Erika in Tanzania : One Byte at a Time

It's a Small Small World After All : What Holds Us Together

2009-09-13T01:18:00.000-07:00

Today I want to express my gratitude for this life and the opportunities it offers.

In the midst of living in a different country away from my family and friends, the comforts of my home and conveniences of living as I'm accustomed to it's important to take a step back and realize not what makes us different - as people, or a culture, or a business, but what brings us together.

There are many things that are different here in Dodoma. The food, language, customs, transportation, activites, daily life, and level of comfortableness at any moment are just a few of the obvious ones.

These pale in comparison to what we have in common, the things that matter.

The Power of Music

The other day I was sitting at my desk in UDOM, a crowded space where the walls breath when the wind hits. It was loud, and I was frustrated about something on the project where a solution to a problem was evading me. I put on my headset and listened to music, off I was in seconds to another place, where believe it or not there was my solution! Crazy. But music is powerful in other ways too. Our dinner at Makulu village included dancing to bongo drums, one of the highlights of our evening. It doesn't matter the language you speak when it comes to music, it's a universal language. In addition to that night, our group of 10 now has found a taste for Tanzanian Hip-Hop music called "Bongo Flava" music, which is very good and can be heard from our hotel on a regular basis until midnight. Listening to this music, even mentioning this music brings smiles to faces of our group.

Laughter

I told someone before I came to Africa that I enjoy laughing at myself, therefore I would find Africa a very funny place because I'm sure I would do some hilarious things on a regular basis. Thankfully my brain is still functioning properly, so some of the things that make it through my brain filter end up getting stopped on the tip of my tongue before I speak them outloud. This is a very useful self-preservation service (yes I'm speaking in "services", "processes" and "policies" now due to my project if I start talking about my Brain's Strategy please seek some professional help for me), but if this helpful brain service is damaged don't be alarmed. Thankfully this can result in much needed and enjoyed entertainment for any friends and family around for the experience. Almost every evening here in Dodoma is full of laughter, I'm sure in part due to the stress of our experience being thrown into this new world. None of it can compare to the sheer joy and laughter I experienced when arriving at the Makulu village for dinner.

Family and Friends

Mother Earth

I've been fortunate enough to walk almost every morning in Dodoma which allows me to experience the beauty of this country. This is the sunrise I'm lucky enough to see most days of the week on the walk, this one is from this morning.

The countryside and Baobab
Trees are spectacular

And Dar es Salaam was breathtaking

A friend tells me the planet in the top right corner of this picture is Jupiter... what a beautiful sight it is.

Well I have to go, I hear laughter from the courtyard

An Orphanage in Dodoma

2009-09-13T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to an orphanage which is part of the Kisedet Project.

A window in the school a the Kisedet Project

The children at Kisedet Project, and 10 IBMers
(I'm near the top on the rock)

There were 33 kids ranging in ages 3 to 17 years old. Most of the kids have no parents because of HIV/AIDS and Malaria - both preventable diseases. I don't have any recent statistics, but as of 2003 3,000 kids die each day in Africa from Malaria, something that could be greatly reduced with mosquito nets installed over the beds of children while sleeping. These nets cost about $4 US dollars, but getting them to these kids has been very challenging.

A classroom in the school at the Kisedet Project

Some of these kids I've met in Africa seem to have no hope. Thankfully the kids at the orphanage do. It was obvious that these kids have a brighter future than the kids in Makulu village. They gave our team of 10 IBMers a 1.5 hour long show including mostly acrobatics (tumbling, cartwheels, back handsprings, etc). It was very impressive. They seem to be happy in the orphanage, which makes me think about the kids in Makulu Village. You'd think kids with their family would have a better chance, but from what I can tell the kids in the orphanage are better off. The people running the orphanage know it can be better and have inspired the children to believe so as well.

So What's it REALLY Like Being in Africa???

2009-09-13T00:23:00.000-07:00

Alex and Adia

You know how kids are, they ask the most direct questions, here are some of my answers to questions my neices Adia and Alex asekd about my stay in Africa.

Adia : What's your hotel like ?

The New Dodoma Hotel

The hotel is basically standard. I have a bed, a desk, a TV which comes unplugged all the time from a bad electronic connection, a bathroom that serves basically cold water for showers, and a closet for clothes. The hotel is guarded nightly with at least one armed guard with an automatic machine gun. Sometimes there are two. I walk Monday through Friday with colleagues and the guard regularly has to let us out of the hotel, it's entrance is locked. The food here is not good, and the service is not great either - I feel comfortable saying this since I was in the service industry for many many years. The part that makes this challenging is that we're stuck - we have no other place to go. Sometimes our food takes 1.5 - 2 hours to arrive. We get back from work around 6 pm, so if our food takes 2 hours to arrive that means we're sitting around waiting to eat until 8 pm, then it takes another hour to get and sort out the bill since we're unable to get separate checks. On an occasional basis this wouldn't be a big deal, but when it takes 3 hours to eat every day, that means there is no time for anything else, it eats into the time reserved for connecting with family.

Adia : Do you like the food

In general it's fine, it's not my favorite - I mean it's not peanut butter pie or anything, but it's fine. Being vegetarian is easy here, meat is expensive. It's a luxury, so beans and bananas (plantains), or beans and rice are normal. The problem is that there is a limited supply, and limited variety. You're never sure if it's safe to eat. Sometimes I eat food with sand/dirt. It’s not pleasant. I also don't see many places in town for locals to buy food. I asked someone - where does everyone that lives here eat? It seems to be a mystery, no one will tell me for sure, but at the market the other day I actually saw a place that had large bags of beans and rice, vegetables, and fruit. Most of the food in Dodoma is imported, although 40% of Tanzania's GPD is agriculture, I don't see ANY fields or agriculture here in Dodoma. Additionally, 3 of my colleagues have been sick. 2 missed work from it. I think it's that we've been thrown into eating this food that although is not bad, it's unlike what we're used to. We basically eat the same thing every day. There's limited variety. I have started eating almonds, apples, and cereal daily, which I bought from the market.

Side Note

The power just went out again, this is typical. You never know if you'll have power, running water, or Internet services.

OK for the last question from Alex: Why do I live in Africa?

I love this question, right now I'm wondering why I'm here - so far from my loved ones with limited resources, I want to be in Africa to gain a worldly perspective and have the skills necessary to bring humanity one step closer to world peace - peace in the hearts of the people.

Thanks Adia and Alex for your awesome questions! I can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

Words Can Not Express

2009-09-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

Wow

I'll leave it at that for now, I have to digest this evening we spent at a Tanzanian village of 3000 people. We ate traditional Tanzanian food, and witnessed traditional dancing, and participating in dancing as well. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries because I was taking so many videos, to be added as soon as I can get them uploaded.

Many of the children did not have shoes, and none of them attend school. They are hoping to find the means to build a school in their village, but it looks as though it may be many years before that happens.

The evening started as soon as we exited our cabs, with the entire village, mostly women and children greeting us with a very welcoming song and dance. This was followed by a long set of pictures where the children were very happy and anxious to both be in the pictures and see themselves in the pictures afterwords. There were probably 50-60 children and another 40 women and young people.

Next we were treated to traditional Tanzanian food. They watched us eat rice and beans, plantains, meat with peppers, rice, and some other greens. I'll have to follow up on the exact names of the food.

It was an amazing experience, one that I'm sure I'll never forget.

First Weekend : Winery, Simba Mountain, and the Market

2009-09-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that I now have an Internet connection from the hotel! It's 90 Tsh / Mb which equals approximately 100Mb per $10 US dollars. I was able to make some decent Skype phone calls, check my work and personal email, and upload pictures so I'm quite happy.

Since I have limited time before we head out for dinner at Innocent's village, who is our UDOM logisitics liason, I will need ot keep this brief.

Saturday at the Market and Winery

Saturday I went into the market and purchased some Tanzian gifts, more water, candy, and food. They have some familiar food here, and none of it is healthy. The 'Supermarket' as they call it is about the size of a 7-11 and includes the same types of food : chips, soda, some canned items, candy, and a small health/beauty section where I purchased some shampoo and conditioner since there isn't any in the room. They have snikers and mars bars, and M&Ms, but there is limited hard candy, which some of you may know is my favorite. So I got some Tiffany Caramels and hard fruit flavored candy, sugar free red bull (I was surprised they had this, and it's cheaper here too, about $1.25 for a small can).

Later in the day we headed out for the only Tanzanian Winery. The ride there was both challenging and educational. We drove through a number of small villages and could see how some Tanzanians live, carrying water and food to and from their homes everyday and bathing and washing clothes in the lake.

Tanzanian Children

Tanzanians Bathing in the Lake

A Tanzanian Teenacher Fetching Water

A Mckinley look-alike at the Winery

One of my favorite pics of the day outside the winery

Sunday at the Market

I was fortunate enough to run into a group of kids that were more than willing to be photographed - they loved seeing themselves in the camera's lcd screen and followed us around for a few hours in the morning while we were at the market.

A Friendly Tanzanian Child

Me with the friendly kids

We hiked Simba Mountain later in the day, which is about 5 miles out of town. It's not a long hike, but it is technically challenging because the path is full of large rocks and loose gravel. A group of kids helped us navigate our path to the top. I don't have pictures because I opted to video tape the experience. The view of Dodoma was amazing though.

Tonight we're off for dinner at Innocent's village. I don't know what to expect, but I've heard we're having traditional Tanzanian food and will witness some dancing (it's quite possible we will be dancing as well).

Tomorrow it's back to work on our projects at UDOM. There's plenty of work for all of our teams so I'm sure the time will fly by.

Pictures

2009-09-04T04:55:00.002-07:00

Descriptions on the way, given an internet connection from the hotel.

Dar Es Salaam

2009-08-29T08:14:00.000-07:00

I finally arrived in Dar Es Salaam on Friday night after a 26 hour journey from Bellingham.

I met the rest of my team in the hotel restaurant shortly after arriving and was happy to finally be able to put a real person to a picture and voice. Saturday we spent the day together in Dar Es Salaam exchanging money and buying water and last minute items for our 6 hour bus ride to Dodoma tomorrow. We hope to stop at the "Obama Cafe" on the way to Dodoma.

Saturday morning at 6 am a pack of what sounded like wild dogs came and barked me awake, is this a Tanzanian Alarm Clock? I laughed when I saw the silhouette of tails in my window. I think it was the German Shepards I saw lounging around in the grass later in the day. They seem friendly, so I'm not sure what roused them this morning.

The food : this morning I had fruit and eggs, for lunch pizza. No African food yet to report on, hopefully the restaurant we're going to tonight will have some local flavors.

Other pictures from Dar es Salaam

Off to Tanzania!

2009-08-25T14:34:00.001-07:00

It's less than 50 hours before I leave for Tanzania.

I have my visa/passport, clothes, bug spray, and of course my cameras :

Nikon D50 + 3 lenses for the more professional looking shots. I really hope to capture the landscape, architecture, and wildlife.
Nikon Coolpix - a smaller camera that I can fit in my pocket.
Cannon Mini DV video. I don't know if I'll end up using this one, but it's small enough to fit in my Lowepro camera and laptop bag, which is a beautiful thing. I can fit all my cameras, camera equipment, and laptop in a single backpack. All that and it's comfortable. Enough said there.

Unfortunately I can't bring Jack. I'm sure he'll be upset when he realizes that I'm in Tanzania, and not just out for a really long run.

I didn't want him to miss me too much, so I agreed to let Paige take him out in the Alfa, another thing I'm sure to miss. I'll need to think of something to bring back to him from Africa that will make up for my absence.