Made It!

Hi, everyone!

I'm back in the States, after the Malawi jaunt, a day and a half in Dar es Salaam, and way too many hours of traveling (including a great three-hour excursion into Amsterdam in between flights).

In the taxi yesterday, I kept being startled by traffic coming at us from the left side. However, a cab painted with the words, "Don't worry about it," (hakuna matata) made me feel more comfortable. Being out in today's below freezing weather wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, although it was still a far cry from the 100-ish degrees we had in Dar before we left.

My plan is to continue to post as I go through re-entry (as it's apparently called in some circles), reflect more on my trip, and attempt to create a career that addresses some of the issues and problems I've been exposed to over the last two months. I'll make my photos available within the next week or two. (Yes, I'm still on Africa time!)

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone has good ideas about how to go about choosing a new computer, please let me know.

It's about 8 PM, and I'm completely exhausted (it's 4 AM in Tanzania), so I'm going to sign off now.

I look forward to seeing and speaking with many of you soon!
-Jenna

Headscarves and Henna

At first blush, Zanzibar (at least what we saw of it) is similar to the Arusha area in the following ways: they speak Swahili, most look Tanzanian, they serve chips (fries) with most meals, they use the same currency, they sell the same knickknacks, there are a few Maasai wandering around.

And that's about it.

Zanzibar has a rich history (in the last 300 years or so) and has been astoundingly influential for its size. Stone Town struck as a combination of Cape Cod, India, and a stereotypical Arab country. The narrow cobbled streets and crumbling, multi-storied stone buildings reminded each of us of the other old towns we had seen (Jerusalem, Varanasi, etc.), although the Stone Town is not actually that old. The weather was muggy and in the 90s or low 100s. The town has a much larger concentration of tourists than I'd seen elsewhere in my trip, mostly Europeans. The alleys are lined with tourist shops, restaurants, and hotels, contrasting with the dilapidated state of the buildings and the Muslim dress of most women and some men.

The air smells like the ocean and is regularly filled with the sound of one or more muezzins. The market sells only hallal meat. One evening we were almost run over by a crowd of about 25 boys, identically dressed in white robes and white head coverings, racing around the corner.

Our first response to the black-clad women was that they must be terribly hot, especially once we saw that they had clothes on under the robes. Then I realized that the women in Arusha also have a full set of clothing on under their kangas, so maybe it wasn't so different. We asked a woman a couple of days later, and she said that she did not find the robe hot at all. She seemed very cheerful about it. A small minority of women also covered their faces. I was happy to see that women were driving, running errands, managing shops, socializing (including with men). Many chose robes that only buttoned on top, revealing the outfit underneath. One of these outfits was jeans and a t-shirt! Some women wore nice shoes and/or painted their toenails. Some robes had elaborate lace, sequined, or embroidered designs.

There has also been a strong Indian influence on the island, not least the introduction of Zanzibar's famous spices. We went on a "spice tour" and saw how many common spices grow - I think not one grew the way I would have expected, though, really, I'd never given it much thought. Stone Town's old buildings have beautifully carved doors, some in the Arabic style, and some in the Indian style, representing the former inhabitants. We ate some astoundinly delicious Indian food, and I currently have henna (or, as they say, heena) designs all over my hands and wrists. The mix of Arabs, Indians, and Africans seems to have given rise to a tolerant and cosmopolitan outlook. As a small gauge, not a single person called us "mzungu" while we were there; everyone just said, "'Jambo."

The Arabic doors sported symbols of the major businesses the Arabs ran on Zanzibar. As such, a detailed carved chain ran around each door, symbolizing the slave trade. We heard how the slaves were brought to Zanzibar from all over East Africa and saw the horrible underground chambers where they waited at least three days, chained, in overcrowded, hot, and dark conditions. We also saw the church that was built, with the sultan's help, on the land that had held the slave auction, with the altar directly over where the whipping post had been. It was actually quite moving.

Zanzibar is also about water, beaches, and relaxation. We didn't have the time or inclination to take advantage of the snorkeling, diving, swimming with dolphins, etc., but I had one of the best dinners of my life at a perfectly-set table on the beach. Delicious food by candle-light, warm breezes from the Indian Ocean, sand between my toes, stars above, and traditional African/Arabic music in the background. The "real world" felt very far away.

I'm currently in Malawi, and very much in the "real world." I'll write about it next time.

-Jenna

Home from the Range

There is something about vast landscapes that has a profound impact on the mind and on the soul. The endless plains, forests, and mountains of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro became as much the focus of our safari as the many animals we saw. It was wonderful and fascinating to see the wildlife (and even more so to see the system in which they exist), but it's the land that was hard to leave rather than the animals. I have re-affirmed the committment I made to myself on Kilimanjaro to spend more time in natural settings from now on.

That said, the animals were great! We saw the "big five" and a lot more, some of them right next to the car and in one case (baboons) on the car. I fell in love with dikdiks (smallest antelope) and baby warthogs, and I have a newfound fondness for wildebeests (gnus). But really I could have spent hours watching any of the animals we saw. I'm not sure I ever got over the sense that we might be in Africaland, where they stock exotic creatures for tourists to take pictures of. We saw giraffes grazing near flocks of goats and wildebeests resting near herds of cattle. Passing wildebeests, buffalo, zebras, and gazelles that stretched as far as the eye could see gave me a new appreciation for what the States may have looked like before the Europeans arrived. I made a promise,related to the one above, to see more of the U.S. in the future.

We stayed in a wide variety of lodges, but at almost all of them we woke up to the sounds of birds. At one camp, I peeked outside in the morning and saw a pair of jackals. At a couple, they offered armed guards (bow and arrow) to accompany us back to our rooms. At all of them, we ate looking out at the parks. It's going to be a hard adjustment over the next couple of days, but I am looking forward to the completely different atmosphere of Zanzibar.

Speaking of adjustments, I have been surprised to find that leaving CCS has been a bit difficult. I miss being out in the community, using Swahili, hanging out with the group. Some of the differences are just part of travel - being with tourists instead of locals, living out of a suitcase and sleeping in a different bed every night, not being able to predict what will be served at the next meal. And some of the differences are great: my first real shower in over six weeks, some delicious food in some very nice settings, and being with people with whom I have a history. I think that going back to the States (in a new city) may be even more of an adjustment than I had thought.

In our next episode: the exciting island of Zanzibar!
-Jenna

Phase Two

Hi, everyone!

I think it’s been two weeks since I’ve written. I’ve spent that time volunteering, making many arrangements for the next three weeks, trying to send a package (very time-consuming), visiting Arusha National Park (where I got a preview of many of the animals we will see on safari), and celebrating New Year’s Eve.

Amazingly, my six weeks of volunteering are over. On Wednesday morning I woke up and realized that I was sick of every item of clothing that I had brought with me. On Thursday morning I lost the last bit of investment I had in my new volunteer placement, and Thursday night I had a dream in which I was under house arrest at the CCS home base. Needless to say, I was ready to leave, although I really enjoyed hanging out with my fellow volunteers and the staff.

My mom and my friend have both arrived safely, and I’ve taken them to a few of the highlights of my first six weeks as well as to a good-bye party my women’s group threw for me. Tomorrow we leave for safari, so I won’t have email access for about a week.

I’ve been thinking a lot about volunteering and communal living and hope to have a chance to write about both of those in the next few weeks. I’ve also been thinking about the lifestyle here vs. the lifestyle back at home and how one might try to take the best of each.

As time goes by, I miss everyone at home more and more. I've also started to make the list of things I want to do when I get back. This includes eating meat, ice cream, and fresh fruits and vegetables; seeing a movie; going to synagogue; using a telephone... Not particularly looking forward to the weather!

The other day I saw a bunch of people loading a live goat into the back of a van. A woman and I both said "shikamoo" (greeting to someone older than you) to each other at the same time. I went to a huge market and saw rows and rows of shoes, clothing, cookware, every kind of produce.

I'm so excited for my safari, and the rest of my three tourist weeks! I'll try to get back on a more regular posting schedule once I'm back from the wild.

I hope everyone is staying warm.
Kwaheri!
-Jenna

Another Week, Another Placement

Happy belated Boxing Day to you and yours!

And Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrated on Monday.

I had a really wonderful long weekend. I spent some time on Kilimanjaro enjoying the breathtaking views and doing some hiking, I ate lunch at the home of a woman from my placement, and, on Boxing Day, I went in to one of the orphanages to play with the kids.

Several of you have mentioned and I'm sure even more of you have noticed that I haven't written much about my placement at the Amani Group. This is primarily because I didn't have a lot of good news to report. In the end, it was a stressful and difficult assignment, and I didn't feel that we accomplished much. As of this past week, I have been assigned to a new placement. It isn't particularly exciting work, but isn't unpleasant, either - a step up.

Here's how a day went at my old placement: leave in van around 7:30 after breakfast, drop off several other volunteers at their placement, arrive at the bottom of the hill around 8:00, bounce and jolt up what many locals consider to be the worst "road" in the area, arrive around 8:15 or 8:30, meet up with Grace (secretary and translator), go to Mama Mollel's house (founder), spend about an hour and a half slowly talking about nothing, meet the women in the office, have a "meeting" with them until about 11:30, start heading down the hill (including walking through a freezing stream), meet the van at the bottom of the hill. Sometimes we went on home visits to the various members. Those days were pretty similar to what I described above except that we brought gifts to the members' homes and spent time there instead of at Mama Mollel's.

It became clear pretty quickly that the group could not agree on any projects because the founder kept blocking the women's ideas. Worse, the founder had stolen hundreds of dollars from these very poor women. We managed to get a few figures from her, and I did some math, and we ended up having to confront her and demand the money, which she has yet to repay. The group has all but disbanded, and I'm trying to help them start another group, which will be primarily a microfinance organization.

Two upsides: 1) the women themselves were wonderful, and I'm so glad to have met them and learned a bit about their lives, and 2) I got quite an education about what these women (and others) face when trying to turn their lives around. I hope to write more about both of these in the future.

I can't believe I only have a week and a half left of the volunteering portion of my trip. It's been such a great learning experience, but I'm also ready to move on.

-Jenna

A Sense of Tanzania

First, Happy Chanuka! (Don't know how to say that in Swahili or Maa.....)

I ran a very successful chanuka party at the home base over the weekend, complete with something resembling potato pancakes, applesauce, jelly doughnuts, candlelighting, a retelling of the chanuka story, and several games of dreidel! People really enjoyed it.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Touched: a teeny kitten who appeared from among the livestock on a homestead, the hand of a 90-year-old Maasai woman who had survived all nine of her children, the damp, red clay of a Chaga tunnel, an hour-long massage ($14), a baby who immediately started crying when he realized he was being held by a white person, the very cold water of the stream I had to walk across every day on the way home from my placement, teeny Maasai beads spread out as I strung them and in the form of finished jewelry, sweltering heat (luckily, a dry heat), many pieces of cloth hanging up in a shop

Smelled: the night air filled with the scent of flowers from a nearby tree in bloom, lots of sweat (warm climate, low use of deodorant), bug spray, diesel and other visible emissions from cars and trucks, a rarely-cleaned squat toilet

Tasted: a fantastically delicious meal at the headquarters of Pete O'Neal (former Black Panther), orange Fanta while on a home visit to one of the members of the women's group, a poolside pina colada at a nearby resort, ugali (stiff, bland cornmeal staple of Tanzania), very unique chanuka food at the home base, a glass of red wine at a nice restaurant

Heard: roosters at 4:30 AM (and almost every other time), vehicles honking at each other either in greeting or in warning, depending on the situation, an English translation at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a large loud waterfall at the bottom of a beautiful steep ravine, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas blaring across a local market, muezzins, the stamping feet of Maasai women dancing, dogs fighting at 10:30 every evening, an open air concert including classical, African, and fusion music

Seen: women carrying small suitcases on their heads, a disabled man sitting cross-legged and propelling himself with his arms, a live chicken tied by its feet to the handlebars of a bike, a small mob tying a man to a cart in order to dump him in the river (because he was not clean enough), donkeys carrying sacks and bundles on their backs, streams cutting their deep way through the soil, vans with special names on them ("Domination," "Tokyo Express," God is Great," "Chuchu Trans," "Jesus Power," "Sabra"), fields of maize and beans

Hope everyone is keeping warm.
Kwaheri!
-Jenna

Home Sweet Home

Guess what? I'm about to become a Tanzanian resident. How cool is that? Well, actually I'll only be a temporary resident, but I still like the idea. : )

In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd share a small detail about my new country of residence - the shower routine:

1. Turn on a light to see whether there is any power
2. If no, there will be no hot water, so probably skip the shower
3. If too dirty, either take very cold shower or go down to kitchen to get your bucket filled with hot water. See 8 below, but do all in the dark.
4. If there is electricity, turn on the hot water to see if it's working
5. If no, see 3 above
6. If yes, get towel, flip-flops, etc.
7. If water is hot, use showerhead to wet hair. Let water fill bucket while washing hair. Use showerhead to rinse hair. Let showerhead/faucet continue to fill bucket
8. Use small bucket to wet and wash various parts of body
9. Turn off water when bucket is full (if applicable)
10. Use small bucket to rinse entire body
11. Dry, etc. as usual

It's actually not a bad shower once you get used to it!

I'll post again soon. : )
-Jenna