Settling In
So we have been here 1.5 weeks now. Rau village, just outside Moshi, Tanzania. Before you get to Africa, you read about the staggering number of people with AIDS, the number of orphans left behind from AIDS and the number of deaths and disabilities caused by Malaria. When you 1st get here, you are a bit overwhelmed by the sadness of it all. Then something happens. You realize that despite all the hardship caused by these two diseases along, and poverty in general, that Tanzanians make you feel at home (Karibu Sana is a Swahili phrase you will hear about 50 times / day - it means you are very welcome) and generally everyone is very happy. The kids especially make the difference. You cannot walk to the store (Deo’s Grocery) to get a coke without being mobbed by children all yelling greetings at you. At first you just thing it is because you are whitey, which is part of it, but actually it is part of the larger culture of greeting people and making sure they are alright. Even if you don’t know the language, it is no problem (hahuna matada!). At night time, when you have a chance to relfect on the day, you can become sad again as you think about the situations you saw that day, but you realize that if the people enduring can remain positive and happy about it, so can you and you can use that positive attitude to be resourceful and helpful to make situations better for people. I hope people can make sense of what I just said because I am not going to go back and rewrite it 
Tomorrow I am off to Chawamaki. Hopefully all of the chicks did not die since last Friday, they have a disease that seems to have come from a dirty pen they were in. If they did die, it is back to the drawing board for that project. Perhaps we can buy some local chickens, the ones that walk around on the road here. They are more hearty than the mzungu chickens, the kind we have at home, but they don’t lay as many eggs. Man, it would have been a whole lot better if I had done some farming in the last 12 years instead of playing with computers! Also, the group should have sold a pig last Friday for about 115,000tsh (about $100CDN). This would have enabled them to purchase food for the rest of the 9 pigs that are there. Really when it comes down to it, this is just like fixing servers and networks. New problems every day, and you try to invest in infrastructure that works well so as to minimize your daily problems. But once again, these people are much closer to ‘the edge’, so I can’t just goof off on the Internet all day instead of doing my part
Tomorrow afternoon we are heading to Arusha to attend the International Criminal Tribunal on the Rwandan Genocide. They have been running these trials for several years now to try and prosecute those behind the truly disturbing killing of thousands of Tutsi’s in Rwanda in 1994. I have read a lot about this lately and am quite intrested to attend.
Many of the 38 volunteers currently here seem to have a communicable cold of some sort. Sore throat and general tiredness is about. Both Paula and I seem to have it today. The cooks out back (Kisoko and Primo - kudos to these guys, this is the best food we have eaten in quite some time) made us some great tea - Lemon, ginger, garlic, cinammon, honey, black tea and some magic. It is helping. I’m sure we will all be fine in a day or so.
This weekend we are off to the Kilimanjaro Lodge. A Lodge part way up the mountain. A bunch of us are heading up. A weekend of hiking and beer drinking hopefully.
This post is way to long as it is so I will end it hear. As I type this, the power keeps cutting in and out (UPSs are very popular in Tanzania!). Bed soon, but maybe some more tea 1st.
Good night all. I love you and miss you all.
XOXO
July 31 2007 06:00 pm | Tanzania
August 1st, 2007 at 12:27 am
I’m sure your computer skills helped get you where you are today Christopher.But a little farming would have rounded you out a little more.(HaHa)
August 1st, 2007 at 1:07 am
Jambo Paula and Chris, I don’t read you every day but do a good catch up every couple of weeks, which I have just done. DON’T STOP THE BLOG! It is wonderful to read of your experiences and the emotions you are feeling. I so agree with your observations about the positive attitude of people who have nothing in material terms. You’ve really tugged at my heart strings with all CCS stories. Good work guys!
Stay healthy Mzungus! Love, Pat S.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:17 pm
I remember learning a couple of Swahili words in my junior high English class in Japan… I’d love to visit Africa, but I think I am more likely to end up in Cambodia/Thailand/Vietnam around Christmas helping street children. Who knows? I am now in Japan. It’s hot and muggy. Ugh… Hope you two are safe and well.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Glad to hear your keeping your spirits up and still having a great adventure.
Love to you both, Jo