing with my hair and spent a really long time just stroking my hair. I also thought of my pre school and the high tech playground and sandboxes we had and thought about how much it has to do with perspective. So many kids were just coming to the window who were not students to hear the class and see what the kids were doing. At one point a little "mtoto" wandered into the room because he wanted to join the fun.

After play time, the children went into their classrooms to get their homework assigned and I helped out in my classroom helping to write out each student's homework... practicing writing letters and numbers.

The bus was supposed to come at noon but it didn't come until one so the teachers improvised by having story time. One teacher told a story about "umoja" with animals and had different children act out different animals. It was great! They also sang and danced and played different games that were just too cute! Me and Valerie lead a song: if you're happy and you know it. They really enjoyed the whole yelling at the top of their lungs thing.

Once the bus came, about an hour late at 1pm we got on the bus with the kids and the 2 teachers and dropped some of the children off in their neighborhoods on the way to the WIA office. Once we got to the WIA office, an American volunteer had made cupcakes for her birthday and for the director of WIA's birthday so we ate some makeshift Tanzanian cupcakes! The American volunteer and her husband offered to drive us home as long as we wait while another woman who works at WIA gets her friend from some market on the way.

We got home safe, don't worry!

Well, Happy New Year! One of the girls in my group bought a "sweet melon" to try for the new year. Tasted like cantaloupe.

Off to Via Via to ear some local music...

NINAPENDA SAFARI!

On Friday and Saturday the entire group of undergraduates and graduates went on safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater! Both places were absolutely gorgeous. I saw giraffes, lions, elephants, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, hippos, baboons, hyenas, and many other animals whose names I have forgotten. Here are some photos I took on the safari!

2 Lions!

A baboon with her baby

Me with hippos!

Elephant family