the view from a cafe/art gallery in karatu
at the ngorongoro farm house
volunteers and jolene at the farm house
the house where i'm staying in karatuTuesday, February 22, 2011
pictures
the view from a cafe/art gallery in karatuat the ngorongoro farm housevolunteers and jolene at the farm housethe house where i'm staying in karatu
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
jambo!
Last Friday I left Uganda and hopped on two short flights to Tanzania. I had a 50 minute flight from Entebbe to Nairobi, a short layover, and then a 40 minute flight from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro. For most of the second flight I could see Mount Kilimanjaro directly outside of my window, which was really neat – we were flying at 17,000 feet and the mountain stands at 19,000 feet, so we had a breathtaking view. I arrived in Kilimanjaro with no problems, and was picked up at the airport by Jolene, the country director here at WellShare Tanzania. After getting picked up from the airport, we drove to our hotel in Arusha and spent the night there – the hotel was luxurious by my standards, with air conditioning and cable TV IN THE ROOM. Needless to say I enjoyed eating snacks in the bed with A/C blowing on me while watching television for a few hours before going to sleep. It was wonderful. In the morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and proceeded to do a few errands in town before driving back to Karatu – exchanging money (exchange rate: $1 to 1,492 shillings) and getting groceries. Jolene is a wonderful woman and I liked her the moment I met her, but she really clinched the deal when she bought me ice cream before we left Arusha , as everybody knows that the way to a Wisconsin girl’s heart is through dairy products.
The drive from Arusha to Karatu is really gorgeous and the scenery is very different from Uganda. We were driving through the Great Rift Valley, so it was basically a vast, flat savannah with mountains off in the distance. The road is flat for most of the drive, and then all of a sudden you ascend up a mountain to reach Karatu. The Lonely Planet guide describes Karatu as a “scruffy town” which is about right – the town itself not especially pretty, but it’s surrounded by dramatic scenery on all sides. Karatu is huge compared to Sembabule, and has plenty of small supermarkets, a big fruit and vegetable market, and even restaurants that serve burgers and pizza. I feel like a small-town bumpkin (do people still say that?) when I’m amazed by things like restaurants that serve banana bread and a vegetable market that is bigger than a closet, but it’s become a natural reaction now.
In Uganda, WellShare has a country office in Kampala, and two field offices in Mubende and Sembabule. In Tanzania, there is only one office in the country, located in Karatu, so the country director is working alongside the rest of the staff who are actually implementing the projects. Another difference is that the office here isn’t located within the same compound as the volunteer/staff houses, but is located a short 5 minute walk away.
The WellShare volunteer quarters consist of two relatively big houses: one is Jolene’s house (though volunteers live in her house, too) and one is the guest house, and they’re both located in the same walled compound. I’m staying in the guest house (in my own room) with three other volunteers (two are volunteering with WellShare and one is volunteering for another organization but just living in the house), and two volunteers are living with Jolene right now. It sounds like there usually aren’t this many volunteers here, but I just happened to come at a time when there are a lot. The houses both have the same layout, and they are REALLY nice and home-y. It’s been great getting to know the other volunteers and to always have people around – it’s definitely a different atmosphere from what I’m used to in Uganda.
I arrived in Karatu on Saturday, got settled in, and at night we had make-your-own-pizza night at Jolene’s, which was fantastic. In case you haven’t caught on, I have spent the past 5 months longing for Western-style food, so this was like a dream come true. On Sunday we all went out to Mang'ola, a village accessed by the worst, bumpiest, rockiest road I’ve driven on so far in East Africa. The reason we went was because two tribes, the Tatoga and Hadzabe, were having a meeting to discuss the formation of a committee to address needs in their communities. We all sat under a big acacia tree and observed as they discussed, debated, and finally elected eight people to the committee. It was a long, tiring day, but it was fascinating to get a glimpse of Tanzanian village life.
On Sunday night, I slept for three hours and woke up at 1:30 to go watch the SUPERBOWL. Because Jolene has been here for four years and people in Karatu trust her, she was able to persuade one of the restaurant/bar owners here to let us come to his empty restaurant at two in the morning to watch the game on his satellite TV. One of the other volunteers, Amy, is a Packer fan, so I didn’t have to watch the game by myself. Obviously I was THRILLED that the Packers won, although it was very strange to watch the game and not be surrounded by crazy Packer fans and hype. After the game, I came back to the house and slept for about three hours, which made waking up in the middle of the night to watch the Packers win the Superbowl feel kind of like an odd, wonderful dream.
On Monday afternoon I went to the market to watch a drama/dance group perform. WellShare works with this group, which uses dance, song, acrobatics and role-playing to convey messages about domestic violence, child rights, etc. It was quite interesting to see them perform, and the crowd really seemed to respond to the messages the group was trying to get across, especially when they used humor.
Overall, Tanzania has been wonderful so far. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to come here and see the project as well as the country, and to meet the staff and volunteers here.
The drive from Arusha to Karatu is really gorgeous and the scenery is very different from Uganda. We were driving through the Great Rift Valley, so it was basically a vast, flat savannah with mountains off in the distance. The road is flat for most of the drive, and then all of a sudden you ascend up a mountain to reach Karatu. The Lonely Planet guide describes Karatu as a “scruffy town” which is about right – the town itself not especially pretty, but it’s surrounded by dramatic scenery on all sides. Karatu is huge compared to Sembabule, and has plenty of small supermarkets, a big fruit and vegetable market, and even restaurants that serve burgers and pizza. I feel like a small-town bumpkin (do people still say that?) when I’m amazed by things like restaurants that serve banana bread and a vegetable market that is bigger than a closet, but it’s become a natural reaction now.
In Uganda, WellShare has a country office in Kampala, and two field offices in Mubende and Sembabule. In Tanzania, there is only one office in the country, located in Karatu, so the country director is working alongside the rest of the staff who are actually implementing the projects. Another difference is that the office here isn’t located within the same compound as the volunteer/staff houses, but is located a short 5 minute walk away.
The WellShare volunteer quarters consist of two relatively big houses: one is Jolene’s house (though volunteers live in her house, too) and one is the guest house, and they’re both located in the same walled compound. I’m staying in the guest house (in my own room) with three other volunteers (two are volunteering with WellShare and one is volunteering for another organization but just living in the house), and two volunteers are living with Jolene right now. It sounds like there usually aren’t this many volunteers here, but I just happened to come at a time when there are a lot. The houses both have the same layout, and they are REALLY nice and home-y. It’s been great getting to know the other volunteers and to always have people around – it’s definitely a different atmosphere from what I’m used to in Uganda.
I arrived in Karatu on Saturday, got settled in, and at night we had make-your-own-pizza night at Jolene’s, which was fantastic. In case you haven’t caught on, I have spent the past 5 months longing for Western-style food, so this was like a dream come true. On Sunday we all went out to Mang'ola, a village accessed by the worst, bumpiest, rockiest road I’ve driven on so far in East Africa. The reason we went was because two tribes, the Tatoga and Hadzabe, were having a meeting to discuss the formation of a committee to address needs in their communities. We all sat under a big acacia tree and observed as they discussed, debated, and finally elected eight people to the committee. It was a long, tiring day, but it was fascinating to get a glimpse of Tanzanian village life.
On Sunday night, I slept for three hours and woke up at 1:30 to go watch the SUPERBOWL. Because Jolene has been here for four years and people in Karatu trust her, she was able to persuade one of the restaurant/bar owners here to let us come to his empty restaurant at two in the morning to watch the game on his satellite TV. One of the other volunteers, Amy, is a Packer fan, so I didn’t have to watch the game by myself. Obviously I was THRILLED that the Packers won, although it was very strange to watch the game and not be surrounded by crazy Packer fans and hype. After the game, I came back to the house and slept for about three hours, which made waking up in the middle of the night to watch the Packers win the Superbowl feel kind of like an odd, wonderful dream.
On Monday afternoon I went to the market to watch a drama/dance group perform. WellShare works with this group, which uses dance, song, acrobatics and role-playing to convey messages about domestic violence, child rights, etc. It was quite interesting to see them perform, and the crowd really seemed to respond to the messages the group was trying to get across, especially when they used humor.
Overall, Tanzania has been wonderful so far. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to come here and see the project as well as the country, and to meet the staff and volunteers here.
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