Jambo!
Thanks to Mean Girls, going into this field study that was the only word of Swahili I knew. I had very limited knowledge on the country itself as well. I could point to Tanzania on a map and I knew I would need shots if I were to be accepted, but that was the extent of it.
I quickly learned that the tallest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, was in Tanzania and for some reason I decided to climb it before the field study began. The climb took five days and I did not make it. I discovered that just because I am from altitude does not mean I am immune to it. Regardless, I had an amazing time and made great friendships before the field study officially started.
After coming down from the mountain, we had an entire day to rest. I cannot even imagine what would have happened if the field study had started right away as most of us could barely walk to breakfast, let alone start doing service and helping the communities.
The next day we were greeted by a man we had never seen before who immediately said to us, “Do you know me? Because I know you!”. It was slightly troubling but Dr. Chong came into our hotel shortly after so we knew it was fine. The man was our driver for the trip and his name is Simon. We ended up getting relatively close with him over the course of the next few weeks.
After loading our luggage onto the top of the van and wondering if we would ever see it again, we squeezed in and went off to the convent we would be staying in for the next few days. Everyone picked their roommates and unloaded their bags into their new rooms. The rooms had a sink, a chair, a table, and two beds. The beds had mosquito nets over them, which came in handy after my roommate and I left the windows open and the lights on in our room.
Once the group had settled in we had a lovely lunch in the convent and headed off to Mykashi so we could see Lishe Bora, the organization we would be working with while in the Kilimanjaro area. Both of the organizations we worked with were supported by a higher organization called Better Lives, but this was the first area we went to. The first thing we saw was a garden. Lishe Bora first started by making gardens for families. The families would train to be able to work with the garden, plant a garden, save money on food, and potentially be able to sell some of the extra food. It was also much healthier for the families because more produce was being introduced into their diets and it was all organic. A big problem in Tanzania is that the people over use fertilizers and pesticides, so produce doesn’t end up being very healthy at all.
At the garden we met a woman named Mary. She is in charge of a lot of Lishe Bora. At first it did not seem like she spoke any english at all, but it turned out that she was afraid if speaking to big groups. Her english was really good one on one, she just had a fear of public speaking. Mary came up to the garden on a motor cycle and was wearing flip flops and and Adidas track suit. I was very shocked one, by her ability to ride a motor cycle in flip flops and two, that Adidas track suits were sold in Tanzania. After a closer look the track suit actually said Adidass so that mystery was solved.
After we learned about the garden, we went to the store that Mary was the manager of. The store sold a lot of gardening tools, but it the products change a lot. In the beginning the store sold chicken feed because it was not something that could be purchased close to Mykashi. The store did really well, but then everyone else saw how successful it was and copied the idea. Mary had to come up with a new plan after that. The products change over seasonally according to the needs of the village. When we were there the store had rain boots and different tools for gardening. The store is doing alright, but it has not gotten away from Better Lives’ support.
From the store we headed over to see a water project that Lishe Bora was working on. The water project gave clean water access to multiple families and it continues to grow. The families pay for the water by the bucket, but it can be shut off if they do not pay. We walked through every person’s back yard that was using the water, but it was not as simple as walking in the US.
The ground was muddy so everyone was slipping around. At one point, we had to get down a hill and people were falling left and right. Eventually we set up a four person course where you would slide from one person to the next. However Mary, in her flip flops, made it down the hill without being phased. Once we had all made it down safely Sam, a Rollins alumni who was the site leader on our trip, told us that people used to have to go up and down that hill every single day with buckets of water.
This was really eye opening because people will always tell you that in Africa women and children have to walk miles and miles to get their water. I always imagined the walk as a flat, relatively unchallenging walk. Obviously the distance would be significant, but I thought that was the only obstacle. It never occurred to me that people would be carrying huge buckets through something I couldn’t even get down with sturdy shoes and nothing to carry.
Something my mom always told me was, “what goes up must come down”, which is true in the opposite direction as well. After we looked at the water pump at the bottom of the hill, we had to go up another hill. Right away I slipped and tried to use my hands to get up. It clearly was not working and Simon came to the rescue. He pulled me up that hill and I followed his foot prints to be able to get to the next house. A woman that lived at the top of the hill greeted us with soap and water so we could wash off after the adventure.
The next house we went to was not as welcoming. The woman came out with a giant machete and started waving it around while yelling at Sam in Swahili. Apparently she did not want people to take pictures of her house because she was poor. She did not want us to show them around and then people in America would have the idea that that everyone in Africa lived that way.
We went through a few more back yards and then it started to rain. We were right by a local Mbege bar. Mbege is a banana beer that people will sit around a drink all day. You are supposed to pass it around the group. We all passed the Mbege around, but I have to say that it was not my favorite. It tasted a little bit like a banana flavored kombucha but with a lot more texture.
From the bar we went on a short hike where we could see Mount Kilimanjaro and the site that we would be working at the next day. On the way up it was so muddy that our feet were hard to pick up because it was all stuck on our shoes. We watched the sun go down and then headed back to the convent for dinner… and to deal with the bugs we let into our room that day. We also had a lizard try to spend the night with us, but luckily Nico, a student on the trip, came to the rescue and got him out.
The next morning we woke up for our 8:00 am breakfast and headed out to the worksite. We were working on the early stages of a lodge that people could stay in and community members could eventually work in. It is going to be a campsite before a lodge and our job was to build toilets, a grill, and an oven for the site. I was placed on the grill team, which was quickly renamed grill and chill. The poo crew were on toilets and the poo crew number two were on the oven. The oven got their name because they were using cow manure for their project.
The first thing we had to do was get bricks down a hill. The entire class set up a line where we were passing bricks from one person to another. Some people just handing the bricks, but others had to throw them a pretty good ways down.
Once we finished up with the bricks we stopped for a snack of oranges and avocado. After we were finished it was time to get to work. Before we could start the grill we had to use garden hoes to make the ground level. Next we started mixing cement and eventually we could lay some bricks to start our grill. That was as far as we got the first day. After all of our work we walked over to the side of the hill we were on and watched the sun go down. From there we got back in the van and headed to the convent.
The next two days were more or less the same, but the third day was a half day. After our work there we went to go sit in a bank meeting. The bank consisted of community members and is based off of the Grameen Bank model. At the end of the meeting the community threw a party for us. They were all excited because there was going to be “cakey”. Our group was thrilled to be having cake after all of the Tanzanian food that we had been eating. Two girls from the group volunteered to help bring out the cake, one being a vegan. It turns out that “cakey” means goat in Tanzania and they brought out a dead goat with the fur still on the head and the tongue sticking out. It was an experience to say the least.
We spent our last night in the convent and then we had a day for fun. We went over to a man’s house named Babu Coffee. That translates to Grandpa Coffee. We watched the entire process of how coffee is made and tasted some right from the source. We bought some coffee and then we were on our way out. From there we went on a walk to some waterfalls and got to swim in them. It was freezing but totally worth it.
After our day of fun we drove to Moshi, which is one of the bigger cities in Tanzania. We settled into a rooms at the guest home we were staying in and then went to dinner. The restaurant had a buffet set up for us, but we pretty much ate the same food for every lunch and dinner.
The next day we drove two hours to get to our work site. We were in a village called Kahe. In Kahe they have a big problem getting teachers to work in the schools. The housing conditions are pretty horrible and the teachers can do a lot better. Our job at this site was to help build a house for a teacher. The majority of what we were doing was putting in floors. We were supposed to use two and a half days to do the project but we finished in two. On the third day we still went back to the site because we were playing a soccer game against the local team. We tied the game, but everyone had a lot of fun.
We had another day off after that so we drove out to some hot springs. The water was so clear and it was super fun to have another day in the water. There were tourists and locals at the place, which was cool to see. For lunch we had an egg and potato plate, which was a nice change of pace from rice and beans with sauce. We even got to go to an Indo- Italian restaurant for dinner so the whole day was different meal wise.
We all tried to go to bed early after that because we had to be up bright an early to go on safari. We loaded up in two safari vans and headed to the Serengeti. It was a long drive to get to the Serengeti itself, but right away we saw baboons, zebras, hyenas, wildebeests, cheetahs, and lions. The rest of the safari was equally as eventful and honestly one of the best experiences of my life. I think everyone should do it if they can because there is nothing that can compare, not even Kilimanjaro Safari at Disney World.