Start of flooding
The carts, people, and flooding that the taxi driver tried to make his way through.
This is typical traffic in Dar. Now add water up to the hoods of the cars to picture what it was like yeterday.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Adventures in Dar
Where ever we seem to go turns into an adventure. Even a lonely boring day in Dar was able to give me some excitement. Yesterday I was hanging out trying to kill time at a Mzungu hang out in Dar, when the heavens opened up. It is the rainy season so I decided to wait it out. But after two hours and no sign of letting up I decided to find a taxi and make my way home. What should have been a 20 minute drive turned into an hour adventure. The roads were horribly flooded. The driver decided the main (and only paved road) was too flooded so he started wandering the back roads. I had no idea where I was, the rain was coming down so hard you couldn’t see out the windshield, the water was so deep it was coming up over the hood, and the car kept grounding out because we couldn’t see the giant pot holes and huge rocks in the road. But luck was on my side and we made it back to paving to get stuck in miles of traffic. The water was up to the doors of all the stores, people were carrying their shoes walking through knee high water, and I could feel the water sloshing back and forth on the bottom of the car. Taxi drivers never like waiting so my driver decided to drive into the on coming traffic dodging pot holes, waves of water, people, and telephones to avoid the traffic. Wadding up to my knees in trash filled water to my hotel I made it home, never a dull moment!
The carts, people, and flooding that the taxi driver tried to make his way through.
This is typical traffic in Dar. Now add water up to the hoods of the cars to picture what it was like yeterday.
The carts, people, and flooding that the taxi driver tried to make his way through. This is typical traffic in Dar. Now add water up to the hoods of the cars to picture what it was like yeterday.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Back from vacation
Apologies! It’s been a long time since posting. But we’re back, at least in reach of the internet. Currently, Arthur is back in Songea, while Courtney is stuck in Dar es Salaam, taking care of some business. Ugh.
It’s a pleasant enough city, though beastly hot and downright filthy in parts. When we’re there, we tend to hang out in the lobby of the 5 star hotel. We don’t stay there ($300 per night!), but their lobby is nicely air conditioned, their concierge is extremely knowledgeable about Dar, and their bathrooms are marvelous.
Here are some pictures of Dar.
It’s a pleasant enough city, though beastly hot and downright filthy in parts. When we’re there, we tend to hang out in the lobby of the 5 star hotel. We don’t stay there ($300 per night!), but their lobby is nicely air conditioned, their concierge is extremely knowledgeable about Dar, and their bathrooms are marvelous.
Here are some pictures of Dar.
Dar skyline
One of Dar's beaches
Evidence of President Bush's visit
One of many absolutely filthy open sewers in Dar. It smells as good as it looks
Michigan clothes in Songea?
I’m going to Michigan next year, a school that I’ve been told is one of the most widely branded in the world. Apparently.
How did this man come to own a Michigan jersey? Well, have you ever wondered what happens to all those salvation army clothes that nobody wants? They get sent here, and are sold in the market. So you end up seeing American shirts everywhere, including Dartmouth and Michigan.
For a while I couldn’t understand why there are so many new looking Minnesota Viking jerseys around. They’re everywhere. Then I realized that they’re all Randy Moss jerseys. When Randy Moss was traded from the Vikings, what do you suppose the jersey manufacturing company did with all its unsold Randy Moss jerseys? You guessed it!
How did this man come to own a Michigan jersey? Well, have you ever wondered what happens to all those salvation army clothes that nobody wants? They get sent here, and are sold in the market. So you end up seeing American shirts everywhere, including Dartmouth and Michigan.
For a while I couldn’t understand why there are so many new looking Minnesota Viking jerseys around. They’re everywhere. Then I realized that they’re all Randy Moss jerseys. When Randy Moss was traded from the Vikings, what do you suppose the jersey manufacturing company did with all its unsold Randy Moss jerseys? You guessed it!
Gardening
1-2% of Americans are farmers.
Tanzanians? 80%
Tanzanians in Songea? Everybody here farms. Even the dentist who lives at our community center has an acre of beans and corn.
We didn’t want to feel left out, so although Courtney and I have never grown a thing in our lives, we decided to give it a try here.
In November, we prepared the ground, first breaking it up and then shaping it into 10 rows. The rains are so intense here that our rows had to be built into mounds to avoid flooding the crops.
Once we knew the rainy season had arrived, in mid-December - we planted the seeds. Carrots, cabbage, and greens.
But then we went on vacation, leaving our garden unattended. By the time we returned, the whole thing was covered in weeds, but no evidence of anything we had planted. Where were the carrots? We chalked it up to our first time, and gave up on the garden.
But at the start of February, I took one last look at the garden and saw something coming out of the ground that looked like the leaves of a carrot plant. It was tiny, but I wanted to know, so I pulled it up, and although the root was only an inch long and white, it smelled like a carrot! So exciting!
Now, as you can see, we’re got carrot fever.
Tanzanians? 80%
Tanzanians in Songea? Everybody here farms. Even the dentist who lives at our community center has an acre of beans and corn.
We didn’t want to feel left out, so although Courtney and I have never grown a thing in our lives, we decided to give it a try here.
In November, we prepared the ground, first breaking it up and then shaping it into 10 rows. The rains are so intense here that our rows had to be built into mounds to avoid flooding the crops.
Once we knew the rainy season had arrived, in mid-December - we planted the seeds. Carrots, cabbage, and greens.
But then we went on vacation, leaving our garden unattended. By the time we returned, the whole thing was covered in weeds, but no evidence of anything we had planted. Where were the carrots? We chalked it up to our first time, and gave up on the garden.
But at the start of February, I took one last look at the garden and saw something coming out of the ground that looked like the leaves of a carrot plant. It was tiny, but I wanted to know, so I pulled it up, and although the root was only an inch long and white, it smelled like a carrot! So exciting!
Now, as you can see, we’re got carrot fever.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
What do we do?
Over the past few months, many of you have asked us what we are actually doing over here. You know we are living at a community center in Songea Tanzania, but beyond that is a mystery. To tell you the truth it is a little bit of a mystery to us too, but we always seem to be busy. We’ll try to explain why.
Courtney came to Songea to teach and help train teachers. She designed two courses on teaching methods, one for elementary teachers, and one for secondary teachers. But many of our teachers have left since then and many of the schools went on vacation when the course would have taken place. She has spent a lot of time at the preschool helping to teach and train the one teacher.
Arthur came to Songea to create a farming cooperative and farming education classes. This project has taken many different forms since we have been here, but has actually been implemented in some fashion.
But this only takes up about 10% of our time. So what else do we do?
About a month after we arrived, the director of the community center decided he had had enough and left. Then one of our preschool teachers announced that she was leaving, and then our English teacher announced he was leaving. That left us with and five people working at the community center.
In addition to lacking a director and being short-staffed, the community center also had little organizational structure.
And this is where we come in. Working with the international programs director, our NGO asked us to help the center become self sufficient. So instead of having a director, we are helping to establish a team, made up of the community center employees, that meets weekly to make all decisions. We are also helping to create a local board to advise the team once we are gone. Also, no one here speaks English, so we help the team communicate via e-mail with the NGO in NYC. This means helping to teach them how to use e-mail and how western communication works.
The NGO has also been sending money for construction projects, such as plastering the buildings and building a library. So we organize that too, which mostly involves writing proposals, collecting receipts, and figuring out why everything is weeks behind schedule.
So that’s what we do. Organize, communicate, and oversee construction. Now we are trying to train everyone here to carry out these responsibilities once we’re gone.
But still, there’s the question of what we actually do every day. Well we make our own schedule, and every day is different. We normally start out by making a to-do list while having our coffee or tea. Then we start checking in with team members who live at the community center; giving reminders, collecting receipts, seeing how work is going, and setting up meetings. After that we might help out at the preschool for a little and by 11:00 am we start our 45 minute walk to town.
Once in town we check e-mail and send e-mails to the NGO in NYC, updating them on current projects, asking for advice, reviewing proposal, and advising them on how to structure things on their end. After e-mail, we might head off to a meeting with another local NGO, the regional commissioner, or some of the community members. Though scheduled, this meeting may or may not happen, so often we end up having to go and reschedule for another day. Then lunch, and then the market to pick up fruit and vegetables for the next few days, and then we start our trek back home.
Once at home, we normally catch up with the team members who live at the center, then work on the computer a bit while relaxing with a mug of wine. Which is what we’re doing right now!
Courtney came to Songea to teach and help train teachers. She designed two courses on teaching methods, one for elementary teachers, and one for secondary teachers. But many of our teachers have left since then and many of the schools went on vacation when the course would have taken place. She has spent a lot of time at the preschool helping to teach and train the one teacher.
Arthur came to Songea to create a farming cooperative and farming education classes. This project has taken many different forms since we have been here, but has actually been implemented in some fashion.
But this only takes up about 10% of our time. So what else do we do?
About a month after we arrived, the director of the community center decided he had had enough and left. Then one of our preschool teachers announced that she was leaving, and then our English teacher announced he was leaving. That left us with and five people working at the community center.
In addition to lacking a director and being short-staffed, the community center also had little organizational structure.
And this is where we come in. Working with the international programs director, our NGO asked us to help the center become self sufficient. So instead of having a director, we are helping to establish a team, made up of the community center employees, that meets weekly to make all decisions. We are also helping to create a local board to advise the team once we are gone. Also, no one here speaks English, so we help the team communicate via e-mail with the NGO in NYC. This means helping to teach them how to use e-mail and how western communication works.
The NGO has also been sending money for construction projects, such as plastering the buildings and building a library. So we organize that too, which mostly involves writing proposals, collecting receipts, and figuring out why everything is weeks behind schedule.
So that’s what we do. Organize, communicate, and oversee construction. Now we are trying to train everyone here to carry out these responsibilities once we’re gone.
But still, there’s the question of what we actually do every day. Well we make our own schedule, and every day is different. We normally start out by making a to-do list while having our coffee or tea. Then we start checking in with team members who live at the community center; giving reminders, collecting receipts, seeing how work is going, and setting up meetings. After that we might help out at the preschool for a little and by 11:00 am we start our 45 minute walk to town.
Once in town we check e-mail and send e-mails to the NGO in NYC, updating them on current projects, asking for advice, reviewing proposal, and advising them on how to structure things on their end. After e-mail, we might head off to a meeting with another local NGO, the regional commissioner, or some of the community members. Though scheduled, this meeting may or may not happen, so often we end up having to go and reschedule for another day. Then lunch, and then the market to pick up fruit and vegetables for the next few days, and then we start our trek back home.
Once at home, we normally catch up with the team members who live at the center, then work on the computer a bit while relaxing with a mug of wine. Which is what we’re doing right now!
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