Blog 3 Tanzania Nov 1, 2013

Blog 3 Tanzania

Jambo from Babu and Bibi!

We have now been in Tanzania for a month and everyone calls us Babu (Grandpa) and Bibi (Grandma). These are Swahili words and not only mean grandpa and grandma but also hold a lot of respect.  There is another slang term here for Daddy – Dingi, it means my Daddy is driving me nuts, so that is who Peter has become.  It get lots of laughs. His kids will understand.

We have been doing a great deal both in terms of work and travel in the country.  At work we have been busy trying to build the capacity of the staff. Helping the director be more assertive and better organized. Helping staff members with various issues to learn how to deal with multiple priorities and staff communications. Peter is teaching computer classes and photography classes and Hinda has written a “computer dictionary” which tells the English and Swahili term for symbols found on the tool bars.  Many of the students do not speak English well and this will help them use the computers more easily. Again, thanks to all of you who donated laptops to us, these are being used to train the students along with a few desk tops that were here when we arrived. Because this program needs to be self-sustaining, we suggested that a small fee for tuition be charged for those who could afford it – the equivalent about $28 a month for those who can afford it and for those who cannot a sliding scale from $28 - $0.   Although all the students are poor and most cannot afford to pay for training, now that the community is hearing about the classes we are getting requests from people to join the program.  The people requesting the training are people who are employed (teachers) or have their own small businesses (members of women’s groups) and will be able to pay tuition. That tuition will offset the costs of those that cannot pay and for rent, electric, etc.  Hopefully, this will make it into a self-supported program.

There is a water project that will be funded by the Rotary in the USA and managed by the community and the Rotary in Arusha.  We met with the Rotary representative here and have been able to make sure there is good communication between the USA and Tanzania Rotaries so they can deposit the funds and get going on the project.  Once completed it will provide water to 8,000 families in the village we are working in.  We have also been meeting with some women’s groups here and providing education on Malaria, HIV, and other illnesses as well as Peter helping them with their bank account so they will begin to earn interest on their small account.

Since our last blog we have been on two safaris, the first to the Rift Valley to visit Lake Natron which is the breeding ground for millions of flamingos.  The Rift Valley is where man was first found and it is hot as hell.  We were there for three days and I am sure we lost weight since we did not stop sweating the entire time. Unfortunately, this is the dry season and the lake is very low so the flamingos are farther away.  We did see many and photos are coming.

The second trip was to the Serengeti and if you are looking for some excitement, beautiful scenery, an abundance of animals and a wonderful place to visit, this is it. We flew on a small prop plane (12 passenger) for the one hour flight to the Serengeti.  The roads are really bad and would have taken 8 hours on a dusty potholed road to get there.  At the airport while waiting for our departure we watched all these small propeller planes arriving and leaving.  All of sudden a sleek small business jet landed, out came 6 Arab sheiks with body guards and met by a police escort.  They must have been here for some meetings and it was quite a contrast to see.

We arrived at the Serengeti airport and were met by our trusty driver/guide, Sylvester.  He has been a great guide and has been taking excellent care of us.  We drove into the national park and after about 20 minutes came upon a small river where there were crocodiles and hippos swimming.  Also, a wildebeest was stuck in the mud, trying desperately to get out.  He was stuck up to his shoulders.  There were several safari cars watching the struggle and it took about half an hour but he did get out, we all cheered and were happy for him.  We then continued on our “game drive” where we saw lions, giraffe, wildebeest, hippos, various antelope, leopards, wart hogs, zebra and many beautiful birds.  Late in the afternoon we headed for the luxury tented camp where we would spend the night.  It was great, the tent was huge complete with king size mosquito netted bed, a bathroom and shower.  No electric but there was solar power and a generator.  The food was excellent and the service was unbeatable.  At about 5a.m. on the first day, there was a noise and right outsider the tent no more than 3 feet away was a large elephant, one of a group of 10 that came for a visit.  During the night we heard hyenas and lions. For the next two days we went on game drives once for a full day and the next for early morning and evening drives.  The only thing Hinda doesn’t mind getting up early (before 5am) for is a game drive.  Early morning drives are great, the sun is just coming up and the animals are beginning to move around or those like the lions and leopards who have been up all night hunting are full and getting ready to sleep for the day.

We saw our first leopard in 2004 in Uganda, and then on the first day of the Serengeti we saw 6!  And lots of lions, cheetahs, and virtually all of the animals that live on the Savanah.  On the second day we watched a group of wildebeests go to the river to drink and right before our eyes a crocodile came up and grabbed one of them.  There was a struggle and lots of splashing.  However the river was shallow and the croc couldn’t grab it to pull it under and drown it and also the croc somehow grabbed it around the body and couldn’t close its jaws.  So the wildebeest managed to elude the jaws of death but did get away.  We photographed all of this.

We went to visit Oldavai Gorge also in the Rift Valley where the Leaky’s discovered 3.6 million year old fossils of pre humans.  By the way, back at Lake Natron we visited perfectly preserved 300,000 year old footprints preserved from a lava flow. Since Peter had his DNA tested and found he is part Neanderthal(4%) it might have been one of his relatives.  However the footprints at Oldavai are some 3,000,000 years old, but we only saw casts of them.  In case you don’t know this, and we didn’t, Oldavai should really be Oldapai, but an anthropologist in the early part of the 20^th century misheard the word and thought it was Oldavai, and it has since caught on.  Oldapai is a Maasai word.

We next visited Ngorongoro Crater.  The Rim is over 6,000 feet in elevation, and the bottom of the crater is nearly 2,000 feet lower where many animals, (not as many as Serengeti) live.  It is 19 km wide, 264 sq km.  It also exploded about 300,000 years ago.

We have come upon our own personal cook at the hotel restaurant.  Boniventure – henceforth to be known as Boni.  Last night he made us tilapia filet, tonight, spaghetti (supagetti) bolognaise, and then comes chapatti and green grams, (lentils).  Very cool indeed.

We visited a Maasai village to photograph and also buy some gifts for our grandchildren.  We ended up buying more than we thought we would – as usual including a Maasai spear for hunting lions and a walking/herding stick.  These last two items were for Peter, he has decided he really needs to be prepared for all possibilities. Well the price bargaining got so complex that the chief with whom we were dealing called his wife to come and help.  So who really runs the world?

There are 120 tribes in Tanzania, and unlike Kenya, they is no tribalism nor fighting.  Everyone speaks Swahili and some speak their mother tongue – tribal language.  Around here in Arusha there are the Meru people, (Mt. Meru), Pare and Chaga (Kilimanjaro), and Maasai from the whole northern region of this country.  It is very interesting that people from Kenya who speak Swahili are made fun of for the way they speak Swahili.  Tanzanian Swahili is real and pure, so often Peter gets laughs since his Swahili is Kenyan.  Even when friends of ours from Kenya visited recently they told us that as soon as they opened their mouths to speak people made fun of their Swahili.

So, all in all we are doing well.  The work is not too hard – this is a very small kind of laid back group, but never the less we are doing useful things, and teaching new skills and empowering people is what it is about for us.  There are some funders who try to be very controlling, but we have decided not to work them because of that.  In our opinion they are still in the days of the colonials treating Africans as less than equal and unable to do things on their own.  We know better.

Well this has been long to write and probably long to read for you as well, so we will say tuonane for now (see you again).

Love to all,

Bibi na Babu (Dingi) Hahahahahaha!