Ujamaa Hostel, Part II

With the exception of my arrival posts, I’ve tried to keep away from the “this is what I did today” posts. However, a number of you have been asking in your emails about questions related to daily life in Arusha, so I thought I’d break course from my usual routine by doing a Q&A style post that answered some of the most common questions I’ve received.

1) What is your daily schedule like?

For the most part, life at the hostel is very simple. I usually wake up each morning between seven and seven-thirty (never a set time, as I don’t have an alarm clock) and after cleaning up, make it to the breakfast table sometime just before eight. After breakfast, I head out for the day to either the Umoja Centre or the orphanage. I usually make it back to the hostel sometime around five o’clock, which leaves me an hour and a half before dinner. Occasionally, I try to squeeze in a workout before dinner, which mainly consists of jumping rope and doing a few bodyweight workouts.

Weekends vary quite a bit, just as at home, and depend largely on whether there are any special events planned. I’ve used weekends to go on a couple of waterfall hikes, attend a Christmas fair, attend a confirmation and a wedding, and visit Arusha National Park, to name some of the more interesting examples (although the occasional day lounging around the hostel feels good every now and then as well). Also, I tend to go out once a week for some social time, which usually ends up being Thursday nights at my favorite bar, Via Via.

2) What is life like around the hostel? What do you actually do at night since you have to be in before dark?

Dinner is usually over by about seven, so I have quite a few hours between then and bedtime, usually elevenish, to hang out at the hostel. While the entertainment options available at the hostel are a far cry from anything at home, they’re actually more than I dared hope for before arriving. They have a TV and DVD player with a large collection of DVDs (highlights include a couple seasons of “Friends”, about fifteen of the James Bond movies, and a collection of the best of Leonardo DiCaprio), a decent selection of books, a few board games, and amazingly, an acoustic guitar. Add to that the fact that I brought my own books, my ipod, and a couple notebooks for writing, and I actually have a pretty decent array of choices for how to spend my time.

That being said, life around the hostel, as well as how I spend most of my free time there, depends largely on how full it is. I've found most travelers to be fairly social, so when the hostel is full I usually spend quite a bit of time at the kitchen table, in the living room, or out on the porch exchanging stories or playing cards or board games. Conversely, when I’m alone I usually spend more time watching DVDs, studying Swahili, reading, writing, or working on lesson plans / donation strategy.

3) How are the other people staying at the hostel? What are they like, and have you made many friends?

The other travelers staying at the hostel have varied greatly in most aspects, including age, country of origin, and length of travels. However, I think it’s fair to make a few generalizations. First, while I’ve met people up into their sixties, most guests have tended to be in their twenties and thirties. Also, most came from western countries, such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, or Europe. Since arriving at the hostel, I’ve more or less been the only person staying for more than two weeks. Instead, most other hostel residents are simply passing through Arusha on a trip across Africa, or in a few cases, the world, that spans several months. I think this will change, however, after the New Year. The hostel advertises itself as housing for long term volunteers, and I’m told that after the holidays there will be many more long-term guests like myself.

Despite the wide range of diversity, I’ve enjoyed nearly everyone’s company who has passed through Ujamaa, and have made many friends in the process. Keep your fingers crossed that this trend continues with the longer term residents that will be arriving in January; otherwise I could be in for a long couple months.

4) Overall, what are your thoughts on your trip thus far?

I’m extremely happy with my time in Arusha thus far. While my typical days may seem rather uneventful, or even routine, I would argue it’s actually the complete opposite. With the differences in culture and the language barrier, even very simple things, such as buying fruit from a street vendor for the first time, tend to end up being a rather interesting, or in some cases, frustrating, experience. And as I said, with new travelers consistently rotating in and out of the hostel since I got here, I am never at a loss for new friends and new stories.

I certainly won’t glamorize things too much here though. Arusha does have its negative aspects, some of which will be the subject of future posts. And I do miss certain comforts from home, chief among them a fast food restaurant that will make me a huge steak burrito with rice, black beans, cheese, and hot salsa in about three minutes flat for little more than $7.00. However, the experience has more than exceeded expectations so far, and it’s hard to imagine that it will do anything other than continue to do so.

African Weddings

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2009

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a wedding with my friends Witness and George, two Tanzanians I've met during my time in Arusha. But before I really get into the post, I must preface with two points. First, I only attended the wedding reception. The wedding ceremony itself took place the previous day, and was attended only by the close friends and family of the bride and groom. Second, although I didn’t specifically ask, this didn’t strike me as a wedding which most Tanzanians could afford. That being said, I would imagine that, similar to American weddings, the actual rituals within the ceremony are similar, regardless of its size or grandeur.

So, I had originally planned on writing about the differences between American and Tanzanian weddings, but was surprised to find that in many aspects they are actually quite similar. For instance, the reception was held outside on the grounds of a resort a few miles outside of Arusha, with large tents containing table settings for a few hundred guests surrounding a dance floor area. Throughout the course of the night there were drinks, dinner, dancing, gifts, and a number of ceremonial rituals performed by the bride and groom. All pretty standard for something you might find in the U.S.

Even the ceremonial rituals, which I thought might be the most interesting aspect of the wedding, were strikingly similar to those in American wedding (e.g., such as toasting with champagne), and those that were different didn’t exactly strike me as all that exotic. For instance, instead of the bride and groom cutting the cake and feeding each other a bite, it is customary for them to cut the cake and serve it to their parents and other members of their family. Even some of the bigger differences, such as the absence of wedding parties, didn’t seem to alter the feel of the ceremony all that much. While I’m sure I’m vastly oversimplifying, and that there were actually some interesting and complex African traditions, I either failed to observe them, or they were subjects that were beyond my skill to explain in a compelling manner (or more likely, both).

What I did find extremely interesting, however, was the conversation I had with George about the African customs surrounding a marriage proposal. To put it succinctly, it’s expensive for a guy to get married in Africa. To even officially ask for a woman’s hand in marriage, a man must first provide the food and drink (i.e., a goat and several crates of beer) for a large family banquet, where he then meets the extended family and receives their blessing to marry the woman. Then he must ‘pay’ the father and mother of the woman, sometimes in cash, but more often in the form of cows. As could probably be expected, the more educated and beautiful the daughter, the more cows she costs (I didn’t think about this afterwards, but you know how lots of women in the U.S. kind of have that unspoken rivalry about who has the bigger diamond in their wedding ring? I wonder if African women have a similar thing over how many cows it cost their husbands to marry them). Finally, once all this is done, it’s then the groom’s responsibility to pay for the actual wedding ceremony as well.

I think I would have found this all completely mind-boggling if I hadn’t run across a book a few days prior, African Friends and Money Matters, that explains at a high level the theory behind the African males having to pay his future in-laws to marry their daughter, as opposed to the American system [imported from Europe] where the parents actually assist the newlyweds. I thought the author did a great job of explaining it, so I’ve selected a few excerpts from the introduction section of the book:

“Take dowry and bridewealth as examples of how history and resources are reflected in present day culture and economic practices. Dowry for females and portion for males developed in Europe as a means for keeping the capital that families had accumulated within the family tree. Capital was passed from the older generation to the younger one, so that the young people could maintain the place of the family in society. Daughters were given dowries, the eldest son received the land holding, and other sons received portions in money or goods. There was inherent fear that if the young were not given the financial means to make a good start in life, then the whole family would suffer from a declining economic base.

In Africa the economic conditions were very different. The population was low in relation to land, which was abundant, but the land required large inputs of labor for subsistence farming. So labor was a key commodity, and women were the key workers…So when a woman married, and thereby usually joined her husband’s family, it meant that a very valuable worker was lost. Bridewealth was paid by the groom’s family to the family that was losing the worker as compensation for the loss...Thus, in Europe wealth was transferred from daughters’ parents to the daughters themselves in order to give newlyweds a good start in their family life. In Africa the system was different. Wealth was transferred from the family of the groom to the family of the bride. The newlyweds received no wealth. In fact, they had life-long obligations to materially assist the bride’s family.”

I think it should come as no shock that I vastly prefer the Western system. Not simply because I’m a guy who is probably looking to marry in the next decade, but more because looking forward, as a potential future father, the cost of paying for a wedding and helping my daughters (or sons) get established in their new lives appeals to me much more than any gifts I might otherwise receive from my daughter’s future husband. Further, the thought of being comfortably established in my own life (as I hope to be at that point), yet taking what little my daughter’s fiancé has himself strikes me as not only wrong, but borderline offensive.

That being said, I’m hesitant to label one system as better than the other. As the author pointed out, these two traditions arose from very different cultures and economic conditions. The Western culture allows for many parents, hopefully like my future self, to be in a position to assist their children at their time of marriage. But what if I were an African, headed into my later years without the comfort of retirement savings or pension plans (which are very uncommon here)? I would be declining in physical capabilities if I was a manual laborer, and even if I did have a knowledge-centered career, I wouldn’t want to go on working forever. Would I be so disinclined to receive payment for my daughter’s hand in marriage then? I have to imagine I wouldn’t.

I think this topic is a perfect example of two very distinct traditions that can be widely misinterpreted by members of the opposing culture if it’s not properly understood how each arose. I don’t think I will ever fully agree with this particular African tradition, but in taking the time to recognize where it originated, I at least have a basic understanding of it. And when dealing with two distinctly different cultures, I think that simply understanding, rather than acceptance, can be a satisfactory goal.

Thoughts on Traveling

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2nd

Just a short post today, which is really just an excuse to share with you one of my favorite videos that a friend sent me about a year ago. This video was made by an American guy in his early 30s, Matt, who loved travelling. One day while travelling he and his friend had the idea that it would be a good idea to video record him dancing like a complete idiot. After posting the video on the Internet, he then went on a second extended trip to dance in other cities, and then eventually got a company to sponsor a third worldwide tour, where he not only recorded himself dancing, but also got other people to dance with him. Not a bad way to get someone else to pay for your travels.

At any rate, even for experienced travelers, which I would consider myself far from, learning to survive in foreign countries full of people who speak another language and have completely different customs can be daunting or even, at times, just plain exhausting. Nonetheless, I think this video is a good reminder that even though each of us comes from a culture with it's own unique languages, religions, customs, and traditions, that in spite of all these differences, at the most basic level, we all come from a mutual genetic make up, which allows us to share in similar thoughts, dreams, and emotions. And because of that, even something as basic as dancing like a complete idiot can bring us together to celebrate the common joy and happiness of simply being human. That's my theory, at least.

So without further delay, here is the link:

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

Just click on the play button of the video found under "Dancing 2008", and be sure to have your audio turned up.

Enjoy!

African Transportation

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28TH

Leave the house. Walk 10 minutes. Get into an overcrowded "L" car and spend the next 20 minutes fighting for shoulder space with various people, briefcases, and handbags. Pray during that time that I don’t wind up standing next to someone who smells like they missed their morning show. Manage to somehow squeeze myself out of the train car, where I then walk another 10 minutes before finally arriving at my destination. Such was my daily commute when I worked out of my downtown office in Chicago. Now here I am, ten months later, halfway across the planet doing relief work in one of the poorest countries - in essence almost the complete polar opposite of my life in Chicago - and yet my daily commute, for all practical purposes, has remained virtually unchanged. The only real difference is that, rather than crowding myself into an "L" car full of people with handbags and briefcases, I’m instead crowding into a ‘dala dala’ -literally translated, minibus- full of people carrying sacks of grain, rice, and vegetables (and yes, it smells like a few of them missed their morning showers here as well) .

I have come to form a love-hate relationship with these mini-buses. On the positive side, they are both an extremely efficient and extremely cheap way of getting from the downtown area of Arusha to its surrounding areas. Depending on whether I’m headed out to the orphanage or to teach at the Omoja Centre, I pay either TZS 500 or TZS 300 (~$0.40 and $0.25, respectively). On the other hand, they drive with a recklessness I am betting would even make a few Chicago cab drivers nervous. Oh, and did I mention they were crowded? Having spent plenty of time on the dala dalas, I’ve estimated that most of them (some vary slightly in design) would sit 14-16 comfortably, including the driver and the door operator / money collector. However, it’s rare that they squeeze less than 20 people into each van, and on several occasions I’ve counted no less than 22 passengers (24 people total). For the first few weeks I was convinced this was the maximum threshold for the number of human bodies that could be squeezed into something that officially has the word ‘mini’ in its title. However, I must confess that on this specific occasion, I vastly underestimated the resourcefulness of the African people. Last Sunday, against all odds, we at one point squeezed in 28 people and…wait for it…THREE SMALL KIDS! I am still completely dumbfounded at this miraculous feat, and at the same time can only hope that I never have to experience such an uncomfortable sensation ever again.

A few other random notes about African transportation:

- Just like our friends in Britain and Australia, they drive on the wrong side of the road here

- While ‘dala dalas’ are clearly the cream of the crop when it comes to driving like they don’t value their own lives, most drivers in general give little disregard to other vehicles, and especially pedestrians. Again, I am very much reminded of Chicago, and therefore am not sure whether I’m annoyed at their discourtesy or thankful for the small taste of home

- In spite of this, I have to admit that African road traffic is at least somewhat organized. In contrast to India, where I’m told roads are just a massive free-for-all, there are usually clearly marked lanes here to which the majority of drivers adhere

- Additionally, to prevent excessive speeding on main highways, they have numerous speedbumps leading into any small towns, as well as dangerous stretches of roads. These are extremely annoying as a passenger, but at the same time much preferable to the alternative of having drivers speeding at will through these areas

Volunteer Update

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH

I’ve now had almost two weeks to adjust to my new volunteer schedule, so I wanted to give a quick update as to how things are progressing thus far. First, things with the orphanage are going extremely well, although to be honest there isn’t a lot to report at this point. Working with the kids has been great, and for better or worse, I have now added both changing a poopy diaper and getting spit up on to my life resume. From a fundraising perspective, I have developed a project plan for my assessment, and have begun researching best practices and reaching out to friends for additional materials. I will begin analyzing historical donor data from the orphanage in the next week or two, with the hopes of compiling my recommendations by the end of the December so we can begin the implementation phase in line with the new year.

Teaching, in contrast to my work at the orphanage, has been much more challenging, although I definitely enjoy it and do not regret my commitment to the Umoja Centre in the least. There are two main difficulties that I am currently encountering. The first is the language barrier. Most students could only speak and understand the most basic sentences in English when they began taking classes at the center last April, and while their progress has been remarkable, it can still be a significant obstacle at times. This is especially true for the beginner class (there are two separate classes – beginner and intermediate – each comprised of 20 students), where not only do they have a more difficult time understanding, but are also more hesitant to raise their hands and ask for clarification when they don’t comprehend something. While this challenge is by itself difficult to overcome, it is greatly exacerbated by the other problem, which is the lack of resources with which I have to teach – namely, a projector. So not only do students not always understand what I’m saying, but when I want to visually demonstrate how to do something (a method that is extremely effective in teaching Excel) I have to either show them individually on each computer, or attempt to draw a picture of the spreadsheet on our whiteboard – a poor substitute, to say the least. Additionally, I don’t have a textbook for myself, let alone the students, and printing out my own lesson plans everyday for the students to follow along with just isn’t a feasible option.

NOTE: I don’t want to give a false, overly-negative impression of the organization or the resources at our disposal. The Centre opened its doors only this past April, and the programme director, Caroline, has done a remarkable job in obtaining funding for the most critical resources, including but not limited to the actual facility itself, all classroom and office furniture, computers, snacks for students (who often don’t even have the money to afford three meals a day), and perhaps most importantly, student sponsorships to pay for ongoing education for those students who successfully complete the program and are then able to go back in secondary school or are able to go into some sort of vocational training. (It's also worth pointing out here that I misunderstood the details of the program at the Umoja Centre initially, and therefore incorrectly described it in my email and blog post. Please see the note at the beginning of my post from Nov. 22nd entitled "Volunteer Activities" for the correct details of the program)

So, in spite of these challenges, there is some good news on the horizon. In addition to my teaching and lesson planning, I have also been using my business background to fill out a rather technical application for a grant for which Caroline has been told she will definitely qualify, provided the application is correctly filled out and submitted. Caroline has promised that she will earmark a portion of that money for a projector and screen, which means my biggest resource deficiency will hopefully be addressed by the time students come back from their holiday break in January.

In the meantime, I have come up with some alternative teaching methods that I will experiment with in the next two weeks. First, I have created an Excel workbook that contains instructions for everything that has been taught up to this point, and will be putting a softcopy of the document on each student computer so they can use it as a sort of ‘virtual textbook’. If this works well, I will continue to update the workbook with each subsequent lesson. Second, I am also going to be using a more activity-based approach to teaching Excel. I had planned to create and use activities from the onset, but what I am going to specifically try and attempt that differs from my original plan is to use these activities not just to review things we have already learned in class, but also to introduce new concepts. My thought is that this might lessen the language barrier difficulties by giving the students written instructions (again, via an Excel file) and letting them figure some things out for themselves through experimentation, rather than putting the entire burden on me to try and clearly explain everything in a way in which they will completely understand. I’m not entirely sure it will work out, but I can always go back to my first approach if it doesn’t.

And just as a final endnote, despite all the challenges, hardships, and hard work, I am absolutely loving my time spent volunteering at both the orphanage and the Umoja Centre.

School of St. Jude

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH

Today I used my free weekday to go visit a school just outside of Arusha, St. Jude. For those of you who don't feel like clicking around the website, here is a brief excerpt from the 'About Us' section:

In 2002 a young lady, Gemma Rice (now Gemma Sisia), from a sheep farm in Australia, opened a small school in Northern Tanzania with the help of her family, friends and local Rotary Club. What started with only a handful of children and one teacher [again, in 2002] is now in 2009 a thriving school of almost 1200 children, 130 teachers and 200 staff. In January 2008 another free primary school with an initial enrollment of over 550 children opened. These schools really have the potential to influence the quality of Tanzania's future leaders.

Over 90% of the children at the school receive a totally free education as local and international sponsors individually cover the costs of not only the educational fees but also the uniform, stationery, transport, hot meal, snacks and drinks of each child. What makes this school even more special is the fact that this success comes about due to the group effort of thousands of ordinary people from all over the world coming together to do something quite extraordinary. Individuals, families, schools, church groups and service clubs are joining forces by supporting the school's various sponsorship programs.

Every day staff and students work hard to fulfil the school's philosophy of "Fighting Poverty through Education" helping our students break the cycle of poverty that has gripped their families for generations. If this is what such a team effort can achieve in six short years, then imagine what could be achieved in ten years!

Author's Note: Bolded font and bracketed comments added by me

If you think this sounds like an amazing place, you're right. I had heard about this school several times from the moment I arrived, as it has a reputation for being one of those 'small miracles' here in Africa. What the blurb doesn't mention is that in order to even qualify to attend there, your family must pass a 'poverty test' to prove that you are truly in need (While public primary school is free, it is often overcrowded and the quality of education is poor. And not only does St. Jude offer a superior education, it also offers free meals and, once the students get to 4th grade, free boarding throughout the weekdays as well). Yet even with this poverty requirement, the school still turns down hundreds (maybe even thousands) of students each year who show up for testing to be admitted into the school. And having actually now visited, and been to several other Not-For-Profits (NFPs) in Tanzania as a basis for comparison, I can tell you that I understand why the school is in such demand. The sheer scale of the place is incredible, and the resources that they have, including a large computer lab, an arts and crafts wing, several libraries, and a science lab, are luxuries that I have rarely seen or heard of in Africa, let alone all in one place.

As I was walking on the tour of St. Jude's, I couldn't help but think about something that has been on my mind a lot since I arrived in Tanzania; a Not-For-Profit's ability to deliver it's service. Specifically, I was wondering what seems to separate good NFPs from great ones (I have to believe Jim Collins would be proud of me). At any rate, here is a short list of five factors I came up with that I believe have the biggest impact on the success of an NFP:

Vision: I don't believe simply having leaders who dream big by itself differentiates one organization from another (although I do believe most people and organizations vastly underestimate their potential). However, if you have leadership that sets huge goals, and then is able to inspire others to share that vision so those goals are constantly permeated throughout the entire organization, then I think you can truly differentiate yourself. This is also important from an external marketing perspective; if you can convince potential donors and volunteers to share and believe in your vision, you are much more likely to succeed.

Networking: Everyone has heard the saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know", and I think it's entirely applicable to NFPs. Those organizations that have a network of motivated, skilled, and wealthy people will have a much easier time staying funded and finding capable volunteers (I mean wealthy as a relative term. In Africa, any Westerner would be considered wealthy enough to have a considerable impact on the organization. For NFPs in the US, you might truly need to be wealthy to be able to make a 'significant' contribution).

Excellent Management: I think this has the potential to be a huge differentiator from one NFP to the next. When I was still at Deloitte, I spent a brief amount of time working with one of the largest NFPs in the US, and one of the directors with whom I was working told me that he believed that oftentimes the people in the organization had "hearts bigger than their heads." This isn't to say he thought they were stupid; just that their desire to do good in the world often trumped their technical expertise and ability to effectively deliver their services to those in need. Also, not being governed by shareholders demanding a profit, they often didn't have the proper incentives to force themselves to develop it (e.g., they aren't necessarily measured by how many people they help, where a business manager would definitely judged by how much revenue his department is bringing in) . Because this can be such a problem, especially with smaller organizations (e.g., St. Judes, as opposed to the United Way), I think that those organizations who do have the expertise and abilty to effectively manage themselves are at a great advantage compared to those who are just learning as they go.

Excellent Strategy: I debated this one for a while, and decided that it did indeed make sense to include, although not in the same context as a business would gain an advantage with superior strategies. Businesses have a natural incentive to try and keep their strategy and technical expertise a secret to gain an advantage over those who are directly competing with them. Almost all NFPs, with the exception of those at the largest level who compete for both donations and talent, rarely feel they are in direct competition with other organizations in their line of work. St. Jude, for instance, isn't going to try and hoard the knowledge it has gained in the last six years from other individuals looking to start similar organizations in Malawi, or even other parts of Tanzania. Nonetheless, I think NFPs can benefit from superior strategy, specifically during their inception phase. Often organizations can set themselves up for mediocre success because they simply fail to fully understand the problem they are trying to help with. Are they addressing the entire problem, as opposed to just part of it (in my AIDS thesis in college, I read about how an organization was distributing anti-retroviral drugs to HIV victims with little success, only to realize that these same people were literally starving, and therefore even with the drugs weren't able to fight off the effects of the disease)? Do they understand all the challenges of addressing the problem, including from a political, economic, and social standpoint? It's questions like these that, when properly understood, can lead to one NFP having a superior strategy, and therefore a superior organization, over others.

Success Breeds Success: People like being associated with winners. This is as true with charities as it is with sports teams. When you are a proven organization that has shown it's capable of having a significant impact, you are going to have a much easier time convincing others to donate their time and energy to help you.

Again, this is all just guesswork; I have never actually studied NFP organizations to truly understand what differentiates one from all the others. Nonetheless, I think it's an interesting topic, and one I hope to learn more about, as I would like to someday in the future (and I do mean much further down the road), start my own NFP, although in what arena I don't know. If anyone has any materials on the subject, please be sure to let me know. Additionally, if any of you have any thoughts on my criteria, whether you think I'm wrong or that I might be missing something, I'd love to hear your opinion, either publicly through the blog forum, or privately if you are more comfortable with that.

Moshi Hike

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH

Today I went on a dayhike outside of Moshi – a town approximately 75 kilometres East of Arusha (Click on the link and zoom out to get an idea of it's proximity to Arusha) with another one of the hostel residents, Lauren, and our guide Mtui. The hike itself was in the hills above the city, which gave the whole experience a very ‘remote’ feel, despite the fact that we were only about a forty-five minute ride from the city center. The trail took us around a forest covered ravine between two hills, which culminated in a waterfall that was several hundred meters high. However, in addition to the natural beauty of the place, I also enjoyed the chance to hike through the local area villages and farms, sometimes literally through their fields. I was fascinated by how the natives of the area were able to overcome the challenges of their geography, and took great interest in the bridges and aqueducts they constructed, the fields that were planted literally on the sides of the hills (sometimes as steep as 25-35 degrees, in my estimation), and the small quarry we passed from where bricks were excavated for houses and local buildings.

The return journey back to Arusha was also eventful, although not exactly in a pleasant way. To explain, I have to first say that transportation in Tanzania (and Africa in general, from what I’m told) is somewhat chaotic. Nowhere was this more apparent that at the central bus station in Moshi. Upon arriving back to the bus station from the hike, Mtui was immediately swarmed by a group of about eight people, each one in charge of finding customers to bring aboard their own bus (As hikes in the area are somewhat common, these ‘customer scouts’, for lack of a better term, have learned that when you see two or more white people following one native, it’s a good bet that he’s a guide in charge of arranging transportation for the whole group). Mtui literally had to throw out a few solid juke moves and then run away to prevent these guys from physically pulling him in the direction of their bus, and I even saw some pushing and shoving between them as they were trying to fight off one another for his attention. Eventually, the most persistent of his pursuers dragged Mtui to his bus, where they negotiated a price for our passage. The story should have ended there, however, somewhere in all this madness something got lost in translation, and we wound up on a bus headed to Dar Es Salaam, the capital city, which is in the complete opposite direction of Arusha (not Mtui’s finest hour, to say the least, but we forgave him). We wound up getting off the bus at a weigh station and then waiting for another bus to take us back to Moshi, at which point we boarded a third bus to travel back to Arusha. All in all, it wound up being a two hour detour on top of an already long day, but nonetheless we did finally make it home, and just in time for dinner.

Volunteer Activities

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH

Update: As mentioned in my post from 12/1, I apparently didn't have a clear understanding of the Umoja Centre program at the time I wrote this email / blog post. The program is actually only one year, and upon completion the Centre works to find students sponsorships to go back into secondary education (high school), or to go to some sort of vocational training based on the student's career preferences. For those students who are unable to get into either of these types of programs (and there will be some, at least in the initial classes), Caroline has worked to find them jobs which are more skilled and therefore better paying than what they were previously doing before their time at Umoja.

(Note: The following post is an extract from an email I sent out detailing the volunteering I will be doing during my time in Tanzania. Therefore, many of you may have already read its contents)


For those of you who weren't aware, I came to Tanzania independently (i.e., not through a volunteer organization), and with little semblance of a plan. All I had was a local contact in the town of Arusha, a few links for lodging and Not-For-Profits (NFPs) that I could potentially look in to, and an opportunity to meet up with an organization in Southern Tanzania for the month of March (which arose from a meeting only four days before my departure). I have therefore been very active over the last week and a half visiting various NFPs, and have quickly committed to a schedule that should keep me busy for the remainder of my trip.


My time in Africa can be split into two parts: Nov - Late Feb, and Early March - Early April.


Nov - Late Feb


I will be spending these four months working with two organizations in the Arusha area, each for two days a week. On Mondays and Wednesdays I will be teaching at the Umoja Centre (http://www.umoja.com.au/ , I am told they are doing a large update to their website in a couple of weeks, so you may want to check back on this link). The Centre provides vocational training to underprivileged youths between the ages of 14-29. Students go through a two year program. In the first they learn basic life skills (e.g., English, Health, Rights) and gain an understanding of various career options. In the second year they are trained in a specific skill such as carpentry, tailoring, cookery, etc. Due to a current lack of funding, the school employs only one full time teacher, and must rely on volunteers to fill the remaining teaching needs. Starting this week, I am filling in the position of teaching computer (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, how to use the Internet, etc.). Unfortunately, the previous volunteer who recently departed left virtually nothing to go on, so a large part of my job will include lesson planning and documenting, which will help establish a consistent curriculum for students across years and make the jobs of future volunteers much easier (You will notice sustainability is a key theme in my volunteer activities. I want to do everything possible to ensure the work I am doing can be continued by others after I leave, rather than having new volunteers start over from square one). Additionally, I will be teaching and designing curriculum for a personal finance / intro to business class, which will commence when the new class of students begins in January.


The other organization I will be volunteering with is an orphanage, Cradle of Love, which houses infants as young as newborns to about 3 years of age (http://www.cradleoflove.com/). On Tuesdays and Thursday I typically head out to help care for and play with the children for about 4-5 hours. However, I will also be spending significant time doing an analysis of their donation and public relations strategy. Specifically, I will be analyzing what they currently do to raise monetary and in kind donations, and then will be recommending and helping implement improvements that should generate an increase in donations. I have already had an initial interview with Davona, the director of COL, and it seems there will be some significant opportunities to improve (FYI, for those of you with experience in this area, please let me know if you have any information or materials that might help me develop some expertise in this area).


Early March - Departure (April 6th)


Just before leaving the U.S., I had the opportunity to meet with a friend of a former colleague, David, who works with an organization called Global Family Rescue (http://www.globalfamilyrescue.org/). They are an organization that provides financial resources to families to help them start businesses and eventually become self sufficient. They operate in both Uganda and Tanzania, and are currently supporting over 30 families in the southern Tanzania area (I'm not sure about the statistics for Uganda). David invited me to meet up with him when he comes over in early March, and join a group he is leading to tour the southern region of Tanzania and meet each of the families the organization is currently supporting. He has then asked if I would then be interested in staying on for my last three weeks to do an assessment of the organization from a strategy and operations perspective. While the details are still being sorted our and the scope of the assessment still being defined, I am fairly confident that everything will get worked out and that this opportunity will come to fruition. I'll be sure to post updates as more details emerge.

Arusha

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH

Having been here for a week, I wanted to give a brief description of Arusha. Unfortunately, even after giving it much thought, I have found it difficult to think of a good basis for comparison. While I get the impression from guidebooks and other travelers that this is somewhat standard for a mid-size African town, I find it distinctly unique from anywhere else I've personally seen or read about. One reason I have so much trouble describing the city is because of the size. I would definitely call Arusha a town, as opposed to a city, but I've read from various sources that the population is roughly 300,000. I assume this figure includes many of those living on the outskirts of town, most likely living in neighborhoods far off the major roads, because the downtown area doesn't seem near big enough to house that many people. The other reason it's so difficult to describe Arusha is because there is such a strange mixture of elements that are usually distinctly separate in American, depending on whether you are in the country, a town, or a city. To better illustrate, I will just list out some bullet points of some general observations I have made:

- The main streets in the town are well paved and maintained. There is also other infrastructure, such as the drainage system, that are very well constructed (and getting a lot of use now, as it's rainy season). However, non-najor roads, even in the downtown area, are often nothing more than heavily trodden down dirt with the occasional rock sticking up from underneath.
- While there are several modern supermarkets, both large and small, the main place for locals to purchase goods is still the open market in the center of the city, where local farmers come to sell there goods and local buyers haggle them for prices
- The streets are always full of automobiles, although rarely full enough to cause heavy traffic jams like those in large American cities (and large Indian cities, from what I am told)
- Although my hostel is only a 10-15 minute walk from the main road, it's not uncommon to see a few cows or donkeys grazing on the side of the road. Similarly, its not uncommon to see people carrying live chickens to be bought and sold at the open market
- It's very easy to see the presence of western corporations, both in the form of advertising and physical products. By far the most prevalent is Coca Cola, but other popular brands I have seen include Pepsi, BP, and nearly all of the automobile manufactures (with Japanese brands being the most popular)
- Cell phones are very popular here (again, you can see advertising for these companies everywhere) and are used by much of the population within the city
- Within minutes of the downtown area you can find people tending crops on small plots of land
- The town is the capital of the region, and in being so has many modern government buildings, including a revenue department, a regional branch of the central bank, regional police headquarters, a city hall, and an international center that houses certain UN activities
- It is not uncommon to see people washing clothes or themselves (still clothed)in the local rivers
-There are several large 10-15 story buildings in the area, with more in the process of being constructed, but the vast majority of the town is comprised of small one and two story buildings and shacks

While I feel I have learned a lot about the city and way of life here in Arusha thus far, I still have many unanswered questions? Specifically, I am curious to know in what ways the city has changed in the past ten years and how quickly it is developing into a more modern city. I'm also curious as to the local citizens attitude toward this change, and whether they have the goal of becoming more like a western city, or whether they are against it and would rather preserve much of their traditional way of life. I will be sure to ask around.

Ujamaa Hostel

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8th

Not only has the hostel lived up to expectations, it has actually managed to exceed anything I could have hoped for. For 16,500 Tanzanian Shillings(Tsh) a night, or approximately $14, they provide lodging, breakfast, and dinner. They even do my laundry, with the exception of chupi (underwear), which I am responsible for myself. The place itself is about a 15 minute walk from the main road in Arusha, which actually makes it look like it's in quite a rural location. However, the security around the place is very good. It has a concrete wall around the entire complex, with broken glass stuck onto the top to prevent anyone from climbing over it (I don't mean to make it sound like a huge estate; it's just a small concrete courtyard out front, the actual hostel, and a fairly decent size backyard). They also have a guard on duty who stays at the front gate through the night. While this may sound a tad unsettling that these measures are necessary at the hostel, it's actually fairly standard practice for hotels, hostels, and larger homes.

View of hostel from the "road"

The hostel itself can house up to 16 guests in four bedrooms (3 dorms and a two person bedroom), although apparently they aren't very busy around the holidays. As of today there was only one other guest, however, there are supposed to be several others returning in a couple days from either trekking Mount Meru (located just outside of Arusha), a safari, or from the island of Zanzibar. In addition to the bedrooms and bathrooms there is also a living room area with several couches, a TV, and a bookshelf where travels can leave behind old books and pick out new ones to take. The hostel also has a DVD player and quite a collection of DVDs, which will be nice for times in the evening when I have nothing to do, or just when I'm feeling a little homesick. While I only committed to a couple of nights thus far, designed to be a trial run, I already feel very comfortable here and have a strong feeling that I wll be calling this place home for the next four months.

Backyard of hostel

View of Mount Meru from backyard (I'll try and get a better one on a clearer day)

Bedding, complete with mosquito net

First Days in Arusha

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7th

The last two and a half days have managed to be fantastic, uncomfortable, disorienting, and productive all at the same time. For starters, my sleep schedule has been absurdly out of whack. Although I slept the equivalent of a normal night's sleep my first night of arrival (midnight - 8AM), the schedule I've been on since has been anything but. On Thursday (after waking at 8AM)I slept from 1PM-8:30PM, 9:30PM-4:00AM, and then 6:30AM - 8:30AM on Friday morning (and missed both lunch and dinner in the process). However, in the last two days I have steadily readjusted, and I think that tomorrow I should again be on a fairly normal schedule. On the rare occasions I haven't been sleeping, I have been in town with Faustine, who has been more help than I could have ever hoped for. So far I've made it to an Internet Cafe (to let the family and friends know I arrived safely), an ATM, a currency exchange, and got set up with a cell phone. My next step is to find more permanent housing and continue to explore for volunteer opportunities. It turns out that Cradle of Love, an orphanage near Arusha that was suggested by my friend Jacque (who came here last year), does not have room for me to stay on their grounds. However, Dovana, the director did make it sound as if there may be an opportunity for me to volunteer, and invited me to go visit on Monday. As for housing, I have a promising lead called the Ujamaa Hostel. It is fairly cheap and even advertises that it can connect volunteers with organizations in need. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.

Arrival

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4th

After a grueling 31 hours of traveling - from O'Hare to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro Airport, and then a car ride from Kilimanjaro to the town of Arusha - I safely arrived at my destination tonight. The trip itself was very uneventful, with the exception of an emergency landing we had to make in Nairobi for a medical emergency with another passenger (and even that was much less exciting than it sounds). The only real part worth mentioning would be the last hour and a half since landing. I was picked up by my contact in Arusha, Faustine, and his friend, who owned the car, after landing about 11:00PM local time. I was surprisingly at ease for most of the ride, considering I had no idea where I was, how to get to our destination, what my hotel would be like, and that I had only just met the two guys I was traveling with. I think this probably speaks to Faustine and his friend, both of whom were exceedingly kind and willing to answer all of my questions as we drove along. Upon arriving here at the hotel, I wasn't sure what to think. Not that I had any expectations, but again, it was the middle of the night, I had no idea what part of Arusha I was in, and it didn't appear that anyone here spoke any English. Not exactly settling. However, once I got to my room my fears were put to ease. The room is fairly plain, but is still more than I could have hoped for. It has a bed (complete with misquito net), a private bathroom area that includes a sink, toilet, and best of a all, a shower with hot water, and it even has a small tv. I spent a few minutes watching a soccer match (no idea who was actually playing), and then decided I was better off writing a few words on my travels and heading to bed. Although I haven't a clue as to where I am, and only have a small semblance of a plan as to how I'm going to find volunteer opportunities, I do know that I safely made it to my destination, and that's enough for now.