Back to Qaru Lambo!

Wednesday June 2, 2010

Up at what felt like a more civilized hour (after the past few early days on safari). Showers just not quite the same as at the Sopa lodges. Breakfast (same old - really great eggs) and then prepare for return to Qaru Lambo to plant 65 trees. Mix up the seating arrangements again so Janice doesn't have to be subjected to any more guy-humour. The drive (still quite bumpy, but were getting quite used to it and are learning to lean with the dips) is just as beautiful and takes us past lots of different houses (some mud, some brick, many under construction), lots of different crops (maize, pigeon peas, sunflowers, coffee), and colourful bursts of morning glory, bougainvillea. Many people are walking, cycling, driving carts pulled by either donkeys, cows, or the people themselves, and others herding cattle or goats as they travel with empty buckets to collect water for perhaps the first of 3 trips that day. Many of the goat or cattle herders were very small children, maybe 7 or 8 years old.


It is the last week of school before a 6 week break - the exams are already finished and students are pretty much putting in time until the break. As we pull up to the school we see that the kids are already out to meet us. The tree planting is somewhat loosely organized - Peter's phys. ed. background was making it very tough for him not to take over and form everyone into more effective teams. We arranged our selves - 2 QL students with each Canadian and one primitive hand hoe and began to dig into the dry clay-like soil. Very tough work! We kept passing the hoe around so no one got too tired, but the African kids were obviously far superior when it came to this basic farming skill. The hole I was trying to dig was basically taken over by one of the QL teachers - he was trying to be polite, but I could tell he was thinking "we haven't got all day!" After the whole was the prescribed size (thank goodness the trees were actually just seedlings), we added a bit of manure for fertilizer (Pete got the nice fresh stuff, much tothe amusement of the QL children he was working with), plunked the tree in, covered it a bit and added a large plastic water bottle with a hole punched in it so it would drip-irrigate the tree. We planted guava, fig, orange, papaya, and croton trees - all about 8 inches tall. They will be fruit-bearing in about 2 - 3 years! After the trees were planted, the fun began! Some of the sports equipment from Canada was brought out and we demonstrated frisbees and badminton, When the skipping ropes came out - the QL kids went nuts - they are master-skippers! Usually in pairs, even on the small ropes. There were kids all over the place. Devin played gorrilla and had the small children chasing him screaming all over the school yard and up a tree. In what surely could be construed as a criminal act, our kids taught the Tanzanian children the Bird Dance (bad enough we have it in Manitoba, no need to infect the rest of the world). Our girls learned one of the songs and dances the African children performed for us - very cute and involved much tiny booty-shaking.
When it is time to leave, the math teacher had all the students line up in a remarkable display of order. He then said one word and all the children stamped their foot and turned right. Another word and they all stamped and turned left - all in their military-straight rows. Assemblies at KEC could definitely benefit from this sort of behaviour! I mentioned it to our students and they didn't seem too keen on adopting this practice. The Qaru Lambo kids sang us a Tanzania song and we presented the teachers with keychains that we had made to help raise funds for their tanks. They led us into a classroom and served us each a bottle of pop, which we had to finish before we could leave. This meant Susan had to visit the CPAR constructed, KEC-funded pit latrine one last time before we hit the bumpy road back to town.
After lunch at the hostel, we walked down the road to visit UMATU.

Safari Day 3 - Final day!

Tuesday June 1, 2010

Woke up to a very cool morning and another great Sopa lodge shower and a breakfast buffet that goes on for about a mile. Get on the road by about 8ish after Peter fails to negotiate his way out of paying for the milk consumed the night before (it was free at the first lodge and they didn't even charge all of the tables, so it should have been an easy battle). Take a very steep and scenic drive down into the crater. Spy a lion in the grass almost immediately! Other wildlife is soon evident, and we come across a hyena, well-fed, resting beside the road that didn't even blink when we stopped to say "jambo."The jeep drivers were very knowledgeable and gave us quite an education about the origins of the crater, its inhabitants, and the surrounding area. The crater covers about 17 sq km and has vastly different landscapes - dry flatland grasses (warthogs, hyenas, gazelles, rhino (wa-a-y far away), ostriches, wildebeast, zebra), lush rainforest (elephants, baboons), swampy watering holes (hippos, cranes, lions - LOTS of lions, it was gr-r-reat), and a lake. The lake is supposedly covered with flamingos during the dry season, and they get really pink when they eat the algae. It is apparently quite an amazing site. This, however, is not the dry season and the dumb birds have all migrated to another lake in either Kenya or another part of Tanzania. We saw a few slightly pink flamingos (I guess the lazy ones that didin't migrate) from quite a distance.

We stopped for a bathroom break and were immediately surrounded by Masai pushing their familiar wares. They are much like the lions that hang around the watering hole waiting for prey to arrive, except the Masai hang around the toilets knowing that the tourists will show up sooner or later.

Stopped for lunch by a large pond that was full of hippos. All we saw was hippo ears - it was naptime for them. Had another box lunch (getting a bit too familiar with this concept) and enjoyed basking in the unaccustomed sunshine. Made another drive around the crater and then headed up. Really steep! These are some kind of tough jeeps - definitely like to bring one back as a souvenir! It would take on Manitoba roads without a blink. After crawling out of the crater, clinging to the edge of the road, we had an uneventful drive back to Karatu enjoying the gorgeous landscapes. Stopped at a small curio stand to look at carvings, but quickly realized they were not the best quality and highly over-priced, even allowing for some bartering room. Quickly fled without buying anything.
Arrived home (and yes, our rooms back at the hostel did feel like returning "home") in time for some people to venture off to the market before dinner. It felt like we had been on a three-day vacation from our "real" life.

Safari - Day 2!

Monday May 31, 2010
Woke up abruptly at 6:00 a.m. (rooming with Jan is a whole other story!) Had the best shower ever in our huge showers with perfectly controlled temperature and pressure! After a sumptuous buffet breakfast, we tried to get on the road by 8:00, but everyone else was doing the same thing so we were a little delayed. Saw majestically graceful giraffes, some monkeys with either blue bums or blue other parts of their nether regions (apparently this encited much discussion in Jan's jeep as she had all the boys), and a crocodile back (maybe a log - we just took our guide's word for it). Driving through the Serengeti is very dusty - especially with the top up and standing up to catch everything. We all have a litany of bruises (badges of homour) from slamming into the doors, roof, etc of the jeeps as we bumped along. Came across absolutely gazillions of zebra. Zebra as far as the eye could see. And this is not apparently the high season. We laughed at how excited we were a few days ago when we glimpsed our first few zebra - who knew we soon be plowing through them on the road?
Had lunch at a small interpretive center (yay- western toilets!). Devin made friends with a pack of hyrax that roamed tamely through the trails. Saw hippos (barely), lions with cubs, and lions with a fresh kill (fairly gross - but interesting). Stopped for lunch at same place as yesterday and had box lunches (this is a big thing here - it comes in an actual box!) from the Sopa lodge.
Afternoon drive through Serengeti to Ngorongoro crater - saw more animals but a little sparser - many of us dozed in the warm, bumpy jeeps. Riley does a very entertaining head nod thing as she sleeps sitting up.
Decided to stop at a Masai village. They will welcome you in and tell you about their culture for a mere $20US each. We got it down to $10 each, thanks to Oswald - one of our drivers who knew them - but Peter's impressive negotiating skills somehow had the price back up an extra $20. (Side note - he is not allowed to negotiate any more - that's a job for Janice). The whole Masai experience seemed a little staged. The welcome song and dance was a ltlle half-hearted at first. Devin and Alyssa joined in the dancing. Part of the male dancing involved a high-jumping contest and Devin, our volleyball player, proved that white men can jump! He really held his own and managed to jump within about 4 inches of the Masai men. We were then separated into small groups and taken inside separate itty-bitty mud huts to see how they lived - very primitive indeed. Then shown the array of ubiquitous trinkets and jewellery and convinced to part with yet more of our shillings. The women all work hard making the jewellery and the beadwork on the crafts is beutiful. We were taken to a kindergarten class in a small hut that promptly sang us a song in Masai and showed us how well the tiny tots could count in English - a necessary skill for fleecing tourists.
After we left the village (I was offered 15 cows each for Bronwyn, Alanna, and Morgan - tempting) we had to push it to get to the Nogorongoro Sopa Lodge before dark. It is important to be off the roads before dark because the animals come out and don't like the lights so they attack the cars. We're talking about buffalo, elephants, and leopards - could do a bit of damage! Made it just in time to catch a spectacular sunset over the crater. This lodge is even nicer than the one at Serengeti! Temperature is very cold (maybe less than 10 degrees) - Peter refuses to wear long pants in Africa, but the rest of us bundle up. Have a marvelous dinner, complete with a birthday celebration for Jessica - song and dance and special cake all for her. It was a very unique 18th birthday! Everyone promptly crashed right after supper. This time, our beds had been turned down (no nets as it is too cold for mosquitoes) and a hot water bottle carefully placed inside each bed to make it nice and toasty. I could definitely get used to this!

Safari!

Sunday May 30 - First day on Safari!!!
Packed up a bag with a couple of days worth of stuff and threw all our excess luggage in the boys room (made them clean it up first). Started out right after breakfast in damp, cooler weather after shuffling around the seating in the various jeeps so we were all evenly dispersed – more or less. As we drove up to the Ngorongoro highlands, the scenery changed to a thick, jungle-like rainforest – very “gorillas in the mist” without the gorillas. Stopped briefly at the entrance to the park and read some info and picked up a few souvenirs (some people will shop anywhere!) The drive was very steep with a very sharp dropoff (very unnerving if you’re still not used to the driving on the left and you happen to be sitting on the left!) Very misty with occasional glimpses of the Karatu region far, far below. We pressed on to a point overlooking the Ngorongoro Crater. Stopped for a picture break – very windy – and were immediately surrounded by Masai selling their ever present trinkets and wares, or, for a few thousand shillings – they allow you to take a picture of themselves! Next stop – Olduvai Gorge (or more correctly Oldupai Gorge). Toured the tiny museum set up there and, surprise! - bought more souvenirs. Sat through an informative but short lecture whilst overlooking the gorge. Saw a copy of the casts of some original footprints that show that hominids walked upright long, long ago. On to the Serengeti! Passed many Masai people herding flocks of goats and cows. The landscape changed to flat brown grasslands. Started seeing wildlife! A few zebra (who knew we’d later see millions?), gazelle, ostrich (weird-looking birds!) and giraffes casually strolling around with the Masai on the way to the gate to the Serengeti National Park. The Masai and their animals are not allowed inside the park. Inside the park, we stop for a picnic lunch at the main office. Girls use an absolutely disgusting pit latrine before finding out the “western” toilets are around the corner. After lunch we follow a little trail to a scenic lookout and see an elephant way too close for comfort. I’m still convinced it was a tame one planted there for tourists. Spent the next four hours driving through the park standing up in the jeeps with the top popped up. Spent a good bit of time at some rocks with a pride of lions – nearly 20 in total! Absolutely amazing! Saw animal after animal, everyone clicking away with their cameras. Our drivers were very informative - it was a highly educational and entertaining experience. We felt a bit like we were in some National Geographic movie.
Arrived at the Serengeti Sopa Lodge in time for a nice refreshing swim (thanks to Devin the lifeguard) in the pool overlooking the Serengeti. The lodge itself caters to the rich and famous – we were definitely a little out of our element! Showers alone were big enough for 8 people! We dressed for dinner (“smartly” – as per instructions in each guest room). At dinner, we were offered a menu of choices for the main course of the five-course meal. VERY fine dining! Some students ordered cold milk to drink – very odd to the waiters. Puzzled, they brought it out and tried to be discreet as they watched in amazement as the kids drank it. Had to be escorted to our rooms so we wouldn’t be bothered by any wild animals that ventured onto the lodge grounds, particularly buffalo and baboons (now that’s a little different!) While we were at dinner, someone had been to our rooms to turn down the beds and draw the mosquito nets around the beds. I’m thinking it wouldn’t be hard to adjust to this!

Health care - Tanzania Style

Saturday May 29, 2010

Today is the day we explored different health care options in the area. First we visited the Karatu Lutheran Hospital, a 100 bed area hospital. Children under 5, adults over 60, and pregnant mothers are entitled to free health care according to an agreement with the Tanzanian government. The leading disease treated is malaria, which is on the decline due to the use of nets and an education campaign. This is followed by pneumonia, tuberculosis, animal attacks (rabies from dogs, buffalo attacking in the crater), and motor accidents (not surprising – having now experienced the roads and the driving habits!) And of course, there is HIV. This hospital has about 1000 patients with HIV on an out-patient basis. The availability of ARV drugs has now made this a manageable disease as opposed to the death sentence it was a few short years ago.

The hospital lacked a lot of the things one would expect from a western hospital, and although relatively clean, it did not seem like a place anyone should be if they were sick. Nurses were very scarce, and a very depressing, almost hopeless atmosphere lingered. Operating rooms were somewhat open and not very sterile.

After lunch we drove into the hills to visit the privately run FAME health care center http://www.fameafrica.org/. Very beautiful scenery. Still under construction, this hospital is funded completely by private donations from the U.S. and run by an American doctor. As well as a clinic, there is also a mobile clinic. Everything here seemed much more familiar.

Summary of our Day at Qaru Lambo

We had a round-table meeting following our day at Qaru Lambo. This day was so important - truthfully, the heart and soul of our entire project. The students displayed amazing insight as we discussed the events. Here are the highlights from each participant:


Matt - best day of my life - a real eye-opener. These people have so little yet they gave so much, whereas people in Canada seem to have so much but give so little.


Alanna - the kids could get laughter out of anything. They are so happy and content with what they have


Jessica - such a giving community. Biggest highlight was seeing the Qaru Lambo girls play soccer for the first time ever.


Vanessa - I didn't really understand how completely it would change us until we actually experienced it.


Kayla - impressed by how much those kids enjoy what we take for granted - like playing a game.

Morgan - how supportive and close the community was - they all came out to watch and participate.

Devin - how happy everyone was - if something bad happens, they shake it off and start laughing

Daniel - how friendly they were - everyone was willing to shake hands. Also - scoring that great goal!

Jeremy - it's cool how curious and happy everyone was

Erin - finally we (KEC group) are all here together after all the years of work

Cheryl - the day was amazing. Surprised by how close they wanted to be to us.

Janice - the school struck me - there is absolutely nothing there. Also, how important they thought we were - they dressed up for us.

Joseph - the poorness of the place and the contrast with the richness of spirit and life in the community. Also, how competetive the children were with each other to be near us.

Karen G. - we were treated like royalty. Made us forget about the horrible trip.

Carah - completely overwhelming and emotional - it wasn't "real" until we got here. They felt that us visiting them was a gift to their community. They kept saying (in song and dance) "don't forget us"

Susan - feeling like royalty - didn't sleep very much that night because their was so much on our minds. Wish more people could have this experience.

Darcy - older people were so gentle and respectful

Peter - just glad I didn't have to dance! Very proud of the KEC kids.

Bronwyn - it was the longest and the shortest day ever. I'll always remember the personal connection I made with a little girl there.

Mary - love how they'd follow you and try to get to us. They were so curious about us and happy to see us.

Alyssa - how they were so fascinated by us

Tony - each person involved managed to "own" the day in their own way. Eventually, we put down our cameras and just lived the experience.

Kathy - the thankfulness of the community was genuine, heartfelt, and sincere. Felt truly appreciated for something that, for the first time, seemed like such a simple thing to do.

Megan - the QL kids slowly warmed up to us. We put away the cameras and made [ersonal connections. Enjoyed it so much despite the language barrier,

Riley - the hospitality was amazing! I've never felt so welcomed!
Nitasha - a little boy kept touching my hand - there was no feeling of racism - curious about my skin colour, but didn't think it made me different.
Delainie - the kids were amazing - the were very touchy (liked to feel our hair, skin). Felt very appreciated.
Amanpreet - they have more than us because they appreciate everything about life. So amzaed by the people and how loving they are - they seemed to have such good relationships with each other.
Jean - it was fun seeing everyone so thouroughly engaged. Have never seen such a community turnout.
Japhet - to the African people, goats = investment. Killing a goat for the KEC people (for the feast) is a sign of great respect. The fact that the students enjoyed the goat meat and were pleased was very good and very appreciative of their sacrifice.

Qaru Lambo - Looking at the world through new eyes

Friday May 28, 2010

This is the day that changed us forever. It started rainy and chilly. We packed up for the trip to Qaru Lambo - the first school where we funded a rainwater harvesting project. They were expecting us. The roads here are mud, not gravel. The rain had made them very slick, which, when added to the humungous and plentiful potholes (some 18 inches deep) made for a bone-jarring, teeth-rattling ride.

The landscape is gorgeous - tons of wild flowers in rolling green hills with Ngorogoro highlands in the background.

We reach Qaru Lambo at about 10:30. Very hard to describe this day. We first met the head teacher, who had us all crowd in to her teeny tiny office to sign the guest book. We were thanked and welcomed profusely in Swahili with Japhet translating for both sides. We then toured each classroom, The students were shy at first, but quickly warmed up and let their curiousity about the mizungas take over. They were eager to have their picture taken and see themselves in the back of the camera - a game that could go on forever. They were so polite, willing to shake hands and soon even got the hang of the "fist-bump" that our students taught them. The QL students were absolutely adorable and heart-wrenching - beautiful children with huge eyes and big smiles all wearing the school uniform of red sweater and long blue skirt (girls) or short pants (boys). Some sweaters were so tattered you could tell how often they had been handed down.

The classrooms were essentially concrete cells with open windows and a blackboard. Wooden benches that sat 3 students (tightly), no supplies, no teachers desks, no books. 12 teachers for approximately 700 students (no, Peter, this is NOT a way to fix the schedule!).

In the older classes, students would stand and recite a greeting in unison. KEC students were having the time of their lives - you could see how awed they were by the experience. The QL students had never seen this many white people - especially young ones like themselves and they were enormously curious and quite enchanted.

Seeing the 2 drinking stations shining proudly in front of the school yard was very emotional. Many times, students would go up and get a drink. There were new gardens carefully tended that were irrigated with water from the tanks and the handwashing stations.

We toured the girls pit latrine, and many tried it out - a bit difficult to believe that it is an improvement over what the had before!

The rainwater harvesting tanks themselves were carefully managed by the school's water management committee and lovingly surrounded by a fence of small seedling trees.
We were the guests of honour at a feast provided by the entire community. It was an exciting moment for us when we all washed our hands in the hand-washing station that we funded!Providing this meal was a great sacrifice for this incredibly impoverished community. The students were great at expressing their appreciation - getting very excited and making "mmm" noises as each dish was revealed. Potatoes, goat, chicken, cabbage salad, fried green bananas, oranges, and fresh bananas. One of the classrooms had been transformed into a party room for the feast. After we took our food, the important people from the village also joined us.

Following the meal, the ceremonies began. Slowly over the morning, people from the village and community had been arriving - all decked out in their very best. One of the teachers acted as MC - again with Japhet translating for us. First the school children danced and sang for us (girls are the drummers here). After a few numbers, they invited our students up to dance with them - they all eagerly participated! Then our children demonstrated their expertise at singing and dancing with a rousing rendition of the "Hokey Pokey" followed by the "Chicken Dance". Then adults from the village performed for us. It was very humbling to be treated with such gratitude and appreciation for what we feel was an act of basic human kindness.

We were then all presented with gifts from the community - lengths of cloth wrapped around myself, Jan, and Peter, and sandals handmade from tires for Susan and the students. We presented them with the gift of the sports equipment we had brought for the school - we could hardly hold the crowd of children back as they crowded in to see what was being brought out!

Following this dignified and formal part of the day, there was a soccer match between the KEC students and Qaru Lambo. Everyone eagerly lined the field as our students took their places on the field and looked around to see where their oponents were. They had a disconcerting moment as out from the school jogs the Qaru Lambo soccer team - in matching uniforms and looking very professional! Peter, I'm sad to say, tried to switch his allegiance to the opponent's team! However, with Erin helping out in goal, and Tony on the field, and even Pete joining the fray, we proudly represented Canada! The onlookers all cheered loudly when Mary managed to steal the ball from a QL player. Daniel scored an amazing goal - impressing all with his speed and agility. Mostly, they were surprised to see women playing soccer for the first time ever!

After the game mercifully ended (3 - 1), everyone dispersed and mingled with the children and the community members. Some of our girls played soccer with the QL girls - first time ever! That really rocked things! Devin and Matt played volleyball (they called it netball), some of the girls played a basketball-like game (also called netball) and others just played with the kids. Our hair was stroked and our skin touched. They pacticed their English (so much better than our Swahili) and generally enjoyed the day. Even the adults liked to have their picture taken and see themselves on our digital cameras.

We left - tired and euphoric - completely overwhelmed with so many mixed emotions. We will return next Wednesday to plant fruit trees for the school.

We had a fun-filled evening at a local establishment called "Happy Days". Great music, good food - we all want to go back!