Here's a nice picture from Lake Kivu. I thought the way the Coke bottles had been arranged on the table was pretty artistic and would make a nice picture. 
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Lake Kivu
Here's a nice picture from Lake Kivu. I thought the way the Coke bottles had been arranged on the table was pretty artistic and would make a nice picture.
Rwanda -- part 1
I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable after our return from Rwanda. Reading about genocide in a book simply is not the same as walking the streets of Kigali and imagining the chaos that took place there 12 years ago.Seeing the mass graves, bones, skulls, etc. was unsettling. More than that though, I'm feeling a sense of shame that while I was enjoying 7th grade, a million people were killed in the span of about 100 days. Even worse, the international response was to essentially ignore the genocide. Even the Catholic church condoned it.
Anyway, we visited Kigali, Kibuye and Ruhengeri. We visited the tourist office in Kigali on Friday evening and found out we were no longer on the list for Saturday. Apparently since we had not paid for our gorilla permits, they dropped us in favor of someone who was paying. The lady put us on the list for Monday even though that caused the total number of people to be 41, one more than allowed. She said she'd have to remove someone's name. The lady took our $375 apiece and we were set for Monday.
Since our itinerary shifted, we spent the night in Kigali at the Hotel Isimbi and had dinner at a Greek restaurant across town. Saturday, we rode a daladala style van (but thankfully with nobody standing) to Kibuye. The road had many twists and turns but given the fact that this is the land of a thousand hills, the continually curving road is understandable. We rode moto taxis to our hotel to drop our stuff and then pretty much walked all the way back to townto check out the Sunday mass schedule for St. John's church. On our way back, we enjoyed some mighty fine bottles of Coca-Cola. When we were almost back to the hotel, we decided to check out a really long hike that took us out to the end of another peninsula. Ultimately we rewarded our efforts with a nice swim in Lake Kivu.
Sunday, we attended mass at St. John's and boarded the van back to Kigali. Once at Kigali, we purchased tickets for the bus to Ruhengeri and ate some lunch. For the ride to Ruhengeri, the tour company had an actual bus. Not a large bus, but at least everyone had their own seat and there was no overcrowding.
At Ruhengeri, we stayed at the Hotel Marahaba, apparently the best hotel in town. Unfortunately, there didi not seem to be any hot water in our water heater for some reason. We took a hike to the top of the hill by the post office to try to get a better view of the volcanoes, but apparently there are some important communications towers up there that are guarded by the military and it was not ok for us to be up there. We were surrounded by local kids who had led us up there, so they didn't do anything but escort us back down. The views of the volcanoes were not that spectacular anyway as there were too many trees. I had goat stew for dinner that night. Not too bad.
On Monday, we visited the gorillas. The park has eight habituated groups-five for tourism and three for research. Eight people are allowed in a group, but our group only had five. The other couple with us had just retired from the organic food business. Ever heard of Silk brand soy milk? Yeah, we met the guy that invented it and took the company to the top. He said that they had the best selling chocolate milk in the country at one point, and it wasn't even milk. He also told Alison to tell her friend that drinks Silk, "Thanks for sending me around the world." Too funny.
More about the gorillas and Rwanda in my next post.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Mt. Kilimanjaro
This is a photo of Mt. Kilimanjaro, taken just about two hours ago, as Phil and I were walking from the Amani office toward the children's home. Phil was giving a tour to some people from Buffalo, NY.The kids played drums and played soccer. I took some pictures of that and some video also. The video files are a bit too large to post, sorry!
Food, Tanzania style
Today, Phil, Alison and I had lunch at a local place where I had 'mix wali' which means 'rice mix'. The rice was served with beans, a small bit of meat (probably beef or something similar), stewed cabbage and some sort of soup/vegetable broth.
Other memorable lunches: at Amani, I've had rice or ugali (some sort of basic starch, maybe corn meal based-- piled like mashed potatoes but with a consistancy not unlike that of unleavened bread) with chopped spinach and meat. I should mention that the spinach isn't really like our spinach in the US, and the meat served isn't USDA prime. I avoided eating the intestine, but the actual meat was fine if you ate around the fatty parts and the bone. I've also had rice and beans, again with the suspicious meat. We also had a tastier rice/meat dish at Amani on the first Sunday I was here. It was a special meal apparently. The kids love it all, demonstrated by their eagerness to eat whatever I (and the other staff) have left on the plate.
Better, but still somewhat traditional meals have included the lunch today, rice and beans, and spaghetti with sliced carrots, a small amount of garlic and onion, and tomatoes (no sauce). Those were all made in house though, not for the kids at Amani or at a restaurant. I'll explain what that means a bit more in a post at a later time.
I haven't taken any photos of the food because I haven't thought it would be appropriate, especially not at Amani.
On another food note, tonight, we are going to have dinner at El Rancho, Phil's favorite restaurant in town. Despite the name, El Rancho is an Indian food restaurant. Apparently, the owner of the restaurant had lined up a mexican food chef and applied for all of the necessary government permits, etc. but then at the last minute, the chef couldn't come for some reason. However, there was an Indian chef available. Thus, "El Rancho: Indian Restaurant" was born. They recently added some Chinese food and pizza to their menu apparently.
Moshi also has a tasty Chinese place called "Panda Chinese" (with some delicious spring rolls) and I've already mentioned that there are a few pizza/Italian style outlets in town and other Indian restaurants. A handful of places serve food that is fairly close to American staples like ham and cheese sandwiches and burgers (but the ketchup here is different--it has a different consistency and taste). Plenty of local food restaurants as well of course. Still no mexican food though, so there's an opportunity to break into a market here!
Other memorable lunches: at Amani, I've had rice or ugali (some sort of basic starch, maybe corn meal based-- piled like mashed potatoes but with a consistancy not unlike that of unleavened bread) with chopped spinach and meat. I should mention that the spinach isn't really like our spinach in the US, and the meat served isn't USDA prime. I avoided eating the intestine, but the actual meat was fine if you ate around the fatty parts and the bone. I've also had rice and beans, again with the suspicious meat. We also had a tastier rice/meat dish at Amani on the first Sunday I was here. It was a special meal apparently. The kids love it all, demonstrated by their eagerness to eat whatever I (and the other staff) have left on the plate.
Better, but still somewhat traditional meals have included the lunch today, rice and beans, and spaghetti with sliced carrots, a small amount of garlic and onion, and tomatoes (no sauce). Those were all made in house though, not for the kids at Amani or at a restaurant. I'll explain what that means a bit more in a post at a later time.
I haven't taken any photos of the food because I haven't thought it would be appropriate, especially not at Amani.
On another food note, tonight, we are going to have dinner at El Rancho, Phil's favorite restaurant in town. Despite the name, El Rancho is an Indian food restaurant. Apparently, the owner of the restaurant had lined up a mexican food chef and applied for all of the necessary government permits, etc. but then at the last minute, the chef couldn't come for some reason. However, there was an Indian chef available. Thus, "El Rancho: Indian Restaurant" was born. They recently added some Chinese food and pizza to their menu apparently.
Moshi also has a tasty Chinese place called "Panda Chinese" (with some delicious spring rolls) and I've already mentioned that there are a few pizza/Italian style outlets in town and other Indian restaurants. A handful of places serve food that is fairly close to American staples like ham and cheese sandwiches and burgers (but the ketchup here is different--it has a different consistency and taste). Plenty of local food restaurants as well of course. Still no mexican food though, so there's an opportunity to break into a market here!
So I'm living in Tanzania
After 26 hours of travel, I finally arrived in Tanzania. I can't say that my travel experience was spectacular since I missed out on lunch in Detroit and paid $25 for a meal in New York, but since then, things have been much smoother. I think most of my concern was from reading the book about the Rwandan Genocide, "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" by Philip Gourevitch.
I tried to sleep on my flight to Amsterdam, but of course, dinner and breakfast got in the way to some extent. I napped on the flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro as well, so I was fairly rested upon arrival and all things considered, jet lag has not been too bad. The Mountain Dew for Phil survived the trip and I picked up some Belgian chocolate in Amsterdam for everyone to enjoy.
I made my first visit to Amani last week Thursday and spent a little time interacting with the kids and getting to know their names. Even now, I'm still having trouble remembering some names, but many of them are fairly memorable, like Rama, Amani, Fortunatus, Paulo Pascali (everyone calls him by his first and last name--it's cute), just to name a few. Some of the kids have mental handicaps and can be difficult to handle. Technico likes to pinch and bite, and he tends to hang around and cause problems. Doudy does not speak, although he does sing the first couple notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on occasion. Doudy likes to run away, but unfortunately he cannot tell anyone that he needs to get back to Amani, so a lot of attention is paid to keeping track of him. He's a nice kid though. Zena also has some mental handicaps, but is very friendly. I'll write more about the kids another time.
Phil and Alison live in "the compound" at KCMC, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. This is a regional hospital, a step up from the district hospitals in Tanzania. If a district hospital cannot handle someone's illness, they are sent to a regional hospital. Unfortunately, people are often sent to places like KCMC to die. Along the main road nearby, there are a number of shops selling caskets. At least I can take comfort in knowing that if I get bit by a stray dog, I can go to KCMC for rabies treatment.
Transportation in Tanzania is interesting. People ride daladalas, which are essentially vans packed with people. The fare is currently 250 shillings for adults, equivalent to about 20 cents (the current exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1,250 TZS). Children's fare is 50 shillings I think, and if there are adults that do not have a seat, the children have to sit on the lap of an adult or stand. They do their best to pack people in and it's not uncommon for the konda (conductor) to be hanging out the open door a bit, although they do try to get the door shut. It's important to keep track of your valuables on the daladala. I saw a passenger take a glance into a woman's outer pocket where her cell phone was and open the pocket a bit to see better. He grinned at me and I shook my head. The people here don't just steal from mzungu (white people), but from their fellow Tanzanian. When the guy got off, I think he must have told the konda that she should protect her valuables better, because the konda said something to the woman and she moved her phone into her bra and looked a bit embarassed.
Phil and Alison have a nice routine each week. On Thursdays, they have their Swahili lesson followed by pizza at 'Uptown,' a shop near the compound. On Sunday, there's church. On Monday, some expats (from various countries) working at KCMC get together to play volleyball (and I have an interesting story about that). Tuesday evenings have bible study. I don't want to get all philosophical, but I think that the simplicity of life combined with a good dose of routine and some periodic "special" things can make for a happy life. Granted, after living here for 8 months, Phil and Alison are certainly missing some of the nicer things we have grown up with and become accustomed to. Like the blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse for example.
The interesting volleyball story: we played volleball at Will's house. During the course of the games, the ball bounced away to this tall plant and the hedge at the road. Will suddenly noticed the plant, saying "where did that come from? Wait a minute, is that dope?" Turns out, within the last two weeks, a marijuana plant grew to a height of about 5 feet!! (I've seen some corn stalks that are 14 feet tall--I should take a picture.) The theory is that someone threw a joint over the hedge and it had seeds in it. Will joked that he would need to have his gardener burn the plant (it's common to burn trash here). I've never seen weed before but it looked like the characteristic picture you see on t-shirts. I held a bit of the plant up to my nose and thought it smelled kinda minty. I don't really have a good concept of what it should smell like, but some others were confirming that it was marijuana. One of the girls apparently dated an "agronomist" for a bit during college and had been exposed to the process. She thought the plant had already developed seeds.
I have some photos and will post them as I can, however, the Internet is very slow here. At best, I can get a 14.4 Kbps connection, so have patience. At least we haven't fully lost power yet. Last night, the lights were randomly going out for a few seconds at a time during dinner.
Finally, we leave for Rwanda tomorrow. Although I have been able to withdraw cash from the ATMs here in Moshi, It turns out that there are no Visa ATM's in Rwanda, nor any major African bank like Barclay's or Standard Chartered, so we will need to take cash and exchange for Rwandan Francs. We will be going to see the gorillas on Saturday morning.
I tried to sleep on my flight to Amsterdam, but of course, dinner and breakfast got in the way to some extent. I napped on the flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro as well, so I was fairly rested upon arrival and all things considered, jet lag has not been too bad. The Mountain Dew for Phil survived the trip and I picked up some Belgian chocolate in Amsterdam for everyone to enjoy.
I made my first visit to Amani last week Thursday and spent a little time interacting with the kids and getting to know their names. Even now, I'm still having trouble remembering some names, but many of them are fairly memorable, like Rama, Amani, Fortunatus, Paulo Pascali (everyone calls him by his first and last name--it's cute), just to name a few. Some of the kids have mental handicaps and can be difficult to handle. Technico likes to pinch and bite, and he tends to hang around and cause problems. Doudy does not speak, although he does sing the first couple notes to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on occasion. Doudy likes to run away, but unfortunately he cannot tell anyone that he needs to get back to Amani, so a lot of attention is paid to keeping track of him. He's a nice kid though. Zena also has some mental handicaps, but is very friendly. I'll write more about the kids another time.
Phil and Alison live in "the compound" at KCMC, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. This is a regional hospital, a step up from the district hospitals in Tanzania. If a district hospital cannot handle someone's illness, they are sent to a regional hospital. Unfortunately, people are often sent to places like KCMC to die. Along the main road nearby, there are a number of shops selling caskets. At least I can take comfort in knowing that if I get bit by a stray dog, I can go to KCMC for rabies treatment.
Transportation in Tanzania is interesting. People ride daladalas, which are essentially vans packed with people. The fare is currently 250 shillings for adults, equivalent to about 20 cents (the current exchange rate is about 1 USD = 1,250 TZS). Children's fare is 50 shillings I think, and if there are adults that do not have a seat, the children have to sit on the lap of an adult or stand. They do their best to pack people in and it's not uncommon for the konda (conductor) to be hanging out the open door a bit, although they do try to get the door shut. It's important to keep track of your valuables on the daladala. I saw a passenger take a glance into a woman's outer pocket where her cell phone was and open the pocket a bit to see better. He grinned at me and I shook my head. The people here don't just steal from mzungu (white people), but from their fellow Tanzanian. When the guy got off, I think he must have told the konda that she should protect her valuables better, because the konda said something to the woman and she moved her phone into her bra and looked a bit embarassed.
Phil and Alison have a nice routine each week. On Thursdays, they have their Swahili lesson followed by pizza at 'Uptown,' a shop near the compound. On Sunday, there's church. On Monday, some expats (from various countries) working at KCMC get together to play volleyball (and I have an interesting story about that). Tuesday evenings have bible study. I don't want to get all philosophical, but I think that the simplicity of life combined with a good dose of routine and some periodic "special" things can make for a happy life. Granted, after living here for 8 months, Phil and Alison are certainly missing some of the nicer things we have grown up with and become accustomed to. Like the blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse for example.
The interesting volleyball story: we played volleball at Will's house. During the course of the games, the ball bounced away to this tall plant and the hedge at the road. Will suddenly noticed the plant, saying "where did that come from? Wait a minute, is that dope?" Turns out, within the last two weeks, a marijuana plant grew to a height of about 5 feet!! (I've seen some corn stalks that are 14 feet tall--I should take a picture.) The theory is that someone threw a joint over the hedge and it had seeds in it. Will joked that he would need to have his gardener burn the plant (it's common to burn trash here). I've never seen weed before but it looked like the characteristic picture you see on t-shirts. I held a bit of the plant up to my nose and thought it smelled kinda minty. I don't really have a good concept of what it should smell like, but some others were confirming that it was marijuana. One of the girls apparently dated an "agronomist" for a bit during college and had been exposed to the process. She thought the plant had already developed seeds.
I have some photos and will post them as I can, however, the Internet is very slow here. At best, I can get a 14.4 Kbps connection, so have patience. At least we haven't fully lost power yet. Last night, the lights were randomly going out for a few seconds at a time during dinner.
Finally, we leave for Rwanda tomorrow. Although I have been able to withdraw cash from the ATMs here in Moshi, It turns out that there are no Visa ATM's in Rwanda, nor any major African bank like Barclay's or Standard Chartered, so we will need to take cash and exchange for Rwandan Francs. We will be going to see the gorillas on Saturday morning.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
NYC - Kennedy Airport
Northwest uses Terminal 4 at JFK, specifically the 'A' gates. This is the main international terminal. This has made things really easy for me as my KLM flight is right next to where we came in.
Of course, the ramp service folks at Detroit couldn't get their act together and move a stray luggage cart for 15 minutes, so our arrival at the gate in Detroit was delayed about 15 minutes. That left me with about 45 minutes before we departed for NYC and unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to grab a bite to eat. I did get out into the airport for a few minutes though to use the restroom and generally check it out since I've never seen the new airport. Since I usually fly United, my Detroit experience has been limited to the old crappy terminal.
We couldn't depart Detroit on time either. We boarded the plane on time, but there was still a lot of luggage to load. I was pretty annoyed because I was really hungry and now here I am in NYC spending $25 for a burger, some chicken fingers, and a soda. We arrived at the gate in New York at 3:40, ten minutes late. If I leave the 'A' gates, I'll have to go through security again (and since I have a lot of electronics packed, they had to do some extra screening in Chicago).
I'm looking forward to the trip at any rate, but I'm still feeling bouts of nervousness. I just met some people at the airport bar who are headed to Ireland and so that has helped buoy my spirits. I guess the lack of food in Detroit probably added some to my previous pissy mood.
I'm planning to sleep for the JFK to Amsterdam flight as that will somewhat closely match nighttime in Tanzania. I want to stay awake for as much of Amsterdam-Kilimanjaro as possible as well so that I can minimize the effects of jet lag. Getting some sleep will surely help me feel better too as I didn't get much sleep last night.
I don't know what life holds in store for the next three and a half weeks. After Phil picks me up from the airport on Wednesday evening, the next thing set in my itinerary is the trip to Rwanda, but that isn't until the first weekend of June, and I honestly don't know too many details yet. Clearly, I don't fully know what to expect. You might say that the fact that I'm stepping into the unknown is admirable. The fact is, I'm not very good with such ambiguous circumstances and I'm way outside my comfort zone--It's hard not to think of all of the potential bad things that could happen. I've set myself up to expect almost nothing for modern conveniences. With Phil and Alison already on the ground and surviving, I'm comforted that I won't be stepping into the unknown alone.
So since I doubt that I'll be able to post for a few days at least, I'll leave the blog for now with this note of thanks: thank you to everyone who has contributed time, materials, or money to help me fulfill my mission at Amani Children's Home. I am very thankful to have so many generous friends and colleagues. Together, we can all help make the world a better place, one step at a time. Even though I'm flying halfway around the world into one of the poorest areas in the world, we can all find people near our homes that need help just as badly.
Of course, the ramp service folks at Detroit couldn't get their act together and move a stray luggage cart for 15 minutes, so our arrival at the gate in Detroit was delayed about 15 minutes. That left me with about 45 minutes before we departed for NYC and unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to grab a bite to eat. I did get out into the airport for a few minutes though to use the restroom and generally check it out since I've never seen the new airport. Since I usually fly United, my Detroit experience has been limited to the old crappy terminal.
We couldn't depart Detroit on time either. We boarded the plane on time, but there was still a lot of luggage to load. I was pretty annoyed because I was really hungry and now here I am in NYC spending $25 for a burger, some chicken fingers, and a soda. We arrived at the gate in New York at 3:40, ten minutes late. If I leave the 'A' gates, I'll have to go through security again (and since I have a lot of electronics packed, they had to do some extra screening in Chicago).
I'm looking forward to the trip at any rate, but I'm still feeling bouts of nervousness. I just met some people at the airport bar who are headed to Ireland and so that has helped buoy my spirits. I guess the lack of food in Detroit probably added some to my previous pissy mood.
I'm planning to sleep for the JFK to Amsterdam flight as that will somewhat closely match nighttime in Tanzania. I want to stay awake for as much of Amsterdam-Kilimanjaro as possible as well so that I can minimize the effects of jet lag. Getting some sleep will surely help me feel better too as I didn't get much sleep last night.
I don't know what life holds in store for the next three and a half weeks. After Phil picks me up from the airport on Wednesday evening, the next thing set in my itinerary is the trip to Rwanda, but that isn't until the first weekend of June, and I honestly don't know too many details yet. Clearly, I don't fully know what to expect. You might say that the fact that I'm stepping into the unknown is admirable. The fact is, I'm not very good with such ambiguous circumstances and I'm way outside my comfort zone--It's hard not to think of all of the potential bad things that could happen. I've set myself up to expect almost nothing for modern conveniences. With Phil and Alison already on the ground and surviving, I'm comforted that I won't be stepping into the unknown alone.
So since I doubt that I'll be able to post for a few days at least, I'll leave the blog for now with this note of thanks: thank you to everyone who has contributed time, materials, or money to help me fulfill my mission at Amani Children's Home. I am very thankful to have so many generous friends and colleagues. Together, we can all help make the world a better place, one step at a time. Even though I'm flying halfway around the world into one of the poorest areas in the world, we can all find people near our homes that need help just as badly.
In the airport
I'm currently in the Chicago airport about to catch my flight to Tanzania. The itinerary is pretty crazy--Northwest for Chicago to a stoppover in Detroit, then on to New York City (JFK), transfer to KLM and fly to Amsterdam, then catch the flight to Kilimanjaro. My flight leaves in about a half hour, and I will arrive in Tanzania at 8:30 pm Wednesday there, which is about 12:30 PM here in Chicago, also Wednesday.
I'm a little nervous about the trip. I hope I got everything packed.
One of the amazing things about technology-- Phil just sent me an IM. "See you in 26 hours!" he says.
I'm a little nervous about the trip. I hope I got everything packed.
One of the amazing things about technology-- Phil just sent me an IM. "See you in 26 hours!" he says.
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