Dinner Time

Chloe has arrived! Chloe is another 4-H volunteer from Oklahoma who will be working here in Tanzania for the next six months. We have both been assigned projects to work on, but Chloe and I will work together most of the time. It is great to have her here at the camp.

Today we finally went into Tanga to buy some supplies. We took public transportation into town and had quite the adventure. The public transportation was a van with 13 seats, yet 20 people pile in. Gudila rode into town with us so she could show us around. We met up with one of Gudila's friends who walked with us since she was familiar with the town. Our first stop was to buy a cheap cell phone so we can keep in touch with the people here at the camp.

Tanzania is actually very up-to-date with technology. Almost the entire country uses cell phones to communicate with one another, some even have Blackberry phones. There are very few places that have internet access, however, I am very fortunate to be at this camp where they have wireless internet. Although there is wireless internet, it does not mean I always have access to the internet. There hasn't been a day where I've been able to be connected the entire day. The entire country also experiences blackouts quite often. Sometimes they last for 15 minutes, while others last for six hours. Needless to say, each day brings a new surprise.

After we bought our phones, we went to the store to buy food. Chloe and I will be making our own dinners, so we needed some supplies fit for our culinary skills. My favorite part about the store was they played American music! I was pretty excited when I heard familiar songs that I may or may not have started singing out loud while somewhat dancing in the aisle of the store. Most of the store was staring at me...but that is not really anything new since every single person stares at me when I walk by them. Some even decide to take a second look after I pass them.

I stocked up on pasta, rice, peanut butter and jelly, soaps and shampoos. After the store, we went across the street to the outdoor market to buy fresh mangos and mini bananas. There is an incredible variety of fruits and vegetables at the market. You can buy everything from passion fruit, lettuce to your choice of small or giant conch shells.

Chloe and I needed a way to cook our meals so we purchased a gas burner. We managed to come across a gas station that sold gas along with a plate. As you can imagine, we all had rather large bags full of items from the store in addition to the gas tank. We decided to call a taxi since we would probably get even stranger looks if we took the van back to the camp.

When we got back to the camp Chloe, Gudila, and I sat down with Susan and Ben for an orientation. Ben gave us an overview of the Tanzania 4-H program that began in 1976 in Lushoto (where I was last week). A school teacher from Lushoto went to Finland and heard about their 4-H program and decided to start the program here in Tanzania. It is now thriving with over 35,000 members in over 630 clubs. You can now see why the Tanzania 4-H program has become the model for all of the other African 4-H programs.

Following our orientation, Chloe and I made our first successful meal...although it took 45 minutes to prepare. We treated the water with some water treatment chemical that Chloe brought with her... then we waited for 30 minutes for the water to boil. It's rather difficult to screw up pasta, so I cannot gauge our culinary capabilities yet. But just you wait, I know you will all be amazed at what Chloe and I will be able to cook up with a single gas burner!









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Let's Get To Work

On Wednesday, Susan, Gudila, Mary, and I started our three-day tour visiting 4-H clubs in some of the rural villages in Tanzania. The Tanzania 4-H program has been an incredible success for its participants. Part of our job is to assess and document the success of these clubs so other African countries such as Uganda, Ghana, The Gambia, and Kenya can model their 4-H programs after 4-H Tanzania.

We hired a driver with a 4-wheel drive vehicle to take us to these villages because there are no paved roads outside the city. Wednesday morning began with a short one-hour drive to the village of Muheza. The first club we visited was an out-of-school club for women. We met with the women and their advisors in the home of a club member. Susan was our translator because most people speak very little English. 4-H has had an incredible impact on the lives of these women. Most of them make clothing and food to sell. Many women across the country find themselves engaging in risky behaviors. Because of 4-H, these women have learned the value and importance of their health and the choices they make. All the women are single mothers who have only completed school up to 7th grade. 4-H has taught these women how to be successful business women who can provide a living for their families. Many of the women are able to send their children to school with money earned using the skills they learned through 4-H. One of the women heard that I like to sing, so the club sang a special song in their native tongue for me.






After meeting with the women, we visited a primary school club. The children were so excited to see a mzungu (white person). From the minute we stepped out of the van, the children looked at me because of my white skin. We spoke with several of the children to learn what they enjoy about 4-H. Most of the children said they had gained confidence and had become self-reliant because of the lessons they learned in their club. As we were getting ready to leave I took some pictures of the children. They were so excited to have their picture taken. All the children tried to squeeze into the picture and cheered as it was taken. As we drove away, the children ran alongside the van waving goodbye.





After our afternoon in Muheza, we drove five hours to Lushoto, a rural village in the hills. The area was incredibly beautiful with hills covered in lush green vegetation and tropical plants. There were waterfalls and rivers running between the valleys. Lushoto is at a higher elevation so the climate is very different. Susan and Gudila brought their coats because to them it was very cold. The temperature was comfortable in the mid-60's. We spent the night at a nice hotel that had hot water!





The next day, we visited two primary school 4-H clubs in Lushoto. The children sang their 4-H pledge for us as we walked in. After Mary spoke with them, I taught them all a song. I started to teach them "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," but they already knew it. So I taught them "The More We Get Together." After teaching them the English words, they sang the song in a round several times. I brought a number of 4-H gifts including frisbees, pencils, stickers, pins, wooden airplanes, and bracelets. The children were excited when I handed out some gifts before we left.




As we arrived at the second school, the children lined up and sang for us as we walked passed. Mary spoke with the children and I taught them a song again. Afterwards, I distributed a few gifts and the children went wild. Every child came up to shake my hand and say "thank you" before they left.





After our two club visits we had another four-hour drive to the city of Moshi. The city of Moshi lies in the region near Mt. Kilimanjaro. It's a 45-minute drive from the town of Arusha, which is one of the most popular and busiest tourist destinations in Tanzania.



After being woken up at 5:00 am for the Call to Prayer at the many mosques in Moshi, I began getting ready for our club visits. The club visits in Moshi were visits to rural Moshi schools. When I say rural, I mean a one-hour drive into the middle of nowhere on unpaved roads that are barely wide enough for a car. Our journey into these rural villages was more of an off-roading experience. There were several times when our car was leaning at a 30 degree angle while going over a three-foot gap in the road. To put this in perspective, Africans call this kind of travel an "African massage."

On the way to our first school, we drove through a village market. I have never seen so many bananas in my life. Hundreds of women were carrying banana bunches on their heads to take to the market. The market itself had literally thousands of banana bunches piled 15 feet high. I'm just going to throw this out there and say I think this village is the banana capital of Tanzania.

Our first visit of the day was to a primary school. The children were in the middle of exams so we did not have time to talk to any children, but we spent time walking around the school. Although it was a rural school, it was the most beautiful school we visited. The pathways were lined with flowers and tropical plants that added color to the already lush scenery.






Our second visit was even deeper into the remote middle of nowhere. However, once we arrived, it was a very beautiful tropical area. The club is situated at the Murango Waterfalls, which is a popular tourist area. One of the activities of this unique club is to help with the tourism of this area. The club members and their advisor gave us a tour and took us down to the falls. The cool water from the falls flows from Mount Kilimanjaro. After visiting the falls we had lunch and again collected information from the club members about their 4-H involvement and success.








After speaking with the teenagers, we trekked back through the middle of nowhere on the clay roads with rather large gaps every five feet. We drove back to the town of Moshi to take Mary back to her hotel. We left her in Moshi because her return flight home on Saturday. Susan, Gudila, our two car drivers, and I began our eight hour adventure back to Tanga. Do not worry though, these roads were paved!




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Roughin' It

I will be spending my six week internship living at the 4-H headquarters. The camp was built by Finland 4-H. There is a main office building where I will be spending most of my time working. There is an outdoor kitchen complete with an open fire pit for cooking meals. The meals are served in an outdoor dining area with a roof. The rest of the camp consists of "dorm rooms." The camp can accommodate up to 40 guests for conferences and camp programs.

These dorm rooms are far from what we are familiar with in the United States. My room has two twin beds covered by mosquito nets to protect from malaria. There is one chair in the corner of the room with a little table. The bathroom in my room is quite unique. The toilet is a hole in the floor of the shower. The toilet also serves as the drain for the shower. The shower only runs water from the well, so it is very cold. If I want to take a warm shower, I have to ask the cook to boil water for me over the open fire and then pour the water on myself with a cup. If you ever find yourself having to take a bucket shower, which I recommend that everybody try, you just let me know-I can hook you up with some good tips.

My favorite part about my room is my roommate. I live with a little lizard that likes to hang out on the walls. I have decided to name him Trevor. Trevor is very loyal, he spends his afternoons elsewhere, but he always comes back in the evenings.


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Put Your Hands Up

Tanga is a six hour bus ride from Dar es Salaam. Today, Susan drove us to the bus station through bumper-to-bumper traffic. The rainy season is just now ending in Tanzania. It poured all the way to the bus station. Susan told us that 3000 buses depart from the bus station each day. The station is packed with vendors selling everything from bottled drinks to socks. The vendors swarm the buses and hold up their goods to the window trying to sell their goods to you. The bus had five seats in each row and had no toilet or air-conditioning. The only cool air comes from the open windows.




I would compare this bus ride with riding a roller coaster...a wooden roller coaster. The roads are not the smoothest roads I have experienced-there are many holes, bumps, and gaps in the road. However, these problems do not stop the bus driver from maintaining his consistent speed. This results in the occasional flying out of your seat or bumping into your neighbor.

The further we traveled away from the city, the more native the villages became. Now instead of seeing little shacks among the lush trees and bushes, I saw huts with thatched roofs and dirt floors. People would be tending to their crop fields and stop and look at us as we drove by. Now not every village we passed looked so primitive. The larger villages still had shacks with people selling their goods, and as we approached the village, people would run up to the windows and try to sell us their goods.





Mary and I each had our own half of the aisle. I had one empty seat next to me and mary had two empty seats next to her. Most of the other seats were filled and everyone else sat next to each other. No one ever once thought to sit next to me or Mary during our six hour journey.

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And So It Begins

I arrived safely into Dar es Salaam at 9:30pm. Mary Crave, one of the people I will be working with for the next two weeks before she returns home to the United States, picked me up at the airport and brought me to our hotel. At the hotel, I received some delicious complimentary apple juice and then I tried to sleep. I think my body is a little confused of the time right now. I went to bed at 11:00 pm and woke up at 1:00 am...and every hour after that. I decided to get up at 6:00 am and watch the sun rise over the harbor outside my window.




I had the most delicious fruits for breakfast. They served fresh papaya, pineapple, mango, and watermelon. I then met Susan Naburi, the woman in charge of the 4-H program in Tanzania who I will be working with this summer. Susan drove Mary and I around the streets of Dar es Salaam. She took us along the beachfront where all of the embassies are located. I do not think I have ever seen such elaborate embassies in my life. They were all huge and overlooked the Indian Ocean. The most incredible embassy was the United Arab Emirates Embassy, which looked like an Arab palace.

Susan then drove us out to a beach resort where one of Mary's friend was staying. The resort looked like a picture you see on a postcard. Although it looks like paradise, ten minutes in the sun would be enough to give you a painful sunburn. When we arrived, it was low tide so the fishermen were out with their nets. As the tide came in, six boats with fishermen came in with their catches in their nets.









Although this looks like paradise, what you cannot see are the slums along the road leading to this resort. The streets are lined with little shacks with people trying to make a living selling their goods. Women walk along the side of the dirt road balancing their goods on their heads. There are people selling fruits, plants, furniture, and even bushels of sticks. Cows, chickens, and goats roam freely across the roads. There are new buildings being constructed everywhere, but the scaffolding is built from tree branches tied together that looks like it will crumble the minute someone steps on the branch.

Even though most of the population does not live in excess wealth, I have never in my life met people who were so kind and generous. Their kindness is almost overwhelming because they will do anything and everything for you. Someone will open the doors for you, they will bring you anything you need, they carry every bag you have. It's hard to believe that these people can give what little they have without any hesitation while we sometimes get so caught up in our own priorities.


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8200 Miles, 33 Hours, and 8 Times Zones Later

There is an old African saying-It takes a whole village to raise a child. Growing up with the African proverb has taught me importance of giving to others, which is why it has always been one of my dreams to volunteer in Africa. I decided it was time to do something about my dream before I did not have my time to give. I have been blessed with the opportunity to be the first volunteer intern for a new developing 4-H program in Tanzania. I am stationed at the 4-H headquarters in Tanga located on the northern coastline. Tanga is the second-busiest port and the country's third largest city, with 200,000 inhabitants. Tanga was founded in the 14th century by Persian traders. The word tanga means a woven sail and comes from the word "tweka tanga" meaning to set sail.

I am very excited for this experience because I know it will be a learning opportunity for me. I loved my time abroad last spring studying in Estonia and I learned a lot about myself through the journey. Through this experience I hope to continue learning more about myself while making a difference in the lives of the Tanzanian youth.




I began my trip at 1:00 pm Friday in Omaha, Nebraska where I flew to Minneapolis. I had a quick 50 minutes to catch my international flight to Amsterdam. We arrived a few minutes late so, naturally, I ran through the airport to my gate and made it just in time as people were boarding. After the seven and a half hour flight, I had a four hour layover in Amsterdam. I wanted to take a shower, however, I did not pack a towel...so I went in search of a towel in the airport. Luckily, I found a little souvenir towel that said " I Love Amsterdam" -great keepsake from Amsterdam if I do say so myself. I then had a eight and a half hour flight to Kilimanjaro. My body was a little bit confused during the flight because I was being served lunch and dinner when I should have been eating dinner and breakfast.





On my flight to Kilimanjaro/Dar es Salaam, I sat next to a woman from the Ukraine. I enjoyed sitting next to her for 11 hours-she told all about the Ukraine and even showed me some pictures from Kiev. I thought I would be flying with many Tanzanian passengers, however, most passengers were European. The plane was full on our flight to Kilimanjaro, but 90% of the passengers got off at Kilimanjaro. We sat on the plane in Kilimanjaro and waited for the plane to be refueled for our 45 minute flight on to Dar es Salaam.



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