Well, you haven’t seen any pictures yet, have you. I’ve just not been able to do what it takes (even with good help from afar) to post them on this blog so until I gain some more skills everyone will just have to use her/his imagination. Just take it from me that my immediate environment is beautiful here, especially since we’ve had a nice shower of rain almost every day.
When I went out the other day I was reminded of one type of vehicle on the road that I didn’t mention previously: the cart. A lot of goods are transported around the city on two wheeled pull/push carts. These are made by placing a wooden frame with short sides on an axle with two rubber tires. The axle and tires are taken from old vehicles and the wooden frame, about 3-4 ft. by 5 ft. is fastened to it. There are two poles extending forward at the front, with a shaft placed between them. That front part is used to pull the cart, and sometimes these are very heavily loaded. Sacks of potatoes or rice or fruit or vegetables, boxes filled with anything and everything, crates of soda and beer, carcasses of cows or goats going to or from butcheries, live chickens - - these are only some of the things I’ve seen being transported this way. When the load is heavy there is often a second person pushing from the back as the person in front pulls. And remember that these share the road with everything else: cars, buses, lorries, bicycles, people. It’s actually a very “green” way to transport goods; everything from which the cart is made is recycled and no fossil fuels are used to run it. One can’t help but empathize with the men pulling them, however, when you see the sweat running down their faces.
I guess the slower pace here applies also to the internet. This morning I wanted to read the local newspaper from North Dakota (Divide County Journal – a weekly that has news of the county including the nieces and nephews and their sports activities). It took 15 minutes to download, and that would normally take three or four minutes in the U.S. Maybe that also affects my ability to upload pictures to this blog???
Tomorrow is the trip to Morogoro and it will take us about eight hours, I suppose. The distance is about 500 km. We will drive in a newly serviced car, a Toyota Rav-4. Since the other three Sisters are all drivers I’m sure I won’t have to test my ability to remember that I need to drive on the left side of the road ….. That will come, however. I did get my Tanzanian license the other day. It had been expired for over three years but all I did was pay the fee and it was renewed for another two years. The fee included the eye examination, which I didn’t need to take!
I'll write again as I get the opportunity.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
21st February 2009 - One Week Already
Time goes fast here, too. Already I’ve been here one week and it feels like it’s time to do some more physical activity. I’ve been concentrating on learning to use the communication tools that I have and am grateful for the opportunity to do that. Yesterday I managed to connect the phone to the laptop and so can access the internet using the phone as a modem. It really is a smart phone!
Next week on Thursday we will go to Morogoro for a Maryknoll Sisters’ meeting, and I’ll stay on there for awhile after that. Then I’ll travel to Singida to visit my old school and friends and when I return I will want to do something to contribute, too. There’s always a lot to do at Emusoi so we’ll see what that might be.
I need to correct my mistake and my exalted opinion of Arusha. Arusha isn’t the second largest city but instead is the 4th, according to fairly recent estimates of population. Dar es Salaam is of course the largest city with 2.5 million, Mwanza the second with 400,000, Zanzibar (the city on the island of Zanzibar) the third with 372,000 and finally Arusha with almost 300,000. I suppose my exalted opinion comes from the fact that Arusha was the city I went to for anything major while I lived in both Nangwa and Singida, so it always seemed so huge compared to those places. Anyway, I wanted to set the record straight.
I’m going to try to post some pictures. One is of Mt. Meru taken yesterday evening and with snow on it. That’s not very usual, especially this time of the year, but it was covered with clouds the whole day and so I suppose it was raining at the top. When the clouds cleared away in the evening there was a good dusting of snow on it and it was really beautiful. Another is of a tree that I like and have seen only in some few places in Tanzania. Because I admire this tree I wanted one for the school (Murigha) many years ago and so bought a seedling (only one) to plant near the entrance of the school. We called it “mbuzi” (goat) because the seedling cost as much as a goat would have! I will be interested to see if that one I planted has survived. Lastly I’ll put a couple pictures of the house. It’s a lovely house, and large. It’s made from cement block and plastered over with cement with a roof of tin sheets. The walls inside are plastered and painted nicely, and the floors tiled in the living and dining areas but throughout the rest of the house, including the bedrooms, the floors are plain cement. There is a steady supply of water and modern bathrooms. Electricity has been quite steady, so the fridge does its job well; the stove uses bottled gas. A difference you would note in the bathrooms would be that the sink, cupboards, shower are built with cement block and then plastered and painted, so you would see a rather unique shower stall, for example. Someday you might see a picture ......
Have a good weekend.
Next week on Thursday we will go to Morogoro for a Maryknoll Sisters’ meeting, and I’ll stay on there for awhile after that. Then I’ll travel to Singida to visit my old school and friends and when I return I will want to do something to contribute, too. There’s always a lot to do at Emusoi so we’ll see what that might be.
I need to correct my mistake and my exalted opinion of Arusha. Arusha isn’t the second largest city but instead is the 4th, according to fairly recent estimates of population. Dar es Salaam is of course the largest city with 2.5 million, Mwanza the second with 400,000, Zanzibar (the city on the island of Zanzibar) the third with 372,000 and finally Arusha with almost 300,000. I suppose my exalted opinion comes from the fact that Arusha was the city I went to for anything major while I lived in both Nangwa and Singida, so it always seemed so huge compared to those places. Anyway, I wanted to set the record straight.
I’m going to try to post some pictures. One is of Mt. Meru taken yesterday evening and with snow on it. That’s not very usual, especially this time of the year, but it was covered with clouds the whole day and so I suppose it was raining at the top. When the clouds cleared away in the evening there was a good dusting of snow on it and it was really beautiful. Another is of a tree that I like and have seen only in some few places in Tanzania. Because I admire this tree I wanted one for the school (Murigha) many years ago and so bought a seedling (only one) to plant near the entrance of the school. We called it “mbuzi” (goat) because the seedling cost as much as a goat would have! I will be interested to see if that one I planted has survived. Lastly I’ll put a couple pictures of the house. It’s a lovely house, and large. It’s made from cement block and plastered over with cement with a roof of tin sheets. The walls inside are plastered and painted nicely, and the floors tiled in the living and dining areas but throughout the rest of the house, including the bedrooms, the floors are plain cement. There is a steady supply of water and modern bathrooms. Electricity has been quite steady, so the fridge does its job well; the stove uses bottled gas. A difference you would note in the bathrooms would be that the sink, cupboards, shower are built with cement block and then plastered and painted, so you would see a rather unique shower stall, for example. Someday you might see a picture ......
Have a good weekend.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
19th February 2009 - Some answers
It's good that you readers are asking some questions because some things are just so second nature that I forget to explain them. Keep them up, please.
I arrived at Kilimanjaro airport, which is about halfway between two towns/cities: Arusha and Moshi. Moshi is the smaller town, and at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is from there that expeditions leave to climb the mountain, and it's a nice little place, with lots of banana trees. Arusha is larger and the launching place for most folks who want to do the National Park circuit: Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti. According to the 2002 census Arusha has a population of under 250,000 but it's hard for me to believe that those numbers still hold. That might be true of the municipality of Arusha, but there are outskirts on all sides that look like they belong, so the population seems like much more. There is a downtown area, with shops and offices, some hotels, and then there are the outskirts where most of the people live. Those who live in the downtown areas are mostly shop owners, many of them originally from India, who live above the shops.
One area rather on the outskirts of the municipality is call Ole Siti, and that's where I'm at right now. About 10 years ago the Maryknoll Sisters decided to buy a plot of land and to build a house, one which could be used for the Sisters who work in Arusha (we were renting before) and one that was big enough for Maryknoll Sister guests travelling between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam or wherever. The plot was large enough to divide it with Emusoi Centre, the education centre for Maasai girls. (Check their website: www.emusoicentre.co.tz) And so that's where I've set down for the interim until I settle into where I'll actually live and work. There are three Maryknoll Sisters living here at the moment, together with one Maryknoll Sister Candidate (we expect that she will travel to New York in the summer to begin her orientation period as she becomes a Mk. Sr). And so that's where I am for the time being.
Arusha is probably the second largest city in Tanzania and has a very good climate. Mt. Meru is very near and we see it out the living room window every morning. Most of those tourists who filled the plane came here to Arusha to depart for their safaris, although some of the younger ones may have gone to Moshi to get ready for a climb of Kilimanjaro. The area right around Arusha usually gets suffiicient rainfall and the soil is pretty good, so a lot of vegetables are grown close by. Flower growing for export to Europe has also grown in the past few years but now there is the complaint that because of the economy in Europe and the US, that market is diminishing.
For those who have been wondering: Habari means NEWS, so that's what I've called this blog. And yes, I do have a camera and will post pictures sometime. I need to learn how to do that first .... I'm into learning these days (actually it's something I always like to do) so I think I'll manage before too long!
I arrived at Kilimanjaro airport, which is about halfway between two towns/cities: Arusha and Moshi. Moshi is the smaller town, and at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It is from there that expeditions leave to climb the mountain, and it's a nice little place, with lots of banana trees. Arusha is larger and the launching place for most folks who want to do the National Park circuit: Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti. According to the 2002 census Arusha has a population of under 250,000 but it's hard for me to believe that those numbers still hold. That might be true of the municipality of Arusha, but there are outskirts on all sides that look like they belong, so the population seems like much more. There is a downtown area, with shops and offices, some hotels, and then there are the outskirts where most of the people live. Those who live in the downtown areas are mostly shop owners, many of them originally from India, who live above the shops.
One area rather on the outskirts of the municipality is call Ole Siti, and that's where I'm at right now. About 10 years ago the Maryknoll Sisters decided to buy a plot of land and to build a house, one which could be used for the Sisters who work in Arusha (we were renting before) and one that was big enough for Maryknoll Sister guests travelling between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam or wherever. The plot was large enough to divide it with Emusoi Centre, the education centre for Maasai girls. (Check their website: www.emusoicentre.co.tz) And so that's where I've set down for the interim until I settle into where I'll actually live and work. There are three Maryknoll Sisters living here at the moment, together with one Maryknoll Sister Candidate (we expect that she will travel to New York in the summer to begin her orientation period as she becomes a Mk. Sr). And so that's where I am for the time being.
Arusha is probably the second largest city in Tanzania and has a very good climate. Mt. Meru is very near and we see it out the living room window every morning. Most of those tourists who filled the plane came here to Arusha to depart for their safaris, although some of the younger ones may have gone to Moshi to get ready for a climb of Kilimanjaro. The area right around Arusha usually gets suffiicient rainfall and the soil is pretty good, so a lot of vegetables are grown close by. Flower growing for export to Europe has also grown in the past few years but now there is the complaint that because of the economy in Europe and the US, that market is diminishing.
For those who have been wondering: Habari means NEWS, so that's what I've called this blog. And yes, I do have a camera and will post pictures sometime. I need to learn how to do that first .... I'm into learning these days (actually it's something I always like to do) so I think I'll manage before too long!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
17th and 18th February 2009 – After Three Days
There’s a saying in Swahili that a guest is a guest for three days and then after that they can be given the jembe (hoe). And so yesterday (17th) I was happy to do a few household tasks. I cooked lunch and then did something that I haven’t missed doing during the last five years: washed clothes (by hand). I’ve never been very good at it and don’t know whether I’m really getting them clean or not. I’ve watched a lot of Tanzanians wash clothes and it’s usually done so well and looks so easy, but I don’t seem to have the knack, even after all these years. I loved it that as I was leaving home Isaac thanked me for doing his laundry. You can be sure, Isaac, that if I had had to do it by hand it wouldn’t have gotten done! It usually doesn’t take very long for clothes to dry but yesterday afternoon a lot of clouds came up and we even had some thunder. No rain, however. By this morning my clothes were dry.
I’ve very much enjoyed the fresh fruit that we’ve had: bananas, mangoes, pears. And there are trees here on the property with lemons, limes, guava, avocado and pomegranate. All of the food that I like to eat is locally produced: fish from Lake Victoria, rice from rice-growing areas of Tanzania, potatoes from close by, vegetables grown in open plots wherever possible, chicken from farms on the outskirts of the city. There is a wide variety of bread that can be bought now, some of it very good. We have some very dense whole wheat bread that is delicious, even though it crumbles when cut. Small groups of women make jams and peanut butter to sell, and they’re all very good. There is even some lovely locally made cheese. And so I certainly will not starve.
18th: I went to town with Geri to look for a phone today and was successful. I was amused on the way to see a fellow riding a motorcycle and talking on a cell phone at the same time. He passed us on the left but we soon caught up with him ahead a bit, trying to kick start his motorcycle into action again. I guess the two tasks became too much for him and the motorcycle choked.
I have a beautiful new phone and after it gets charged I’ll be able to communicate all over the world on it. Thanks to Mom and Dad and their telephone cooperative (and for Greg and Bill for sharing) I came into some $$, and so used some of it for the phone and some air time. It can also be connected to my laptop and to the internet and I don’t know what else. Very fancy.
I was noting some of the prices of things in the shops. I’m being told that I’ll be shocked by the price increase, but I remember being surprised by the same thing when I first went to the U.S. after a long time. Diesel and petrol (gas) is a little over $1.00 a litre; milk is about $.75 a litre (that’s the milk brought here from locally kept cows. The packaged milk in the supermarket is about twice that much.). The exchange rate is about Tshs. 1300 to US$ 1.00. I need to do that conversion now as I shop in order to get some perspective as to price. What had started some years ago (right before I left) continues: lots and lots of goods from South Africa. It’s still a little hard for me to wrap my mind around being partners with South Africa because for so many years Tanzania absolutely boycotted anything from S.A. except refugees. Then after apartheid ended, little by little we’ve been invaded by businesses from there.
More again soon. As time goes on and I become busy these postings will probably be further apart. In the meantime, read on!
I’ve very much enjoyed the fresh fruit that we’ve had: bananas, mangoes, pears. And there are trees here on the property with lemons, limes, guava, avocado and pomegranate. All of the food that I like to eat is locally produced: fish from Lake Victoria, rice from rice-growing areas of Tanzania, potatoes from close by, vegetables grown in open plots wherever possible, chicken from farms on the outskirts of the city. There is a wide variety of bread that can be bought now, some of it very good. We have some very dense whole wheat bread that is delicious, even though it crumbles when cut. Small groups of women make jams and peanut butter to sell, and they’re all very good. There is even some lovely locally made cheese. And so I certainly will not starve.
18th: I went to town with Geri to look for a phone today and was successful. I was amused on the way to see a fellow riding a motorcycle and talking on a cell phone at the same time. He passed us on the left but we soon caught up with him ahead a bit, trying to kick start his motorcycle into action again. I guess the two tasks became too much for him and the motorcycle choked.
I have a beautiful new phone and after it gets charged I’ll be able to communicate all over the world on it. Thanks to Mom and Dad and their telephone cooperative (and for Greg and Bill for sharing) I came into some $$, and so used some of it for the phone and some air time. It can also be connected to my laptop and to the internet and I don’t know what else. Very fancy.
I was noting some of the prices of things in the shops. I’m being told that I’ll be shocked by the price increase, but I remember being surprised by the same thing when I first went to the U.S. after a long time. Diesel and petrol (gas) is a little over $1.00 a litre; milk is about $.75 a litre (that’s the milk brought here from locally kept cows. The packaged milk in the supermarket is about twice that much.). The exchange rate is about Tshs. 1300 to US$ 1.00. I need to do that conversion now as I shop in order to get some perspective as to price. What had started some years ago (right before I left) continues: lots and lots of goods from South Africa. It’s still a little hard for me to wrap my mind around being partners with South Africa because for so many years Tanzania absolutely boycotted anything from S.A. except refugees. Then after apartheid ended, little by little we’ve been invaded by businesses from there.
More again soon. As time goes on and I become busy these postings will probably be further apart. In the meantime, read on!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
15 and 16 February 2009 - Settling in
Today (15th) is another day without electricity. Maybe there is repair work being done, and so when the work week starts it will be back to normal? Who knows. Anyway, jet lag caught up to me last night and I was wide awake until after 2.00 a.m. That will be finished before too long, I'm sure, and I'll be back to normal. Geri took me for a get-acquainted drive around the environs and city, and that helped me get some perspective. A lot of the buildings look the same but there are also a lot of new establishments, new hotels, new businesses. There are so many advertisements on electric poles for cell phone services, and I'm told that so many people in the country now have cell phones. Some services reach way out in the villages, and some of the services are relatively cheap, especially texting. Another thing that caught my eye was the color of the buildings along the road. It seems that the cell phone companies are recognized by certain colors so the companies give free paint to shops to paint the outside of the shop their business color. And some of them are really bright!! And then of course there are the people. There are so many walking along the road, riding bicycles, as well as riding in taxis and daladalas. These latter are the minibuses that transport people around the city. I was also reminded that one needs to be a very alert driver on these roads..... It's a little haphazard with not a whole lot of regard for the traffic rules, but somehow everyone seems to get where they need to go.
I'm trying to note experiences/sounds/scenes that new eyes see, that would impress a newcomer to this country. I'm finding, however, that my senses are already getting used to these things. I'll keep on trying though so that you all have something interesting to read.
(16th) Monday and the start of the work week. I'm so lucky to have this time to adjust to a new time zone and not have to go off to work. Everyone else in the house was up and busy while I had the leisure to think and read and write. This morning it was cloudy, with very, very small showers passing through. The electricity is on today - Yea!
This morning there was a yard full of crows picking up the scraps after the dogs were fed. These crows aren't completely black but have some white on them - and they're BIG! There are a lot of dogs on the property. They act as watch dogs and guard us well at night together with the watchmen. This area hadn't been very populated and so it was bothered quite a bit by thieves wanting to come in. Of course knowing that Wazungu (root word means "dizzy" and refers to Europeans/strangers/non-natives) live here is also a calling card. History has led people to believe that all white people are rich, and so for those who don't know us that is a calling card. And of course we do have more than most. Just living in this nice house proves that. There certainly have been a lot of folks moving into the area, however, and that is a big difference from five years ago. This section of the city was almost on the outskirts then; now it's been built up so much.
Late afternoon brought a heavy shower of 15 minutes. It poured straight down for that length of time and then that was the end. The grass and trees loved it. In the evening some dear friends came to visit and it was wonderful to get caught up on all the news, especially that of Singida (where I lived when last here). We got caught up on our families, mutual friends, and we talked about how many new schools have been built, the shortage of teachers for them, the state of education in the country, the differences among schools as to quality of education, etc. One of the friends is Headmistress of a school in Singida, the other a teacher in schools in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, and both are such dedicated professionals.
When we took them back to town to their brother's house about 8.30 p.m. it was a good reminder of how many people in urban areas live. After leaving the paved main road, we drove on a very rough road for about 1 - 2 km. There were plenty of people walking along the road, probably just now getting home after work. Many of the houses along the road also serve as shops. People use a front room to put in a few basic supplies and sell them to make a little bit of money. There were also many people who had set up their small tables along the road, selling peanuts, fruits and vegetables, sweets/candy, tobacco/cigarettes, rice -- anything that might be needed for the evening and that could be picked up as people walked home. The tables were lit by kerosene lamps; some of the sellers were men and some were women. The shops in the downtown area are all shut up, with gates and shutters at night, and watchmen are posted.
You'll hear from me soon again. Thanks for being interested.
I'm trying to note experiences/sounds/scenes that new eyes see, that would impress a newcomer to this country. I'm finding, however, that my senses are already getting used to these things. I'll keep on trying though so that you all have something interesting to read.
(16th) Monday and the start of the work week. I'm so lucky to have this time to adjust to a new time zone and not have to go off to work. Everyone else in the house was up and busy while I had the leisure to think and read and write. This morning it was cloudy, with very, very small showers passing through. The electricity is on today - Yea!
This morning there was a yard full of crows picking up the scraps after the dogs were fed. These crows aren't completely black but have some white on them - and they're BIG! There are a lot of dogs on the property. They act as watch dogs and guard us well at night together with the watchmen. This area hadn't been very populated and so it was bothered quite a bit by thieves wanting to come in. Of course knowing that Wazungu (root word means "dizzy" and refers to Europeans/strangers/non-natives) live here is also a calling card. History has led people to believe that all white people are rich, and so for those who don't know us that is a calling card. And of course we do have more than most. Just living in this nice house proves that. There certainly have been a lot of folks moving into the area, however, and that is a big difference from five years ago. This section of the city was almost on the outskirts then; now it's been built up so much.
Late afternoon brought a heavy shower of 15 minutes. It poured straight down for that length of time and then that was the end. The grass and trees loved it. In the evening some dear friends came to visit and it was wonderful to get caught up on all the news, especially that of Singida (where I lived when last here). We got caught up on our families, mutual friends, and we talked about how many new schools have been built, the shortage of teachers for them, the state of education in the country, the differences among schools as to quality of education, etc. One of the friends is Headmistress of a school in Singida, the other a teacher in schools in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo, and both are such dedicated professionals.
When we took them back to town to their brother's house about 8.30 p.m. it was a good reminder of how many people in urban areas live. After leaving the paved main road, we drove on a very rough road for about 1 - 2 km. There were plenty of people walking along the road, probably just now getting home after work. Many of the houses along the road also serve as shops. People use a front room to put in a few basic supplies and sell them to make a little bit of money. There were also many people who had set up their small tables along the road, selling peanuts, fruits and vegetables, sweets/candy, tobacco/cigarettes, rice -- anything that might be needed for the evening and that could be picked up as people walked home. The tables were lit by kerosene lamps; some of the sellers were men and some were women. The shops in the downtown area are all shut up, with gates and shutters at night, and watchmen are posted.
You'll hear from me soon again. Thanks for being interested.
Monday, February 16, 2009
14 February 2009 - Arriving
It seems to be fitting that the first posting to my new blog should be from Tanzania. I arrived yesterday, Friday the 13th, at the scheduled time of 8.20 p.m., and it just seemed as though little had changed in five years.
But to start from the beginning of the trip: The flight from JFK to Amsterdam was uneventful. We left about an hour late but seemed to make up time on the way. The plane was crowded but after we were served dinner, I laid my head against the window and slept until we were awakened to have breakfast before landing. There wasn't much time in Amsterdam because of security clearances so we were soon on our way again. This time I didn't get my favorite window seat but instead was sandwiched between two others in the middle row of seats. Each and every seat in the plane was occupied, and I think the seats get smaller with each trip (am I getting bigger?? -- don't answer that) so the feeling of being crowded and herded was very present. Anyway that leg of the journey I didn't get any sleep.
I was following the flight tracking on the video screen and started to get excited when I could see that we had crossed the equator. And then when we crossed the border over Tanzania I really could feel the flutter in my stomach. I was feeling that this is another new beginning, another adventure, not knowing exactly what the future holds but happy and confident that it will be good. I remember how I marveled many years ago to think that I was actually in AFRICA! And here I am back again.
As we were descending I noted that at an altitude of 24,500 feet the temperature was 3 degrees F., lots warmer than it was many days while I was in North Dakota. And the ground temperature when we landed was 84 F. That's a lot warmer too! There was a good breeze as we got off the plane, and it felt very pleasant.
It was nice to be able to skip the long lines of tourists who were waiting to go through Passport Control, and to go to the short line for Tanzanian Citizens and Residents. But then I had to wait for the luggage until nearly the end. I guess my bags were put on first and so got out last or ...? When going through Customs, the officer asked me what I had in my bags. I answered him in Swahili, and so he asked me if I was a returning resident. When I answered in the affirmative, he asked me when I was here before,and I told him that I first arrived when he was probably not yet born. When I told him that I first came in 1969, he said that truly he hadn't been born yet! That happens a lot here - the population is so young. At Maryknoll I'm usually considered relatively young; here I'm a respected elder.
Sr. Maureen was there to greet me, along with Letitia, a young Tanzania woman who is in the process to become a Maryknoll Sister, and the driver of Emusoi Centre (Maryknoll Sisters' project) who is called Deo. It was good to see familiar faces. I have known Maureen for many years and Deo was driving for the Centre even before I left. Srs. Mary and Geri awaited me here at the Maryknoll house in Arusha to say hello when we arrived, and before too long it was time for bed and for getting off some very swollen feet.
This morning I awoke after 8.00 a.m. so had a good 9 hours of sleep, basically uninterrupted. It was lovely to see Mt. Meru clearly out the living room window, and to see the growth of the trees and bushes on the property. Everything has grown a lot in the five years, noticeable to me because the grounds were just being developed when I left. I was asking myself why I seemed to notice the sky so much today. I don't remember looking at the sky in the same way in New York or North Dakota, but I can't put my finger on what the difference might be. That's a mystery I'll try to solve.
As I was drinking my coffee I was looking at the newspaper of a couple days ago and noting some headlines: "Elephants Destroy Crops" (that was in Mara Region, northwestern Tanzania) and "Global Financial Crisis Bites Zanzibar" (because tourism is down, although you could have fooled me seeing all those folks on the plane last night). Some news is peculiar to here while others are part of the world scene.
Today I was struck by the way the sounds are different. There is an evangelical Christian church down the block that played music most of the day, loudly enough to hear clearly, and this evening a preacher shouted his message from there. He was given some competition at sunset when the local Mosque broadcast the call to prayer. There are different sounds here in the city than I was used to in the village but the feeling of living closely with the outdoors is clearly the same.
I wanted so send emails to let near and dear ones know that I had arrived safely but by 10.00 a.m. the electricity was cut and it only returned at 7.30 p.m. I'll get used to not depending on uninterrupted electricity, I'm sure.
This is a long first post. I hope it's interesting to readers, or let me know what you would like to hear about.
But to start from the beginning of the trip: The flight from JFK to Amsterdam was uneventful. We left about an hour late but seemed to make up time on the way. The plane was crowded but after we were served dinner, I laid my head against the window and slept until we were awakened to have breakfast before landing. There wasn't much time in Amsterdam because of security clearances so we were soon on our way again. This time I didn't get my favorite window seat but instead was sandwiched between two others in the middle row of seats. Each and every seat in the plane was occupied, and I think the seats get smaller with each trip (am I getting bigger?? -- don't answer that) so the feeling of being crowded and herded was very present. Anyway that leg of the journey I didn't get any sleep.
I was following the flight tracking on the video screen and started to get excited when I could see that we had crossed the equator. And then when we crossed the border over Tanzania I really could feel the flutter in my stomach. I was feeling that this is another new beginning, another adventure, not knowing exactly what the future holds but happy and confident that it will be good. I remember how I marveled many years ago to think that I was actually in AFRICA! And here I am back again.
As we were descending I noted that at an altitude of 24,500 feet the temperature was 3 degrees F., lots warmer than it was many days while I was in North Dakota. And the ground temperature when we landed was 84 F. That's a lot warmer too! There was a good breeze as we got off the plane, and it felt very pleasant.
It was nice to be able to skip the long lines of tourists who were waiting to go through Passport Control, and to go to the short line for Tanzanian Citizens and Residents. But then I had to wait for the luggage until nearly the end. I guess my bags were put on first and so got out last or ...? When going through Customs, the officer asked me what I had in my bags. I answered him in Swahili, and so he asked me if I was a returning resident. When I answered in the affirmative, he asked me when I was here before,and I told him that I first arrived when he was probably not yet born. When I told him that I first came in 1969, he said that truly he hadn't been born yet! That happens a lot here - the population is so young. At Maryknoll I'm usually considered relatively young; here I'm a respected elder.
Sr. Maureen was there to greet me, along with Letitia, a young Tanzania woman who is in the process to become a Maryknoll Sister, and the driver of Emusoi Centre (Maryknoll Sisters' project) who is called Deo. It was good to see familiar faces. I have known Maureen for many years and Deo was driving for the Centre even before I left. Srs. Mary and Geri awaited me here at the Maryknoll house in Arusha to say hello when we arrived, and before too long it was time for bed and for getting off some very swollen feet.
This morning I awoke after 8.00 a.m. so had a good 9 hours of sleep, basically uninterrupted. It was lovely to see Mt. Meru clearly out the living room window, and to see the growth of the trees and bushes on the property. Everything has grown a lot in the five years, noticeable to me because the grounds were just being developed when I left. I was asking myself why I seemed to notice the sky so much today. I don't remember looking at the sky in the same way in New York or North Dakota, but I can't put my finger on what the difference might be. That's a mystery I'll try to solve.
As I was drinking my coffee I was looking at the newspaper of a couple days ago and noting some headlines: "Elephants Destroy Crops" (that was in Mara Region, northwestern Tanzania) and "Global Financial Crisis Bites Zanzibar" (because tourism is down, although you could have fooled me seeing all those folks on the plane last night). Some news is peculiar to here while others are part of the world scene.
Today I was struck by the way the sounds are different. There is an evangelical Christian church down the block that played music most of the day, loudly enough to hear clearly, and this evening a preacher shouted his message from there. He was given some competition at sunset when the local Mosque broadcast the call to prayer. There are different sounds here in the city than I was used to in the village but the feeling of living closely with the outdoors is clearly the same.
I wanted so send emails to let near and dear ones know that I had arrived safely but by 10.00 a.m. the electricity was cut and it only returned at 7.30 p.m. I'll get used to not depending on uninterrupted electricity, I'm sure.
This is a long first post. I hope it's interesting to readers, or let me know what you would like to hear about.
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