These days I've been noting the sounds I hear in the mornings. The first thing is the 5.00 a.m. call of the local muezzin. I think there must be two mosques in hearing distance because I often hear what I think are two different voices. The call is basically telling the Moslem faithful to get up and get to the mosque for their morning prayer, and of course he (always a "he") also chants that God is great, etc. At about the same time the vehicles start travelling on the road which is just on the other side of the hedge/fence of the property here. This road starts at the main Arusha-Babati road and the paved part of it ends here (it was paved when President Bush came to visit Emusoi Centre). Many mornings there are what sounds like small cars or taxis passing although this morning there was obviously large trucks going somewhere, and they were loud. Then the pigeons begin to coo. There is a nest under the eaves just outside the windows to my room, and so they awake and start their day with their sounds. By the time they've finished the other birds begin, and it's about this time that the sun begins to come up. More and more birds sing as there is more and more light, and there are some quite varied songs coming from them.
Just on the other side of the road, so the closest neighbors, are offices and residences of a law firm. It's a large compound with several buildings, and this firm maintains all the plants and trees alongside the road. Apparently the founder of the firm was one of the first Tanzanian lawyers, and it is now being run by his son. They advertise themselves as experts in Real Estate and Property law, Corporate law, Commercial law, Tourism and Wildlife law, Trust law and litigation, and they obviously take good care of their staff, since the houses are very nice and there's a social club included. They're good neighbors and very quiet.
Kitty-cornered from this property is another large compound, and this one is a tour company. They are the ones that have a lot of safari cars going in and out, and many times are coming and going early in the morning and late at night. They also have a bunch of dogs, so those dogs and the dogs here when they get going together create quite some cacophony. Some bark, some howl, some do both, and they really are loud some nights. Sometimes also some animals dare to come around and into the compound, and so that drives the dogs really crazy. These animals aren't large nor very exotic (the most common is like a weasel) but they sure drive the dogs wild.
During the day there isn't a lot of noise except for the times when someone is teasing the dogs outside the fence and they get wild and bark their heads off. Besides in the morning, the Muz zein calls people to prayer at noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and the last time around 8.00 p.m. On Thursdays and Saturdays the Pentecostals are singing and praying, and although they are way down the street, they can be heard very clearly. I've begun to know some of the songs by heart! And in the evenings the girls at Emusoi Centre pray,and their singing is also very loud. There's the occasional sound of a herd of goats passing on the road, and children talking and laughing as they go to school -- all nice sounds.
Enjoy the sounds in your life.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
19th May, 2009 - Connections
It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I guess it's time to let you all know what's happening. I went to Dodoma again last week and spent two days looking for housing. I rather enjoyed it, and was reminded again of how important connections are. All of the contacts were friends of friends of friends ..... and so it goes. The word goes out and somehow things happen. One of the people who showed me a house was someone that was asked to do so because the original contact was out of town. Amazingly enough, in the course of the conversation I learned that he was married to a former student of mine! After that connection was established I certainly got the red carpet treatment.
Hopefully we will be able to make a decision about the next step soon after the arrival of Sr. Connie, with whom I will be living and working. She comes next month, so I'm looking forward to settling in.
One thing that struck me during the 12 hour ride to and fro was the grass cutting along the sides of the road. The rainy season is now finished or finishing in most parts of the country so the grass which grew so tall along the sides of the road and in the ditches is now being cut. It's being cut by men with slashers and machetes, all by hand. I'm not sure what portion of ditch is given to each person but it's obvious that each fellow has his piece and works at it. It would be interesting to know how many people are hired to do this grass cutting each time it's done since Tanzania is a big country with many, many miles of roads.
The day before I left for Dodoma I visited a woman who lived near the school in Singida when I was there and who now lives outside of Arusha. She has a very long and very tragic story, but the short version is that she has five children with her who she ran away with from her husband who is a drunk and was beating her within an inch of her life. When she first came to this area she managed to get a job at one of the flower farms, and she said it was a great job. She was paid almost $2.00 per day and was also given morning tea and a noon meal, and with this job she was able to pay rent for two very small rooms and to buy food for her children as well as school uniforms and supplies for the two youngest (the oldest boy has finished primary school; the oldest girl and second boy had to quit school and so don't even have a primary school certificate). Unfortunately, with the demand for flowers bottoming out because of the financial situation in Europe and the U.S., the farms have had to lay off many workers, and because she was among the latest employed, she was among the first to go. And then in March she fell when getting out of a bus and broke her arm so that is just now healing. The oldest boy does whatever job he can get, and together they are just barely managing. She says that the only job available to the oldest girl is selling local beer, and she doesn't want her to do that since sellers always have to taste the gourd of beer first (a guarantee that it isn't poisoned). I'm sure that stories such as hers are multiplied many, many times but her loss of what she considered a very good job shows again how the world is connected and especially how what affects the developed world has many repurcussions for the developing world.
The cold season has started and mornings and afternoons see us all with sweaters or jackets. I even sometimes pull up a second blanket at night so that 's a big change from February.
Hopefully we will be able to make a decision about the next step soon after the arrival of Sr. Connie, with whom I will be living and working. She comes next month, so I'm looking forward to settling in.
One thing that struck me during the 12 hour ride to and fro was the grass cutting along the sides of the road. The rainy season is now finished or finishing in most parts of the country so the grass which grew so tall along the sides of the road and in the ditches is now being cut. It's being cut by men with slashers and machetes, all by hand. I'm not sure what portion of ditch is given to each person but it's obvious that each fellow has his piece and works at it. It would be interesting to know how many people are hired to do this grass cutting each time it's done since Tanzania is a big country with many, many miles of roads.
The day before I left for Dodoma I visited a woman who lived near the school in Singida when I was there and who now lives outside of Arusha. She has a very long and very tragic story, but the short version is that she has five children with her who she ran away with from her husband who is a drunk and was beating her within an inch of her life. When she first came to this area she managed to get a job at one of the flower farms, and she said it was a great job. She was paid almost $2.00 per day and was also given morning tea and a noon meal, and with this job she was able to pay rent for two very small rooms and to buy food for her children as well as school uniforms and supplies for the two youngest (the oldest boy has finished primary school; the oldest girl and second boy had to quit school and so don't even have a primary school certificate). Unfortunately, with the demand for flowers bottoming out because of the financial situation in Europe and the U.S., the farms have had to lay off many workers, and because she was among the latest employed, she was among the first to go. And then in March she fell when getting out of a bus and broke her arm so that is just now healing. The oldest boy does whatever job he can get, and together they are just barely managing. She says that the only job available to the oldest girl is selling local beer, and she doesn't want her to do that since sellers always have to taste the gourd of beer first (a guarantee that it isn't poisoned). I'm sure that stories such as hers are multiplied many, many times but her loss of what she considered a very good job shows again how the world is connected and especially how what affects the developed world has many repurcussions for the developing world.
The cold season has started and mornings and afternoons see us all with sweaters or jackets. I even sometimes pull up a second blanket at night so that 's a big change from February.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Finally some photos
Mt. Hanang
Bibiana & Family Easter
Maryknoll Sisters & Friends
Morogoro Retreat
Arusha house
Mt. Meru (Arusha)
Gladys, M.M.
Morogoro
Deo making juice Easter Sunday
Sunday & his mother cooking on Easter
Friday, May 1, 2009
1st May 2009 - May Day
Today is a national holiday here: Worker's Day. There are national celebrations taking place in Musoma and everyone has a day off. Usually the national celebrations consist of a parade of workers, speeches by politicians, etc., so the president is there in Musoma doing what needs to be done for the occasion. As I remember there is usually some promise of wage increases on this day, so we'll see if that happens this year. I'm sure all the workers are anxiously awaiting and hoping for an increase because I hear so often complaints about the increase in cost of living.
Yesterday I had an enjoyable morning visiting a lot of shops in downtown Arusha. I was looking for ballpark figure prices for things we'll need as we set up a new house and so decided to walk the main street to see what is available. And there I found some shops the same as years before and some very different. I have had in the past quite a lot of experience with shopping in Arusha, but a lot of that shopping was for books and school supplies or tractor spare parts. And I never needed gas or electric stoves nor refrigerators so looking at those things was a new experience for me. I remember some shops that sold household things, and they were really very ordinary and had not a lot of variety to choose from. Those same shops now are quite different -- spruced up, lots more things to choose from, nicely displayed and nice things to buy. Many of the goods are from UAE, Dubai, that area, but there are also things from Europe and East Asia. And the prices vary a great deal. At one shop I was looking at bed sheets and towels and noticed some blankets on the shelf. I asked where they were made (Korea) and the price and was told that they sold for the equivalent of almost $90.00! When I asked the price of the locally made blankets, the shop attendant told me that they didn't carry them. "But," I said, "you probably know the price, don't you?" And she told me that they are sold for less than $10.00! You can guess which blankets we'll buy.
There are stoves, mostly gas but some electric, simple ones without a lot of bells and whistles, ranging from about $300.00 to nearly $1000.00. The same is true for the prices of refrigerators. Some of the price variables come from size, some comes from where it's made. Anyway, it was interesting to see the variety of things available. Even before I left in 2004 there had been quite a lot of trade liberalization taking place, but now obviously there is a lot more.
I didn't bother looking at furniture because I know that we will have it made locally. There are local carpenters in every town who make furniture as you want it made. I'm sure we'll go with a simple frame with sponge cushions for couch and easy chairs, and that that will be relatively inexpensive. Beds will be the same: frame with wooden slats and a sponge mattress. I think I know the kind of mattress that lasts (the same kind we had at the school) so that will be fine. I notice that the manufacturer is still in business here in Arusha.
As I went around I remembered how much I enjoyed this kind of interaction with people, in shops or wherever. At one shop I went in to ask for directions and got into a long conversation with the shop attendant. One of the reasons that happens is that folks are surprised at my command of Swahili, and so they're interested to know all about me. When I was ready to go home, I engaged a taxi to bring me back here. The taxi driver and I also had a good conversation, and one thing I was interested to hear is how he, as a very young man, attributes the stability of the country to Nyerere. I thought that maybe after quite a long time since Nyerere was in power and ten years since his death, the young people may have moved on and forgotten his contributions to the country. Not so, and I was glad to hear that sense of history and gratitude from him.
Have a great month of May.
Yesterday I had an enjoyable morning visiting a lot of shops in downtown Arusha. I was looking for ballpark figure prices for things we'll need as we set up a new house and so decided to walk the main street to see what is available. And there I found some shops the same as years before and some very different. I have had in the past quite a lot of experience with shopping in Arusha, but a lot of that shopping was for books and school supplies or tractor spare parts. And I never needed gas or electric stoves nor refrigerators so looking at those things was a new experience for me. I remember some shops that sold household things, and they were really very ordinary and had not a lot of variety to choose from. Those same shops now are quite different -- spruced up, lots more things to choose from, nicely displayed and nice things to buy. Many of the goods are from UAE, Dubai, that area, but there are also things from Europe and East Asia. And the prices vary a great deal. At one shop I was looking at bed sheets and towels and noticed some blankets on the shelf. I asked where they were made (Korea) and the price and was told that they sold for the equivalent of almost $90.00! When I asked the price of the locally made blankets, the shop attendant told me that they didn't carry them. "But," I said, "you probably know the price, don't you?" And she told me that they are sold for less than $10.00! You can guess which blankets we'll buy.
There are stoves, mostly gas but some electric, simple ones without a lot of bells and whistles, ranging from about $300.00 to nearly $1000.00. The same is true for the prices of refrigerators. Some of the price variables come from size, some comes from where it's made. Anyway, it was interesting to see the variety of things available. Even before I left in 2004 there had been quite a lot of trade liberalization taking place, but now obviously there is a lot more.
I didn't bother looking at furniture because I know that we will have it made locally. There are local carpenters in every town who make furniture as you want it made. I'm sure we'll go with a simple frame with sponge cushions for couch and easy chairs, and that that will be relatively inexpensive. Beds will be the same: frame with wooden slats and a sponge mattress. I think I know the kind of mattress that lasts (the same kind we had at the school) so that will be fine. I notice that the manufacturer is still in business here in Arusha.
As I went around I remembered how much I enjoyed this kind of interaction with people, in shops or wherever. At one shop I went in to ask for directions and got into a long conversation with the shop attendant. One of the reasons that happens is that folks are surprised at my command of Swahili, and so they're interested to know all about me. When I was ready to go home, I engaged a taxi to bring me back here. The taxi driver and I also had a good conversation, and one thing I was interested to hear is how he, as a very young man, attributes the stability of the country to Nyerere. I thought that maybe after quite a long time since Nyerere was in power and ten years since his death, the young people may have moved on and forgotten his contributions to the country. Not so, and I was glad to hear that sense of history and gratitude from him.
Have a great month of May.
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