Tuesday Rain in Africa

Just a rainy day in Arusha. After class we went a visited a school. I signed up to teach sports in the afternoon. Going back today to get my schedule!

Village: USA

After we got back to the house I went and found Moira.  Moira lives in an apartment attached the house. Moria takes care of all of the house things like food and telling us when we need to be where. Moria takes very good care of us.

I knocked on her door and showed her my leg. She immediately told me that I had to go to the hospital because of how dirty the wound seemed to be.  She called a taxi while I showered and found purified water to wash it off as much as I could.  When I climbed into the taxi I was exhausted from the hike and dreading the long wait I had heard would be inevitable at the Tanzanian Hospital. On the way there I thought of how to nicely tell everyone one at home the story. Through the taxi window I got to see alot of Arusha I had never seen before. The road around the hospital was a dirt road with lots of bumps and pot holes. I became a little nervous when we approached the gate and a security guard used a metal detector wand on the edges of the car. 

The hospital facility put me at ease when I realized it was clean and calm. We went to the front desk and I filled out a card. 

Surname, other names, father's name,....village?, date of birth, sex, ..tribe?, years. 

This was going to be an interesting adventure.

After I filled out my card I took it to the other window where I paid 5000 shillings $3.13 U.S for the consultation. I Walked to a room and waited to be weighed and have my temperature taken by a nurse. I was a little nervous about putting the thermometer in my mouth just because I was still thinking about how I have always been told you do not want to go to the doctor in any other country. To my surprise the nurse put the thermometer under my arm pit and I laughed a little and realized I needed to stop worrying so much.

Next, I moved into another waiting room with only a few other people. Moira told me usually it took awhile and that we were lucky that it wasn't too crowded tonight. However it was probably going to take longer than an American hospital. I settled down in a chair and watched the T.V in the corner. It was a 90s american biblical game show for teens. Cher was blaring from a car outside. Moira started dancing to keep herself awake. By this time I had realized that Moira had done this a few times. The people at the different counters seemed to recognize her. She was admittedly very impatient  and the biblical game show didnt seem to keep her occupied. 

Finally after fourty-five mins I was called into a back room. It seemed all of my information was already processed on their computer system and the doctor checked my leg and typed in more information from his desk. 

He looked at my shot record and decided everything was okay. He was okay at english but it was clearly not his first language. He told me one of my cuts would need two stitches in order to heal nicely. He quickly subscribed me pain killers and antibiotics so that it wouldn't get infected. 

Back outside we went. I paid 24,000 at the window for the medicine and then they ushered me to another window to pick them up. 

Then I walked back to the back room and waited to be called back for stitches. A few minutes later he was ready. This time he wouldn't let Moira in the room and I got a little nervous again. I have never had stitches and I found myself wondering what kind of strength the numbing medicine was going to be and if I would have that at all for such a minor wound. The doctor and the nurse started preparing everything and pulling out needles. They spoke fast swahili to each other and I started to feel tense. The doctor poked and cleaned my cuts. That might have been the most painful part all of the scrubbing and tugging. Then he injected around the big cut some sort of numbing medicine... and the rest is kind of gross honestly. I looked for a bit but it wasn't very pretty. No need to tell you about it poetically I'm sure you can imagine. 

He ended up only giving me one stitch and wrapping up my leg. Then I just got up and walked out. No extra charge for the stitch yet...maybe when i go to get it out?

Next we went to the supermarket and bought the house milk, eggs, water, etc. I bought myself some chocolate I felt I earned it after such a long day. 

Next we went by Moira's house and I met her sister and mother. Moira wanted to pick up some food her mother prepared her and I sat in the living room while she packaged it up. Moria's mother was great. She gave me fresh squeezed orange juice with no sugar, pulp, or water added.

Then we hopped back in the taxi and went back to the house. 

Tonight I can take off the bandage. It really was pretty pleasant as far as hospital experiences go. No tears and only a moderate amount of blood. All in all not a bad african hospital trip.

The hospital paper work

My wrapped knee. 

It looks like a war wound.

That colored spot on the bandage is iodine not blood or infection just so no one freaks out. 

Falling down Mt.Meru

Yesterday was the most adventurous yet. I can't begin to describe everything but here is my humble attempt.
We all woke up at 7:45 and put on our hiking gear. I pulled on my new nikes, the always fashionable zip off waterproof pants, and my equally attractive teal PFG. Alex and I shared a pack with just water and a few other items. Then as the city was waking up we walked into town to meet our hiking guides. Baraki and Tosh were in their twenties and full of energy. Baraki was a friend of Nick's, a boy who is still living in our house who was a student last semester at Arcadia. Baraki quickly ushered us through the city bustle. Not too far off the main road we crossed the busy street and went down a dirt road lined with small shops and houses. We stayed on the same dirt road most of the hike. As we climbed higher the houses became more spread out and the dusty shops turned to green fields and banana trees. The town was starting to disappear from the horizon behind us and the air became a little cooler. While walking up we talked to our guides and said "Mambo! and Habari?" to anyone who would respond. The little kids lined the road to laugh and run away from our group as we approached. Baraki walked beside me a while and taught me new words and expressed his love for bananas and told me how determined he was to find the freshest ones by the time we reached the top. Sure enough as we reached the final fork in the road he stopped at a woman's house and bargained the purchase of twenty or so of the best bananas I have ever eaten. As he talked to the women I said as much swahili as I knew trying to convince her adorable and terrified son that I was friendly. Through the bushes he peered his head out and answered my elementary questions and then darted off into the yard with a timid smile.
We continued up the road and stopped at a watering hole. Tosh joked that we had arrived at the waterfall and I embarrassingly thought he was serious but didnt want to be rude despite my disappointment. Markani... so gullible.
We then went into the woods and started walking down. At the next turn we met a group of Tanzanians who warned us of the ants that had just covered them completely. Roger, the Ugandan in our class, told us that these ants "crawl to your hidden areas and wait and bite all at once." Of course everyone started jumping up and down and running around terrified of this idea.  Soon we all followed our guides down a slippery muddy path. The path was extremely steep and everyone was sliding and stumbling through the brush. finally we came to the opening and into a clearing where a stream was and we began to use the path as our new path to the waterfall.
The stream was something out of a movie. There were vines strung from the overhanging cliffs, strange bird and frog noises, and the water rushing by as we jumped back and forth over the stream. We met more people along the way and had interesting dilemmas at certain places in the path trying to make sure everyone could get across. At one point there was only an option to climb a small waterfall and step on fallen branches slippery with the passing water. Finally we reached the waterfall. It was beautiful and stood almost 500 feet above us. The locals dove into the freezing water and were shivering when they emerged. After some time being there we started back to eat lunch at a quieter spot. Through the jungle we went again this time more confident leaping from rock to rock. After lunch we went up the slippery path again, which at some points was more like rock climbing because of the angle. Finally at the top we walked again on the dusty road this time with more of a skip in our step because our promised reward, a local banana beer, was soon waiting at a nearby store.
While talking to Tosh and a few other girls ten yards from the store I slipped down the side of road at a no more than two foot embankment. Rocks cut the side of my leg and quickly Tosh pulled out the bigger ones. Kendall, a girl in my class, quickly pulled out a first aid kit and helped me clean the cuts. I wrapped my leg in a bandanna and got the blood to stop dripping. When I looked up a crowd of children had gathered and were staring wide eyed at my leg.  I mustered a smile and hopped to the store, where they tried to convince me to drink more beer to make my leg less of a problem. ....Banana beer is 10% alcohol I was not convinced hobbling down the mountain on more banana beers was the best idea. We sat a good while at the store and slowly were surrounded by kids, cows, and goats.
The beer kind of tasted like the fermented tea, Kombucha. It was okay but once I realized kombucha was the familiar taste I wasn't very excited.  Azure, another friend, gave a few kids some candies. The youngest  who couldnt have been any more than three sat struggling to open theirs across the road on a hill. I walked over and tried to help. Bariki had to tell them in swahili I was trying to help because they became scared I wanted the candies back. Slowly they realized and handed them back and were pleased to have some help with the confusing wrapper.
We decided it was time to walk back and started along the same road down back to the city.

PART TWO the hospital coming soon..( im tired im posting this unedited for now will fix and finish tomorrow)

We Still Jump When We See Dead Snakes

Today in class we talked about the African Court for Human and Peoples Rights. The court was created in order to address issues beyond rulings of the individual states. The court was established in 2003. However, it has only ruled on one case and only four countries in the African Union allow there citizens to be able to bring their cases before it and then also agree to adhere to the ruling of the court. Today a man came and spoke with us whose case, if it is accepted, will be presented to the court and he will be the second case to ever be heard by the ACHPR. Christopher Mtikila is some what of a Tanzanian celebrity. I am not sure what his whole story is but he seems to be somewhat crazy from the rumors I have heard. His case is an appeal form the Tanzanian courts. He is fighting to be able to run as an independent candidate in a Tanzanian election. He use to be a member of the ruling party, which has been in power since independence in the 60s, but from what he was saying he got kicked out for "political reasons" in the 80s. The lawyers made it clear they only took on his case for human rights motivations and have nothing to do with his political agenda. All of the East Africans in the room seemed to giggle at every other response Mtikila gave, which left me very curious about his image in the community.
On a side note I ate lunch at a local canteen and survived! The meals I have been eating were 2000 shillings each which is the equivalent to $1.20 U.S. I can barely finish most of my meals but I have to finish all of it or Mary is upset. She says I must always finish my portion.
Tomorrow we are going to hike the foothills of Mt. Meru where there are waterfalls and interesting birds so I am going to go to bed and get some rest before the early morning adventure!

Mary and Deo talking during the class break

The Taxidermy 

Path by the classroom

Storkish Bird in the courtyard 

Christopher Mtikila

sako

Today was the first day of class. Charles, our teacher, was great and wanted everything to be more discussion based so it was really interesting. The place where we have class is a nature conservation office as well and there are large turtles and some hawkish bird. I took color film today so ill just have to just post some pervious digital photos.  After class Mary took us to the local market. First we went to the Massai market which was really cool but mostly for tourist. Then she took us to the real market. The real market, or sako, was amazing. All of the sudden we were surrounded by people, noises, fresh fruit, fish and music. People where following us trying to sell us all sorts of things. There were no monsungo (white people) around, we had finally found a place without tourist.  I cant wait to develop the photos. I am learning alot about the art of taking photographs of strangers. The language barrier is intimidating but most people are friendly. Today in the market people were telling me it was fine to take pictures of them and asking my if i wanted to take a picture of the fresh fish. At one point I turned around and saw a large basket of small fish the size of paper clips. A women saw sitting next to them and became very upset thinking I was taking a picture of her. She said things in swahili and got up and left. I apologized soon after and she smiled and said mzari, good. Every picture is a new experience and I am learning as I am going. I do not want to offend the locals I only want them to be represented in my photographs in a realistic and respectful way.  Well its jioni in Arusha and it is getting late!

Second full day in Arusha

Today was the second full day in Arusha. Also my second day of Swahili classes. Swahili seems to be pretty easy to learn and being immersed in the city has proven to be very helpful. Every other person on the corner greets you (and corrects your response if it is wrong or teaches you a new response. The people are very friendly and we are even starting to recognize and call by name some familar faces, only after two days of wandering the streets.  There are a few East Africans in our classes as well; Deo, Mary, Trevor, and Roger. Mary sat with me at lunch and taught me many helpful things. She just finished pre-law and is working on a case for the EAC.
Tomorrow we have our first real classes so I am off to study! Salama!

from the classroom window

 Asali 

the classroom

 Mt.Meru

Mary telling me about the torch that represents Tanzanian independence. It is frequently lit and carried around town on different important days and Tanzanians gather to watch it go by. Deo said he doesn't like watching the torch go through the streets like other people.

Arrived in Tanzania

I arrived in Arusha yesterday at 1 o'clock. The drive to Arusha from Kilimanjaro was beautiful and terrifying.We jumped in a car and plunged into chaotic traffic surrounded by sunflowers and mountains. Our driver pointed out of the car at a group of clouds, the car swayed as his hand went out the window swerving into on coming traffic, "that there is Mount Kilimanjaro," he said.