GFR

March 14th, 2010 (Retroactive post)

Today I finally arrived in southern Tanzania to begin my second volunteer experience with the organization GFR. I had met up with David, my contact from Chicago, and Nestor, the country director for GFR Tanzania, yesterday in Dar, and we spent the entirety of today driving down to the town of Njombe - 11 hours in all.

A little bit of background on GFR: The philosophy of the organization is to find families in poverty who want to start businesses, but are unable to do so because of a lack of capital. They then give these families money, which they can use not only to start their business, but also to meet their basic needs of food, housing, medical care, and education for their children.
GFR has previously worked in two other East African countries – Rwanda and Uganda – both in which they experienced a great amount of success (over 700 families taken through the program in total). They recently started working in Tanzania, where they are now sponsoring 31 families in two small villages, Igwachana and Mhanghale, each located a few hours outside of Njombe.

As they did in Rwanda and Uganda, GFR has teamed up with other organizations within the country to help accomplish this goal, and in Tanzania that organization is the Catholic church. The reason they are even in Tanzania in the first place is because one of the board members became friends with a nun from Mhanghale who is currently studying in Chicago, and the partnership has grown from there (Nestor, in addition to being the country director, is also a priest working out of Igwachana).

Unfortunately GFR has not experienced the same level of success in Tanzania as in their previous two countries, and therefore the purpose of David’s trip this week is to determine why their model isn’t working as well here, evaluate other community projects they might get involved with to support the local village, and visit some of their current donor recipients, which include not only the families, but also some sponsored school children and two associations of women who have each started businesses.

My role in all of this has never really been set in stone, and in fact has been adapted several times since my original conversation with David back in October. Nonetheless, I always had faith in him that he would make the time I spent here would be worthwhile, and it turned out I was right to do so. David has asked that I come along to all the site visits with him this upcoming week and evaluate how things are going and identify where any problems are occurring. He has also asked that I help him evaluate the feasibility of some potential projects in and around the local communities which we will be visiting in the upcoming week. Once he leaves at the end of the week, he has asked that I then stay on and continue visiting families to help them continue developing businesses and moving forward on the path to self-sufficiency. At this point I’m not entirely sure what all of this quite means, as I have yet to see the actual program in action, but I am excited for this week and excited for the work.

Zanzibar

Some quick background information relevant to this post:

1. Zanzibar is a group of two islands that lie about 50 kilometers - about 90 minutes by ferry - off the mainland coast of Tanzania. However, when most people refer to Zanzibar they are actually referring only to the island of Unguja, which is where most tourists head to. For ease, I will be doing the same. I couldn't find official size estimates for the island, but its something between 500-750 square miles. A better way to describe it would be to say that it takes about 3 hours to travel on semi-decent country roads from north to south, and 1 hour east to west.
2. Dar es Salaam (“Dar”) is the de facto capital of Tanzania (the actual capital is Dodoma but all government buildings are still in Dar) and the country’s largest city. It lies on the coast of the mainland, and it’s ferry port is where more than 90% of all tourists pass through to get to and from the island of Zanzibar.
3. Stone Town is the main city on Zanzibar Island, and contains the sole port where ferries can dock.
4. As of the time I arrived, Zanzibar had been without power since the middle of December. However, as luck would have it, power officially returned the day I arrived on the island. Not that they don't still have frequent power outages for 15-30 minutes at a time, but still, it's something.

On Sunday, March 7th I finally left Arusha. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I was headed to Zanzibar for almost a week before meeting up with a few contacts in Dar and heading down to volunteer in Southern Tanzania. As of right now, I have already spent a week in southern Tanzania and have much to tell, but I wanted to dedicate one post specifically to my time in Zanzibar before getting into that. My plan for Zanzibar was simple: Arrive in Stone Town on Sunday night, spend the entire day there, and then head up to the northeast side of the island early Tuesday morning for four days of rest and relaxation on the beaches outside the small village of Kendwa. However, as happens frequently here, my plans quickly went off course. The bus from Arusha to Dar arrived at our destination at 4:15pm, over an hour late. As the last ferry leaves the port of Dar at 4:00pm, I was forced to stay the night in the city. Fortunately, this didn’t throw off my plan too much. I actually met two Americans on the bus ride who were in the same predictament, so we agreed to find a cheap triple room in Dar for the night, then catch an early ferry out the following morning and be on the island by noon. We’d then spend the next day in Stone Town together before parting ways on Tuesday morning, as they were headed south to a different part of the island.

Thankfully, this plan fared better than my previous one, and we arrived in Stone Town on schedule. What I, and I’m assuming every other tourist, noticed immediately after stepping off the air conditioned ferry, was the heat, which combined with the humidity from being surrounded by the Indian Ocean, was almost stifling. You literally feel as if you’ll never stop sweating and, honestly, unless you’re lucky enough to find air conditioning, you don’t. Some of you also might know that I haven’t cut my hair since arriving in Africa, which I can assure you did nothing to help the matter.

After catching a cab to our hotel, we dropped off our bags and set out exploring the town. The city center of Stone Town is a virtual labyrinth of winding alleys squeezing their way through closely packed buildings, each of which has fallen into a various state of disrepair and helps serve as a reminder to the city’s rich history spanning several centuries. Overall, it greatly reminded me of Venice, albeit without all the canals.

To be honest, I didn’t really do a whole lot with my day in Stone Town. My ambitions of taking a spice tour and touring some of the historical sites were quickly overtaken by the heat and the fact that we showed up in the city with only about six hours of daylight left. So instead, the other Americans and I spent the day casually exploring the city, stopping every few hours at a small restaurant for some shade and a cold beer. We made it to the beach at dusk to watch the sunset, and then had the rather unique experience of watching a group of local kids and teenagers who were using a large old tire they had fashioned into a springboard to perform different aerial stunts (which I will post a video clip of when I make it back to the U.S.). For dinner we headed to an open fish market at the waterfront, where local fishermen were selling grilled portions of the day’s catch (which I recommend doing if you ever make it to Stone Town), and then we headed to a hotel to finish off the night with a few more beers.

As planned, I went my separate way from the other two Americans the next morning, and took a two hour dala dala ride up to the north shores of the island to Kendwa. Here are my thoughts on Kendwa: The beauty of the place is unreal. Pictures of Zanzibar’s beaches are quite famous because of their beauty and, I assure you, the pictures don’t amount to seeing it in person. The beach itself compares to the best I’ve ever visited, and the water color of the ocean is something I’ve never seen – sort of glowing clear green that turns to a rich deep blue as you head further from the coast. This, combined with the bungalow-type hotels and the small wooden ships used by the local fisherman, gives the whole area a very secluded and undeveloped feel.

But beyond the beauty, there isn’t really a whole lot to say because, well, there really isn’t a whole lot there. The bungalow-type hotels are a far cry from the posh beachside resorts of Florida, Cancun, or many other popular American destinations, and while the small crowds and slow pace of Zanzibar are nice, at a certain point you find yourself wondering what to do with yourself. During the day there are no beach football or soccer games going on, and while I did see a volleyball court, there didn’t ever seem to be enough people around to play. There’s no TVs, no pools, and only two restaurants to eat at. These restaurants also double at night as bars, but the night life is hardly any livelier than the daytime.

Of course, I fully realize that this exact thing is most likely viewed by others as the reason why Zanzibar so charming. In a world full of developed beaches with high rise condominiums and large crowds, the secluded bungalows and undeveloped stretches of beach are as close as most people can get to having their own secluded paradise. I can imagine Zanzibar would be perfect for older couples looking to ‘get away from it all’ for a while, or even new young couples who will be spending most of their time, to put it delicately, ‘creating their own entertainment’. However, for a 25 year old solo traveler looking for some semblance of a nightlife and more excitement than laying in the sun and re-reading his collection of Earnest Hemingway short stories for the fourth time over can provide, Kendwa (and the rest of the beaches in Zanzibar, at least from what I’ve heard) may not be the ideal hot spot.

In short, I would say this about Zanzibar: If you’re in the area, it’s worth going. You’ll see some beautiful beaches, a unique town with a rich history, and especially if you’ve been doing a lot of traveling, it will be nice to simply lie around in one place for a couple of days and get a decent tan in the process. Personally, despite getting bored over the course of my time, I'm glad I went, and for the most part enjoyed the slow place and the chance to relax. That being said, I’ll most likely chalk it up as one of those places that I’m glad I got to see, but which I won’t be in a hurry to return to.

Water Projects

One of the things my dad and I spent a few days doing while he was here was visiting different water projects. For those of you weren’t aware, my dad has spent the better part of the last decade working in the water industry as a regional manager for a national water utility company. He is also involved in at an NFP that tackles water issues and works to distribute water to those without access in developing countries. I guess you could say water is near and dear to his heart. Therefore, his one special request was for me to arrange to tour the Arusha water facilities / projects over the duration of his stay.

As it turned out, two such opportunities presented themselves. The first was a tour of an ongoing water project that involved building a water main from Arusha to several villages located 10 to 25km outside of Arusha. The first phase of the project had recently been completed, which brought water to three of the five villages, and they were currently in the process of obtaining funding for the second phase, which will bring water to the remaining two villages.

The second opportunity was to head out to a village at the base of Mt. Longido, an area about 80km northwest of Arusha, to attend the kick off meeting for a project aiming to build a water main from the village’s current water source up on the mountain back down to the village. This specific meeting was to inform the villagers of the project, lay out the responsibilities and expectations of each party, and begin the process of electing a ‘water committee’, which would represent the 1,000+ villagers in any major decisions concerning the project.

While both of these experiences proved to be interesting on a number of levels, one aspect that particularly stuck with me was being awoken to the reality that for a number of people in this world, water is still a rare and precious commodity. Before even embarking on either of these trips, I already fully realized that, like most other things, access to water is not nearly at the level of that in the U.S. For instance, when walking on the path back toward the hostel, I often see farmers working in their small fields. However, rather than using sprinklers and other modern technology that we employ to water our yards and fields, they use irrigation ditches to carry the water around the fields, and then bucket the water out of the ditches and throw it onto the different areas of the field. On a smaller but more personal level, it’s not uncommon to lose water pressure several times a day here at the hostel, which prevents anyone from taking showers for a few hours until adequate pressure returns. As a third example, I'll use a story Caroline told me about an Umoja Centre student which had to do with water. Apparently, he was falling asleep in class one afternoon, so the teacher asked him to leave and go report to Caroline. When Caroline asked why he was having so much trouble staying awake, he told her that water in his village only comes through the water pipes at off-peak times in the early hours of the morning. It was his turn to get the water the previous night, and therefore he had to get up at 3am and then wait for an hour at the community access point before he was able to get a bucket of water for his family (How’s that for a reason to be sleeping in class? Needless to say, he didn’t get in trouble).

In my opinion, however, all of these experiences pale in comparison to what those living in the remote villages outside of Arusha and in Longido (along with virtually every other remote village in Tanzania, and I’m assuming much of the rest of the developing world as well) must do to obtain water in the absence of a water main. The villagers in Longido, who as I mentioned are only in the process of beginning to build a water main, have to walk an hour and a half up the mountain just to reach their water source. They are then limited to taking back only what they can carry on the 1.5 hour return journey. I can’t remember exactly what those living in the villagers around Arusha had to do before their water main was built, but I know that it was little better, and probably even worse. In addition to the shear difficulty of walking these long distance, half of which carrying heavy buckets of water, this also puts a tremendous dent in the productivity of the villagers themselves, as they have to dedicate so much time to obtaining water when they could otherwise spend it doing much more productive work if a water main carried it to them instead

These villagers are mostly poor rural dwellers who depend on agriculture and animal domestication for their livelihood, and they therefore have a higher than normal demand for water on a per person basis in comparison to most city dwellers. This, along with the distance of the villages from major cities with developed water distribution infrastructure, makes for a huge challenge in providing these remote villages with water. First, an adequate water supply within close proximity must actually exist around these villages, which isn’t a given. If such a source has been found, the challenge is then in building an adequate distribution system. In addition to the normal geographic challenges that exist in building such a distribution system,engineers must also take into account the practical challenges of building a pipe that carries such a precious resource. For instance, when the NGO first started building the water main from Arusha to the surrounding villages, it didn't think about creating access points for cattle. However, the surrounding villagers who depend on cattle for their livelihood couldn't afford to refrain from having their cattle drink from the water being distributed by the main when no other source was available. Therefore, on several occasions they broke the main to allow their cattle access to the water, spilling tens of thousands of gallons in the process. The NGO did learn from the process, and has since installed cattle access points at reasonable intervals along the water main, but this serves as a perfect example of how the challenge is made more complex by the fact that a severe water shortage already exists.

How to go about eventually resolving the problems associated with providing poor, remote areas with access to water, I don't know, especially given that many developed areas are experiencing water rationing themselves (e.g., Australia, parts of the Western U.S.). However, I imagine that it, along with finding alternative energy sources and reducing pollution, will be at the forefront of the challenges facing our world in the century to come.

Last Day in Arusha

Today is officially my last day in Arusha. As I explained in a previous post, tomorrow morning I will wake up and head out on a bus – the Dar Express - to the biggest city in Tanzania, Dar Es Salaam. From there I will catch a ferry to the island of Zanzibar, where I will spend four and a half days on the beaches before heading back to Dar to meet up with my friend David from Global Family Rescue and head down to southern Tanzania.

Leaving Arusha will definitely be bittersweet. On the one-hand, I'm definitely looking forward to a change of scenery, relaxing on the beach, seeing more of Tanzania, and the work I will be doing in Njombe with GFR. On the other hand, it will be hard to leave behind Arusha, Ujamaa hostel, and all the friends I have made here over the course of the last six months. I have already had the experience of saying one hard good-bye, which was to Caroline (head of the Umoja Centre), who left this past Sunday to head back home to Australia for six weeks. Unfortunately, she arrives back in Arusha four days after I depart from Africa for good, and therefore I will not see her again during te rest of my time here. As for everyone else, I have the benefit of seeing them again during my last four days in Africa when I return to Arusha for one last lap before flying out of Kilimanjaro airport, which is just outside of town.

The last week here has been great. I've spent most of my time finishing up work from The Umoja Centre, but I've also managed to squeeze in some leisure time as well. Last sunday a group from the hostel went to go see Invictus, which has subsequently led to the Aussies of the hostel starting some rugby matches ('ruggers', as they call it) in our backyard in the evenings before dinner. Good times, although I still vastly prefer football. I've also managed to make a tour of my favorite restuarants in town, and tonight we are headed back for round two of the movies and dinner for my final goodbye.

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to get done in the upcoming weeks, especially as I'm not certain of the power situation in Zanzibar (there hasn't been any since December. It was supposed to be fixed last week, but I would find it to be close to a miracle if they actually completed it on schedule), but I promise I will continue to blog and update whenever I find the means. At the very least, I will do another round of retroactive posts when I arrive back in Arusha in 3.5 weeks. Hopefully though, I can continue to give updates in real time.

Corruption

As I mentioned in a post quite a while ago, Arusha and Tanzania are not without their problems, and this blog is dedicated to discussing one of those problems which was encountered a few times over the course of my dad’s visit: the problem of corruption.

Unfortunately, corruption is almost a way of life for most government officials here in Tanzania. Thankfully I’m not talking about the kind of corruption on the level of the massive government conspiracies that Jack Bauer single-handedly uncovers and rescues America from on an annual basis (unless, of course, there’s a writer’s strike), but nonetheless, having to bribe officials on a periodic basis for no apparent reason other than them wanting to extort money from you is still annoying.

The three specific government bodies prone to corruption that volunteers and travelers are most likely to come into contact with are the police, customs, and immigration. The police have not been a problem for me personally in my time here 0 - knock on wood; however, I’ve heard numerous stories of police harassing both Tanzanians and visitors alike for no other reason than to induce a bribe. The most common form of this comes from traffic officers.

I think the best indication that there is a serious problem with corrupt police attempting to pull over innocent citizens (Tanzanians, travelers, and ex-patriates alike) to induce a bribe is the fact that the government actually prints off windshield stickers that list the rights of citizens so they can use it as a reference if a police officer attempts to scare them through illegal means. In fact, just a week and a half ago Caroline was pulled over twice in the same afternoon for no apparent reason. During the first incident, tax officials, who were apparently riding with the police officer (which, by itself seems a little sketchy and obvious) tried to actually enter in her passenger door to check that her registrations were up to date. For the record, these registrations are clearly visible through the windshield, and there is no reason for anyone to ever need to actually get in the car to check them. After arguing back and forth with the officer and the tax officials, she was finally let go since, well, she didn’t do anything wrong in the first place. The second stop was actually much smoother than the first, and she received a simple reminder to wear her seatbelt without any further argument or harassment. Why she was pulled over though, especially since she was already wearing a seatbelt, I’m not sure. It could have just been a coincidence, but I tend to think that in both scenarios they were both just looking for something simple she was doing illegal (such as having an out of date registration or not wearing a seatbelt) so they could induce a bribe.

An even more common problem than the police pulling someone over is for them to wait for a bribe before letting you pass at road checkpoints on major highways. Again, while I’ve never had any personal experience with this, I’m told the process goes something like this: when you stop at the check point, the police officer will ask you a few questions, dilly-dally around a little bit, and then pretend to be unsure as to whether they can let you pass for some stupid reason. They will then at some point turn the conversation to how hungry or thirsty they are, which is your cue to tell them you might be able to ‘buy them something to eat or drink’. Most of the time this bribe is no more than Tsh 1,000 – about 80 cents – but its still annoying and, you know, illegal. Also, just a heads up: if you ever find yourself in this situation, don’t ever try and speed up the process by offering right away to give them money to let you pass. Even though this is what they ultimately want, and it might work the majority of the time, it also exposes you because you just attempted to explicitly bribe them. If they then decide like being a real a-hole, they could threaten to take you to jail - with the law actually on their side this time - which means you will wind up paying a much more sizeable bribe to get yourself out of the situation (unless you really piss them off or have absolutely no money, don’t think you will ever actually be going to go to jail).

Not nearly as common, but still possible, is for the police to stop you on the streets to try and harass you in an attempt to secure a bribe. While I’ve heard of this happening before, it’s always been a friend-who-knows-someone-who-heard-about-a-guy type of a thing; it hasn’t happened to anyone I know personally. Nonetheless, it can happen, especially toward the end of the week when the police are looking for ‘weekend money’, as the phrase goes here. Therefore, it’s best to just keep a low profile and avoid cops, especially on Fridays.

While the bribe-seeking police are a major annoyance, what’s of far greater frustration to me and other volunteers alike are customs and immigration officials. To illustrate, I’ll share two stories from when my dad was visiting. The first occurred immediately upon my dad’s arrival, when he was trying to enter in the country. For those of you who are not aware, electronics are significantly cheaper in the US than almost anywhere in the world, including Europe and Australia. As it turns out, the printer at The Umoja Centre crapped out about two weeks before my dad was coming to visit, so I volunteered to have my dad bring over one from the States at a fourth of the price for which we could have gotten one in Tanzania. This was all good in theory, but there is also an import tax on a number of items that are coming into the country, even through passenger luggage, which gives customs officials the leverage they need to detain passengers carrying such items and induce a bribe. This is exactly what happened to my dad. Why do I say induce a bribe, rather than the other possibility that it is actually to pay the import tax? Well, for one thing, when my dad asked how much the import tax would be, the officer responded, “How much can you afford?” Second, my dad was able to bargain him down from his initial price by a sizeable margin, which shouldn’t really happen when there is supposed to be a set import tax. Also, there was a noticeable absence of any official paperwork, and while my dad didn’t ask for a receipt, I have heard from others that when you do ask for one, the price you must pay mysteriously jumps about 400%. In spite of all this, my dad had a much easier time with customs than a group of volunteers who arrived on the same flight as him who were trying to bring medical supplies into the country. As of the time we left, they still hadn’t progressed beyond the inspection table, and it looked as if they were going to be there for quite a while longer. And just to illustrate that these aren’t isolated incidents, Carley, the owner of the hostel, also experienced something similar when she arrived back in Tanzania from a trip home to Australia. As she told it, the customs officials went through all her luggage specifically looking for things for which they could charge her customs tax. When they couldn’t find any, they specifically asked her, “Where are all the presents you’re bringing into the country?” I think these, and other stories I’ve heard, are more than ample evidence that customs officials specifically seek out travelers and tourists bringing presents for friends / family and supplies for NGOs into the country to try and induce bribes from them.

Perhaps even worse than the customs experience, though, is immigration. In my four months in Tanzania, the only time I’ve ever had to deal with immigration official was during my dads visit. It happened three days before he was supposed to leave when officials from immigration decided to show up to the hostel. The immigration office has a couple of guys on staff who’s job it is to go around to local NGOs and other organizations dealing with volunteers to check over their visas and ensure they are on the proper volunteer visa, as opposed to a travel visa. They don’t come around often apparently; but when they do, they again really only have one purpose in mind: to induce a bribe. This is exactly what happened when they came to the hostel. Fortunately, the hostel is extremely good about doing everything necessary to obtain volunteer visas for its residents. This can be an extremely tedious process, but their thought is that if immigration officials show up and find a bunch of volunteers without proper visas, they will start showing up every week for bribe money. So everyone was good to go from a visa perspective, but that didn’t stop them from at least trying to find a reason for a bribe.

It turns out that one of our residents from Australia obtained her volunteer visa from the Tanzanian embassy in Australia, rather than emailing their information to the hostel and having everything arranged here. This was reason enough, apparently, for the immigration officials to try and tell her she didn’t obtain the proper visa, and that she was volunteering illegally. If I didn’t know any better I might have thought they had a legitimate point, but having talked with numerous volunteers about this process, I’ve learned that this is what they do: go around to organizations not to simply ensure everyone is legal, but with the specific goal of finding people who aren’t so they can extort money from them. And just like what happened at the hostel, if they can’t find anyone who is illegal, they will do their best to try and find a way to make someone think they are illegal. As a general policy, if you know your rights and argue with immigration for long enough (and you can do this only when you know your rights) they eventually start to back down, which is exactly what happened in this instance. The Australian woman still had to go down to the immigration office, but after talking with the head of the department and shedding a few tears, they eventually let her off the hook (again, you know, because she didn’t do anything wrong).

The two experiences with customs and immigration were especially bad because they involved Tanzanian officials specifically seeking out people who have given their time, effort, and money to help the people of this Tanzania. Being a volunteer, it not only makes you angry, but also causes you question why you’re even bothering to help at all. Thankfully though, you only have to show up to work the next day and see the people you’re helping to remember why you’re here and regain motivation. Nonetheless, corruption remains a major problem in Tanzania, and is particularly trying for volunteers who are attempting to help make the same country better that is deliberating attempting to take advantage of them.

Tanzanian Safari

One of the highlights of my dad’s visit was the opportunity to go on safari (which, in Swahili, literally means ‘journey’). By the time my dad arrived in Tanzania I had been at the hostel, which serves as a popular point for travelers to leave from and return to for safaris, for nearly three months, and had probably listened to somewhere close to 20 different individuals / groups return from their safaris and talk about their experiences over dinner. Therefore, despite never having been on an actual safari myself, I considered myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject when it came to choosing the best option.

Ironically enough, after hearing everyone’s different experiences – which included everything from basic three day safaris to extended seven day packages that took you to some of the less popular destinations - I decided the best value for our money was actually the most popular safari package. This package lasted four days and three nights, and included visits to some of the most famous national parks in Tanzania: Lake Manyara, the Serengeti Plains, and Ngorongoro Crater. While Lake Manyara is lesser known to those outside Tanzania, Ngorongoro Crater and especially the Serengeti Plains are world renown.

(Quick sidenote worth mentioning: The Pridelands from the movie ‘The Lion King’ were actually based on the Serengeti Plains. In addition to the geography itself, most, if not all, the animals you see in the movie are also native to the Serengeti. And in addition to using the Serengeti as inspiration for the setting, the movie also borrows a couple of Swahili words for the name of its characters: ‘Simba’ translates to ‘lion’ and ‘Rafiki’ is the Swahili word for ‘friend’. And yes, while we’re on the subject, ‘Hakuna Matata’ does actually mean “No worries’, lit. “There are no worries”)

The coveted goal of all safari-goers in Tanzania is to see the so-called “Big Five”: elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, and black rhinos. With all the hype around it, you would think this was actually hard to do, but the reality is that about 80% of all the people I talked to were able to accomplish it (as long as you visit the Crater – which is the only place to see the 13 black rhinos remaining in the world). You might also think there was little else worth seeing, but in my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. While the Big Five were amazing to see (and, happily, we did see all five), almost equally as impressive were the giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, antelope, hyenas, jackels, vultures, ostriches, hippos, and crocodiles. And that’s to say nothing of the numerous smaller animals and exotic varieties of birds, which admittedly are not on the same level as the aforementioned animals, but are still nonetheless beautiful to see. The only animal we didn’t get a chance to see was a cheetah, but with so much else to take in, this was hardly a cause for disappointment.

I wish I could describe in more detail all the sights we got to see; what it feels like to see a tower of 100 giraffe (yes, that’s right, according to wikianswers you can call a group of giraffes a tower) grazing all around you in the trees, to be literally surrounded by a herd of 500 buffalo, or to watch an elephant feeding from less than 10 feet away, but I don’t really think these experiences can be aptly translated into words. Therefore, instead I will end this post with a few general tips and observations about safaris that aren’t in any guidebooks, but which I have either learned from talking with travelers or experienced for myself. The first two have to do with arranging safaris, and the last four concern the actual safari itself. Please remember that some of the things I mention, especially those concerning pricing, are specific to Tanzania and the national parks I visited.

1. If at all possible, don’t organize your safari until you arrive

There are numerous ways to arrange a safari, and those inexperienced with Africa may be tempted to pre-arrange one before departing through a travel agency, the hotel they are staying with, or online. My suggestion would be, that if you have any spare time that you could use to arrange a safari after arriving, do it. Sometimes the price difference could literally be 100%. The reason for this is two fold. First, the more people you go through to arrange a safari, the more people are going to want a cut of the profit for helping arrange it. This is especially true when going through a travel agency or hotel. Second, many of the larger safari companies take advantage of travelers’ ignorance when they are going through travel agencies, and use the opportunity to dramatically increase the price. This is not, in fact, isolated to safari companies, but is a practice employed by many different tourism related businesses, and not just in Africa. On the positive side, you are usually getting a quality experience for your money, but again, you may be paying up to double that of the person sitting next to you in the same vehicle. Using the Internet is an option that gives you a better basis for price comparison, but at the cost of being less certain about the quality of the experience.

Your best option is to ask friends or other contacts for recommendations (like the one I make at the end of this point) and then personally contact that company and arrange the safari yourself. However, if you’re unable to do find anyone who can give a recommendation, your next best option is to arrive a day early in a town that serves as a staging point for a lot of safaris, such as Arusha, and shop around for a trip. Asking for recommendations from other travelers is always the best place to start, although you might also ask the hotel concierge or other local business owners (as long as you are reasonable sure they won’t profit from the recommendation they give you).

Again, all this is not to say you will, without a doubt, pay a more expensive price if you purchase a pre-arranged safari. I’m just saying you have a better chance of getting a good price if you don’t go through multiple layers of administration and can physically go to a safari office to compare prices.

Lastly, I will take this opportunity to recommend the company my dad and I used, which is African Scenic Safaris (www.africanscenicsafaris.com). Not only did they provide a great safari, but they are also very fairly priced. Additionally, I am friends with the owners and can personally vouch for them being honest and ethical in their business practices (and they also donate a portion of their proceeds to local NFPs, although I’m not sure they advertise that themselves). Contrary to everything I just said, you shouldn’t hesitate to book a safari with them through the Internet before arriving in Africa.

2. Don’t pay less than $150 / day per person

Again, this is specific to the northern safari circuit of Tanzania, but if a company is charging much less than this price, I would question the quality of the experience you will be receiving, if you aren’t getting downright ripped off (i.e., they will insist on you paying extra for things you thought were included). Park fees alone are $50 / day per person, and then when you add employee wages (a guide and a cook), food, gas, and then depreciation on the vehicle and camping / cooking equipment, you can understand why it would be difficult to charge less than this and still make a fair profit for your efforts.

Its also worth noting that this is the minimum you should pay for a full vehicle. Prices should be even more expensive if you want less people (Note: Safari companies will usually do their best to match you and your group with other individuals / groups to ensure a full vehicle unless you explicitly ask them not to)

And just to give a good price point, $200 / day per person is probably a good average cost for a camping safari (lodges will usually be quite a bit more expensive). Anything under would be considered a pretty good deal.

3. Bring something else to do

No one seems to mention how much time is spent driving from one park to another when they mention their safari. The truth is, it’s quite a bit. If you don’t bring something else to do, you will get bored, unless you are the world’s greatest conversationalist. I suggest a few books and an ipod. That kept me sufficiently entertained.

4. It’s not just about the animals

Remember to take in the nature and the geography as well. This is especially true if you travel the route we took. Each of the three parks had some spectacular. The forest of Lake Manyara lead straight into a huge tree covered wall – not 90 degrees, but certainly too steep for animals to climb - measuring several hundred feet in height that is unlike almost anything I have every seen before. Similarly unique, the Serengeti plains are so vast it is almost too difficult to comprehend how far they actually stretch. The crater is also a sight to behold, measuring about 9 miles across and several hundred feet high. Finally, I would remind anyone heading out of safari to remember to take a look up to the sky at night, as the number of visible stars is unparalleled by anything I have ever experienced.

5. Remember to “see”, and not just “look”

This point seems pretty obvious, but I’ve heard a number of people come back and talk about how they wished they would have taken more time just taking in what they were actually seeing, rather than trying to capture the perfect picture. I’m not saying don’t take pictures, or even that you can’t fully appreciate the sites while taking pictures, but just remember not to get ahead of yourself: enjoy the experience itself before attempting to capture it as a lasting memory.

6. Order matters

The only point I’ll stress is this: If you can, make sure you save Ngorongoro Crater for last. The sheer population density of animals makes it an unrivaled destination to view wildlife; so much so that you might actually find yourself bored with the other stops if you visited the Crater first.

I’ll use one example just to illustrate: On the first day in Lake Manyara when we saw a small group of zebras we stop to watch and take pictures for probably ten minutes. It was brand new, it was exciting, and it was interesting. In contrast, on our last day in the Crater, there were times where we literally drove past packs of zebras numbering in the hundreds without stopping. Why? Because we saw those same packs of 100+ zebras all over the Crater. We had already stopped numerous times to observe them, and there are only so many times you can stop to look at zebras.

At a certain point, we as humans become accustomed to all the sights we once found unique and interesting, and they begin to lose their novelty. That may be a sad truth, but it’s human nature. Everyone I’ve talked to about this has had a similar experience. So the best way to fight against this is to try and order your experiences from the least exciting to the most. I didn’t realize this going in, but luckily our tour operators did. We started off in Lake Manyara, where the sight of a few zebras or one elephant was enough to keep us enthralled. We then moved to the Serengeti, where wildlife sightings weren’t necessarily more common, but they tended to be of more exciting animals (e.g., lions, leopards) or of larger groups of animals (hundreds of zebras, as opposed to a handful). Odds are, your tour operator already knows this and will structure your safari accordingly, but it never hurts to check.

On a related note, I also found four days to be the perfect length of time for the safari. I fell like I would have been left wanting if I had tried to squeeze everything into three days, and while I could have done a fifth day, the novelty of the experience would have been begun to wear off.

Tanzanian Weather

Just a short post for today to answer a question I’ve gotten a lot lately, which is about the weather in Tanzania. I can’t completely answer that question because, like the U.S., Tanzania is a geographically diverse country with many different climates, albeit on a much smaller scale. For instance, the south as a whole tends to be cooler since it’s further from the equator, while the coastal line tends to be much more hot and humid. The northern part of the country also tends to be warmer, except for the northwestern highlands, which are cooler due to their elevation.

So while I can’t answer this question in detail for the whole of Tanzania, I can answer it for Arusha specifically. Here’s the gist: From a temperature perspective it’s hot, although not overly-so, since it borders on the northwestern highlands. Being in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed here, although the northern part of Tanzania is so close to the equator that it doesn’t matter all that much. December, January, and February are the summer months here, with the latter two being the hottest of the year. During the day right now it’s not uncommon for the temperature to reach 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit, and at night it cools down to 70-75 degrees; a tad different than the weather back home right now, from what I’m told (which is the primary reason I chose to come to Tanzania from November – April). During the winter months, however, I’m told that it doesn’t get too much cooler. Typical highs during the daytime are around 70-75 degrees, while in the nighttime it gets down into the 50s.

One aspect in which Tanzania is distinctly different than anywhere in the U.S. is that it is subject to dry and rainy seasons. During the dry season, it’s not uncommon to go weeks – even months – without rain, while in the wet season it may rain everyday, sometimes at torrential levels. Tanzania has two rainy seasons each year: the mvuli (the short rainy season) and the masika (long rainy season). As you might expect, the only difference is that the long rainy season lasts longer and brings with it more rain. The small rainy season takes place for about a month from early November to mid-December, while the main rainy season takes place throughout the whole of March and April and into May.

Of course, all of this is assuming the weather behaves normally. However, much like back in the States, the weather has been far from normal lately. The temperature has acted as expected but it doesn’t vary all that much to begin with, so that’s not saying much. The rainy seasons, however, have been a little screwy. Most of November was actually dry, and the rains didn’t actually arrive until almost early December. However, they made up for their tardiness by sticking around until halfway through January. Additionally, the main rainy season seems to have arrived early, as we have had rain most days over the past week.

Despite the abundance of rain lately though, I can’t really complain. The weather is still warm, and even on the days that it does rain, the sun still manages to make it out for a fair portion of the day - much like Florida weather, actually. I’m only hoping that it doesn’t ruin my time on the beaches of Zanzibar or make the roads down to southern Tanzania more difficult than they already are.

General Update, 2/25

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay in getting the blog restarted. It took me a little bit longer to get back into the blogging routine than I thought. At any rate, I just posted a new post on my trip to Nairobi today, and will have several more to post in the upcoming days.

I just wanted to give you all an update that I have finally confirmed in the last two weeks that I will be heading down to southern Tanzania to work with Global Family Rescue. It turns out there was some miscommunication with my contact over the last few months about which email address I should be using to get a hold of him. Everything is sorted now though, and I will be packing up to leave Arusha next weekend. It will be sad to leave the hostel and The Umoja Centre, but I have to admit that I'm looking forward to a change of pace and to see more of Tanzania.

As I said, the plan is to leave sometime next weekend - either Saturday or Sunday; I haven't decided yet - and then head to the island of Zanzibar for a couple days of rest and relaxation on the beach. On March 12th I will then take a ferry back to Dar es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania, and will stay that night with a Tanzanian contact I have met from GFR, Nestor. David, my GFR contact whom I met in Chicago before leaving, will then be arriving the following day, and the three of us will be heading down to Njombe (check Google maps to get a precise location if you're interested), where I will spend at least three of my final four weeks in Tanzania. I'm still finalizing the exact scope of my work, but I will let you all know as soon as I find out more details. Sometime in my last week I will be heading back up to Arusha to spend my last few days saying goodbye to friends before flying out of Kilimanjaro airport, which is only about 45 minutes outside Arusha.

In the meantime before I take off, I will be finishing my work up at the Umoja Centre and enjoying my last week in Arusha. I will also continue to update my blog, both with some retroactive posts from my dad's visit, as well as some new posts about Tanzania culture. Look for more updates soon.

Visa Issues and Swords of Meat

On January 27^th, a few days before my dad arrived for his two week visit, I made my first journey of any distance outside Arusha by spending a night in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.

My only real purpose for visiting Kenya was to renew my Tanzanian visa. To explain, I was issued a one year, multiple entry tourist visa through the Tanzanian embassy in the U.S. before arriving. However, the visa came with one rather annoying condition, which was that while I’m free to enter and exit the country as many times as I wish for the one year period, I’m never allowed to stay for a duration greater than 90 days at any one time. While I haven’t bothered to find the exact reasoning for this requirement, assuming that reason exists (which isn’t a safe assumption), I would venture a guess that it’s to keep people from “living” in Tanzania on a tourist visa by simply renewing the visa once each year. That makes sense in theory, but a popular way to circumvent this requirement, which I used, was to simply travel out of the country for one night, and then re-enter the country the following day, making me legal for another 90 days – and in my case, for the duration of my trip.

To be honest, I had no real interest in traveling to Nairobi. It has a reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities in Africa – as evidenced by its nickname, ‘Nairobbery’ – and many of the tourist attractions there are more expensive, which still would have been fine except I didn’t plan for any of them in my original travel budget. However, one attraction that was too tempting to pass up, regardless of cost, was an all you can eat “nyama choma” (steakhouse) named Carnivore. As someone who self proclaims he could eat steak every night for the rest of his life and never tire of it, I welcomed the thought of an all you can eat smorgasbord of grilled animal carcass induced euphoria. Making the restaurant even more appealing was the fact that I have been on a severe meat deficiency for most of my time in Tanzania. The hostel serves almost an entirely vegetarian menu, only occasionally interrupting its various takes on bread and vegetable medleys to serve fish or hamburgers. And while I’ve made an effort to find lunch venues that serve meat, the beef in general that I’ve found in Tanzania is of less than ideal quality. Combine these facts, and you can understand why I was so keen to visit a place whose name literally means ‘meat-eater’.

With only one objective in mind upon arriving to Nairobi, my trip was pretty simple and straightforward. I hopped on the 2:00 pm bus leaving from Arusha, traveled the seven and a half hour journey to Nairobi, got dropped off at the hotel, threw my bags in my room, and caught a taxi to take me straight to Carnivore. Being 10:00pm at the time of my arrival, I had plenty of time to enjoy dinner and make it back to the hotel to get some sleep before catching my 7:30 am bus back to Arusha.

Before I describe the dining experience, let me give a short background of the restaurant. Twice it has been voted among the 50 best restaurants of the world, although to be fair, this was before they had to stop serving some of their more exotic meats such as zebra, hardebeest, and camel (some lame reason about conserving the African wildlife or something…whatever). Nonetheless, it is still one of the most popular dinner destinations for tourists, and I had high expectations.

When I walked in, I was immediately confronted by a large circular barbeque pit room with see-through wire caging for walls. On the inside of the room were huge grills operating at full force, and on the cage walls themselves hung huge portions of cooked meat waiting to be served to customers. Not a bad first impression. Being transfixed by the barbeque pit, it wasn’t until I was finally on my way to be seated that I fully took in the size of this place. Not only could the restaurant itself easily seat about 300-400 people, but it was also connected to one of the biggest nightclubs I’ve ever been in (which sadly, I was only able to take a quick lap around after dinner before departing back to the hotel).

After being seated, my waiter for the evening came by to explain how things worked: there was a set menu, he would bring out soup first, then salad, and then when I was ready I could put up a flag to signal the other servers to start bringing me meat. Then, when I could eat no more, I would take down the flag; kind of like raising a white flag in surrender, only the exact opposite.

While waiting for my soup, I had the time to survey my surroundings a little further. As I mentioned, the waiter said that once I raised the flag, servers would start coming over to offer me various cuts of meat. Well, it turns out these servers are all over the place, and are easily identified by the fact that they are decked out in zebra-patterned aprons and a hat that looked like a cross between that of a Venetian gondolier and something Greg Norman would wear while he was choking away a Masters’ Championship to Nick Faldo. Most importantly, they were all carrying swords and spears of meat, most of which had to be two and a half feet long. I couldn’t wait.

So while I was admiring the biggest shish kabobs I had ever seen, my soup finally came out. At this point I was starving from spending the last 10 minutes staring at meat, so I think I inhaled the soup in about 90 seconds flat. Turned out it was some sort of broth based from animal meat. Imagine that. Needless to say, I was happy about how things were starting.

Next came the salad. Actually, I should say that next came five different salads on one of those rotating food serves. This wasn’t so I could pick my favorite, mind you; every salad was for me. To be honest, the salads all looked great and I’m sure I would have enjoyed them, but I was at an all you can eat steakhouse. Further, I had been on a healthy overdose of vegetables for the past three months, so there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of sense in wasting any space on lettuce leaves. Therefore, I did the only sensible thing and proceeded to ignore the salads entirely. And with that, it was time to put up the flag.

Within about three minutes server number one came over. “May I offer you some crocodile, sir?” Yes sir, yes you may. After taking my first bite, I immediately had flashbacks to one of my childhood (teenhood, I guess, to be more precise) trips to Florida where I tried alligator. At the time, I didn’t care for it much. But hey, this was crocodile; it could be different. Then again, maybe not. It still sucked. Similar to alligator, it’s just a little too chewy, and I’m not sure how to better describe the taste than by saying that even when it’s cooked properly, you’re left wondering if maybe it didn’t go a little bit bad before making it onto the grill.

The rest of the meal, however, was superb. Over the course of the next hour I demolished my way through multiple portions of sausages, two different cuts of beef, chicken, pork, three different cuts of lamb, and some surprisingly good ostrich meatballs. After thinking I couldn’t take one more bite, I reached for the flag. Time to surrender, or so I thought.

Just as I was reaching out, the guy serving the baby lamb chops – which were crazy good and the unexpected winner for my favorite cut of the night – came over. “Would you like another lambchop, sir?” Twist my arm; sure I’ll have another. But then he followed up with, “Actually sir, I only have three left in this batch. Would you just like to finish them off?” Ugh… Trust me, at this point I really wanted to say no. But considering how much I had ranted over the past weeks and months to anyone and everyone about how much I was craving meat since arriving, it just seemed like it would be a slap in the face to all of those who had to suffer through listening to me if I would have said no. So, silently thanking myself for having the sense to ignore the five salads, I went to work. Granted, they were baby lamb chops, but still, if you’ve ever been to that point where you absolutely don’t want to take another bite, then you can understand what a Herculean task chowing through three baby lambchops could be. Nonetheless, I endured through it and finished them off. By the end of the meal, over half my plate was full of only bones, gristle, and fat.

Overall, I’d have to say the meal was pretty solid, although not ‘top 50 restaurant in the world’ solid. Nonetheless, for someone craving meat since he arrived three months earlier, it definitely hit the spot. If you ever find yourself traveling through Nairobi, I would recommend taking the time to stop in.

General Update, 2/14

So I think it's very obvious to anyone who has been checking the blog lately that my posting frequency has dropped immensely since the turn of the New Year. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it was around the beginning of the New Year that a lot of the novelty of living in Arusha began to wear off. I had developed a fairly routine schedule - much of it spent at work - and the number of experiences I felt were worth writing has drastically reduced. Additionally, as I have become much more accustomed to the culture, I'm having more trouble distinguishing which experiences are interesting to read about back home and which would instead be considered mundane. Therefore, I've had to supplement the lack of experience posts with more informational and / or personal opinion posts (such as the post on independent volunteering) , which take much more thought, effort, revision, and therefore, time.

While lack of interesting subject material is partly to blame for the drop in posts, the bigger reason is that my access to a computer has been greatly reduced. I actually had access to a laptop about every other weekend for my first month and a half here, which allowed me to write posts in the evenings when I was back at the hostel. However, this has not been the case in the past month and a half and, combined with the fact that I spend most of the day working, I have not had ample opportunity to sit down and write posts.

A third and lesser reason for my lack of posting is that my dad has been visiting me these past two weeks, and I have spent much of the time traveling with him. While this has given me quite a bit of new material to write about, it again means that I have had neither the time nor the acess to a computer to blog.

Despite these reasons, I have good news to report. First, I kept written notes on a number of blogs which I wished to write before my dad came to visit, so that I would be able to come back later and turn them into proper posts. Second, my dad's visit and our corresponding travels has given me quite a bit of new and interesting material worth blogging about. Finally, in the last few days I have once again gained access to a laptop, which I will have for the next three weeks until I depart for southern Tanzania. Therefore, I will be spending the next three weeks trying to catch up on events from the past month and a half, as well as hopefully writing about a few new experiences as well. So be on the look out for much more frequent posting through the beginning of March.

Independent Volunteering, Part III: How to Find an Organization upon Arrival

It was 10:30PM. I had just walked off the plane at Kilimanjaro airport and was waiting at immigration to get my visa stamped. I was trying to keep a positive attitude, but one thought kept creeping back into my head, “What the hell am I doing here?” I had traveled halfway across the world in the past 24 hours, and despite planning this trip for the better part of a year, I was beginning to realize that I had surprisingly little knowledge of what life would be like here or how I was going to go about finding a volunteer opportunity. I spoke exactly one word of Swahili – “Jambo” (“hello”) - and wasn’t even sure how to go about doing something as simple as finding food to eat. The only thing I had was one contact – a friend of a friend with whom I had only previously communicated via email– who had promised to pick me up from the airport and arrange my first night’s accommodation. It was something, but considering how much uncertainty I was facing, it was hardly comforting.

Three months later, I’m writing this post having established a stable life in Tanzania. I’ve found two great organizations to volunteer with, a comfortable and enjoyable place to stay, and a network of friends made up of local Tanzanians, volunteers, and expatriates. So how did I go about getting from that first day, where performing even the smallest tasks were intimidating, to the point of creating this an established life? That’s a story for another day. However, I will discuss how you can go about not only replicating my experience, but hopefully doing it more easily, quickly, and with fewer mistakes.

The process of acclimating yourself to a new country and building a stable life during your independent volunteering experience can be challenging, starting from the moment you arrive. Without a doubt, the most daunting part of your trip will be those first few days. No matter how much Internet research you do, or how many current or former volunteers, residents, or travelers you talk to, nothing will quite prepare you for when you first step off the plane and realize you’re about to spend the next several months in a completely foreign environment. Further, you will be almost entirely alone, your only local contacts being friends-of-friends, most of whom you have probably exchanged no more than a handful of emails with, if that. However, despite these difficult days, you will be amazed at how quickly and easily you will be able to adapt when forced to. Of course, it’s also helpful to have some ideas beforehand as to where you can begin searching for opportunities, and this is where I will start.

If I could offer one word of advice for your first days upon arrival, it is not to worry about overspending your daily budget, especially if you don’t have any local contacts. Learning to live in a new city is like learning to do anything else; it takes time and effort, and you won’t necessarily be good at it right away. Therefore you may need to stay in nicer accommodations, eat at more touristy restaurants, and buy from more expensive shops while you are getting to know the city. Of course, you can certainly ease this process by doing some research beforehand, but you won’t truly gain an understanding of a city until you experience it for yourself (imagine trying to get a sense of the Sistine Chapel from reading about it in a book).

If you have local contacts in your destination city, they can be especially useful during your time immediately after arrival. Ask them to help you arrange your first few nights of accommodation, as well as transportation from the airport or bus station, and be sure to offer to compensate them in some way, be it cash, a meal, or a small present. If you don’t have a local contact, then book one of the popular tourist hotels in the area. Likely, they will offer some mode of transportation from the airport or bus station, although it may come at additional cost. Again though, it’s worth reiterating: Don’t worry about overspending your budget during your first few days. The peace of mind you attain from knowing you have a safe, reliable transport and a comfortable bed awaiting you upon arrival is well worth the extra money.

Your first order of business after settling into your hotel - other than getting a good night’s sleep if arriving late in the day - should be to find the bare essentials, which in this case means an ATM and a cell phone (or SIM card, if you have a phone with an unlocked SIM). The importance of cash is pretty self-explanatory, especially if you’re in an area that does not widely accept credit card. A phone will be important because it will serve as your primary means of following up with the contacts you will be making in the upcoming days, specifically in reference to leads on permanent accommodations and volunteer opportunities. You may also find it helpful to locate an internet café to aid you in any additional research and contact friends and family back home to let them know you arrived safely.

Once you have your cash and cell phone / SIM card, it’s time to start looking for permanent accommodation and volunteer opportunities. This is easiest done by talking with expatriates and other long-term volunteers, rather than native residents. While this may sound discriminatory, it is not, and there is good reason as to why foreign-born residents are a better source for this information. First, they will be aware of any additional challenges and hardships you may face as a foreign citizen living in the country, be it passport / visa issues or dietary restrictions. Also, as someone who was once new to the country themselves, they will be far more attune to any concerns or hesitations you may have about your new host country, and will be able to advise you as to how best to adjust to your new lifestyle conditions. This is a perspective that a native resident will simply be unable to provide. Finally, they will be much more likely to be a part of, or know, members of the volunteer community, given this is one of the most popular reasons westerners relocate to developing countries.

The best way to find ex-patriates or other volunteers is to utilize any existing contacts you made before your arrival. In the absence of any existing contacts, you’ll have to go out and search for them on your own. Most cities – especially those with a large presence of NGOs – will have at least a few popular ex-patriate hangouts. An easy way to identify these locations is through the use of a guidebook such as Lonely Planet or Rough Guide. If you don’t happen to have a guidebook handy, another option is to inquire about them at any popular tourist hotel. The receptionists should be knowledgeable about the popular restaurants and bars frequented by ex-patriates and western visitors, and will usually be happy to help, regardless of whether you are actually staying at the hotel (although a tip is probably appropriate).

Once you have the names of a few places, it’s up to you to go out and network. For those who aren’t natural networkers, this process may seem uncomfortable. Fortunately when traveling, you should never be at a shortage for easy topics of conversation. All you need to do is ask questions: “What brought you here?” “How long have you been here?” “How long are you staying?” Once the conversation turns to you, it will be completely natural and fitting to mention that you just arrived in town and are looking for a volunteer opportunity. I’ve found that most ex-patriates / volunteers / travelers are usually eager to help out in whatever way they can. And even if they can’t help, at the very least you will come out of the conversation with a new friend.

So you know how to find information about accommodation and volunteer opportunities; now how exactly do you go about choosing which opportunities to pursue? I’ll discuss how to go about choosing you accommodations first, as the criteria are fairly straightforward and familiar to anyone who has ever searched for a place to live before:

Cost: Does the price fit within your budget? Are there any extras included, which would reduce other areas of expenses (e.g., a hostel which provides breakfast / dinner)?

Safety: Is it in a safe neighborhood? Do the locks on all windows and doors work? Are additional safety precautions taken, if required in the area where you are staying (e.g., burglar bars, security walls, guards, etc.)?

Location: Is it in a convenient location? Is it close to public transportation, stores, and restaurants?

Comfort: Will you be able to easily perform basic tasks (e.g., cooking, laundry, etc.)? Is it equipped to deal with any infrastructure challenges (e.g., generator for power outages)? In general, do you think you can feel at home there?

You should explore multiple locations and price ranges to get an accurate picture of housing costs in different areas of town. Also, if possible, you may want to look into a variety of living arrangements (e.g., single apartment, hostel, etc.), and determine which is most appealing to you. Once you have explored several options, you should choose your favorite and arrange a short trial period (preferably no more than a couple days, although depending where you are at, it may not be possible to arrange for anything less than a month). This is to ensure there are no problems which are not immediately obvious during a showing, such as excessive noise during the night, a leaky roof when it rains, and so forth.

The process for choosing a volunteer experience is very similar to that of finding accommodations, albeit with different factors of consideration. In this case, they should include:

Personal Interest: Are you passionate about the cause? Is it a demographic you are interested in helping? Does the work sound appealing? Will you be excited and motivated to come in each day?

Opportunity for Impact: Will the opportunity fully utilize your talents and past experience? Will there be an opportunity to expand your role over the duration of your commitment? Will you be given the autonomy to shape your role according to your skills and interests?

Organizational Ethics: Is it clear the funding is being used appropriately? Are the benefactors of the organization treated will? Do clear guidelines / policies exist to govern the organization?

Organizational Culture: Do you like the culture / feel of the organization? Do you enjoy the people with whom you will be working? Can you have a healthy working relationship with them?

Convenience: Is the organization an easy commute from your place of accommodation? Is lunch provided or easily accessible? Are work hours flexible when needed (e.g., can you take a day off if you need to take care of visa issues or other important matters)?

Once you have chosen an organization, you should once again arrange a short trial period, somewhere between 3-5 days, to get as accurate a picture as possible of what your volunteer experience would be like. If you’re having trouble narrowing the list, it’s possible to do a trial period with more than one organization at a time, although I recommend limiting yourself to no more than three at once. If the trial period is a success, then you can make a commitment. However, if it doesn’t live up to expectations for whatever reason, feel free to move onto the next organization on your list and try again. Once you have made a commitment, be sure to contact the other organizations you have been in communication with to inform them of your decision and thank them for their time and any opportunity they extended to you.

From this point, it’s up to you to make the most of your opportunity. If you have any additional questions, feel free to post them as comments or send me an email.

Independent Volunteering, Part II: How to Choose Your Destination

Note: For simplicity, I will limit this discussion to only relief work in developing countries, although in reality NGOs and relief organizations exist nearly everywhere in the world

So, you’re sold on taking the independent volunteer route, but haven’t a clue as to how to go about doing it? Where do you begin?

First you need to choose a destination for your trip. Important factors to consider when deciding include:

Personal Interest: Where have you always wanted to travel? Which cultures seem especially interesting or appealing to you? Which cultures have you always wanted to learn more about?

Cost: In general, what is the cost of living of your potential destination? What is the range in the cost of living, depending on various levels of comfort (i.e., low budget vs. high budget living)? How do these costs compare to your allotted budget for volunteering?

Challenges: Is there a significant language barrier? Will the trip require special vaccinations? Are there any difficult climate conditions? Are there safety concerns? If any of these challenges do exist in one of your destinations, it doesn’t mean you should refrain from going there. However, it is important to be aware of their existence and honest with yourself in your ability to handle them.

Need: What do you know about the social and economic problems of your potential destination? Intuitively, does it seem that your skill set (e.g., language skills, teaching, business, carpentry, etc.) could be used to address some of these problems?

With the exception of need, these are the same factors which need to be considered when you do any long term traveling. This is a subject that has been written about extensively (including my favorite book on the subject, found here), and therefore I won’t go into any further detail on them in this post.

Once you've narrowed down a list of potential countries, the next step is to research NGOs, not-for-profits, and relief agencies that exist in each area. The goal here is to ensure volunteer organizations exist in your potential destination. It's advisable to search at both the country and city level, which may help you refine your decision on a final destination. If you are having trouble locating NGOs in a specific country or city, you should be wary of pursuing volunteer opportunities there (Read: There's a reason they aren’t there). While a general Google search can suffice, you may also find it helpful to visit websites specifically dedicated to connecting volunteers with opportunities, such as www.idealist.org. Search specifically for volunteer opportunities posted in English. Again, the goal is not to find the specific organization with whom you will volunteer; rather, it is only to ensure that an active volunteer network exists within your destination. Remaining non-committed can be easier said than done, as you may find numerous volunteer opportunities or project descriptions which sound interesting and exciting. Just remember, description and reality can often be vastly different, and the only true way to get a sense for a project is to actually experience it for yourself. That being said, you may find useful leads worth pursuing once you do physically arrive at your destination.

A second resource, which is often times the most valuable, is other individuals who have travel or volunteer experience in your potential destination. Once you have narrowed your list of potential destinations to two or three options, don’t hesitate to let anyone and everyone know about it. Be sure to let them know your areas of interest, and tell them you’re interested in talking with anyone they might know with experience in the area. You’ll be amazed at the number of names you receive in response. You should follow up with as many of these contacts as possible, no matter how distant (your sister’s boss’s wife’s niece who spent two months in Cambodia is a perfectly legitimate contact, assuming your interest is in Southeast Asia). Also, don’t be afraid to talk with people who have travel / volunteer experience in destinations other than those on your short list. You may find new areas of interest which you hadn’t previously considered.

There are two reasons why I find individuals with first-hand experience to be of more value than any other form of research. First, these connections may have local contacts who still reside in your destination, be it native residents, ex-patriots, or long term volunteers. Further, they will most likely be willing to connect you with these people, thereby making your life infinitely easier from the moment you arrive. Second, they are the most reliable source of information, period. Oftentimes, there are many different sources of conflicting information about travel destinations. How much of the local population actually speaks English in your potential destination? Is the area safe, as the country’s tourism website claims, or are incidents like the one you read about in a national newspaper - where a traveler had to escape from a gang of machete wielding thieves - commonplace? Sometimes it’s difficult to tell. But anyone who has spent a couple months living there will be able to answer these types of questions in a level of detail with which you won’t find in any book or on any website. As long as you trust the individual and are planning on a similar experience (i.e., you aren't talking to someone who toured the country by staying in five start hotels while you are planning a budget volunteer trip), you should take their word over any other source of information.

Once you’ve thoroughly conducted all your research, it’s time to make your decision. While most people find choosing a country fairly easy, they are often not nearly as picky about cities, and therefore can have a harder time deciding on their specific destination. If this is the case, use the following three criteria to help you make your decision:

Local Contacts: Which cities do you have friends, or friends-of-friends, who are willing to help you settle and find organizations? Once again, having local contacts will make your life infinitely easier upon arrival, and therefore is a factor that should be given signification weight in your final decision, especially if it is your first time volunteering in a developing country.

Expatriate / Foreign National Population: If you don’t have any local contacts, it may be necessary to base yourself out of a city with a large expatriate community, specifically when traveling to a country with a significant language barrier. This will make the process of developing local contacts, and therefore finding volunteer opportunities, easier. While exact numbers may not be readily available, you should be able to form a general idea based on information found on the Internet.

Presence of NGOs: Again, this is where you should rely on your Internet research. Were you able to find a significant number of NGOs in the area? How many opportunities were posted in English on volunteer websites such as idealist.org?

After making a decision, you simply need to book your flight, apply for a visa, get your immunizations, and arrange accommodations for the first couple of nights and transportation from the airport or bus station upon arrival. Again, detailed information on how to go about doing this can be found in long-term travel publications such as Vagabonding. Check in soon for part III, which details what to do upon arrival.

Independent Volunteering, Part I: What is Independent Volunteering?

Having now gone through the process of planning my own independent volunteering experience, I wanted to write about how others can go about doing it for themselves. Therefore, the next three posts will be dedicated to the independent volunteering process. The first post will define what independent volunteering is, and talk about the pros and cons of taking the independent volunteer route. The second will explain how to choose a location for your independent volunteering experience, and the final installment will describe how to go about finding an organization with which to volunteer once you arrive. If anyone else feels inspired to volunteer independently, then hopefully, by the end of these posts, they will feel confident in how to go about doing so.

First, it’s important to define exactly what independent volunteering is. The best definition I found using an online Google search was ‘making all volunteer travel and living arrangements without the help of a third party organization’. (In contrast to the more common option of volunteering through all-inclusive programs which arrange all travel and accommodation, in addition to providing the volunteer experience). However, while this definition is technically accurate, I feel it fails to address one key aspect of the independent volunteering process. I would therefore add the criterion that true independent volunteering involves explicitly waiting until after arriving at your destination to find and commit to an organization. While this may seem like a technical detail, it’s actually an important aspect to helping you achieve all the benefits of independent volunteering.

So, now that you know what independent volunteering is, why do it? When making my own decision, two specific factors stuck out: flexibility and cost. First, volunteering independently gives you much more flexibility in almost all aspects of your experience. To begin, you are not confined to the time frame of a program. You can plan your start and end dates around important aspects of your life back home, such as your job, an apartment lease, the holidays, important family events, friend’s weddings, or even the ski season – whatever’s important to you. You’re also free to volunteer in whatever capacity you like, and can even split time between multiple organizations if you desire. Finally, you have the freedom to mix your volunteering with as much or as little travel as you’d like.

In addition to being more flexible, independent volunteering will usually be cheaper as well, provided you aren’t trying to live a life of luxury. One explanation for this is because volunteer program expenses will always include administrative fees to cover the costs of arranging the logistics of your trip for you. A second reason is that, oftentimes, a large portion of program fees go directly to support the projects themselves (e.g., buying raw materials, covering on-going operational costs, etc.). While this provides projects with necessary and, oftentimes, much needed funds, I can think of two reasons why it is also unfavorable. First, from a program perspective, it prevents would-be volunteers who are unable to afford the prohibitive costs of these programs from donating their time and efforts. Second, from a volunteer standpoint, it gives you very little control over how the program coordinators use those funds. Independent volunteering, on the other hand, not only allows you to choose the amount you want to give to your organization, but also puts you in a much better position to direct where and how those funds will be spent.

One other possible explanation for high program fees is corruption. Many organizations masquerade as NGOs - which are not legally allowed to make profit - but keep a large portion of the money they charge volunteers as personal income. Sadly, I have heard a number of stories of volunteers who paid large program fees, only to find they were housed in sub-par accommodations on projects that suffered greatly from lack of proper funding. While these corrupt organizations are certainly the exceptions rather than the rule, it can often be difficult to separate the honest organizations from the dishonest ones before actually arriving on site. Independent volunteering can help minimize the risk of inadvertently aiding these corrupt impersonators by giving you the opportunity to visit an organization before committing to it. Getting the chance to inspect the conditions of the organization, chat with other volunteers, and interact with beneficiaries (e.g., students, the local community, etc.) should enable you to accurately access the honesty of an organization, and therefore provide reasonable assurance that both your time and money are going toward an honest cause.

While independent volunteering offers many advantages, it’s also not without its challenges and disadvantages. First, it involves significantly more research upfront than traditional volunteering. It also lacks the structure and security of a volunteer program, and therefore independent volunteers must have a willingness to spend at least the first part of their trip in a state of limbo (I adamantly insist finding an independent opportunity is not as difficult as most people think, but nonetheless concede that anyone wanting to take the independent volunteer route must be willing to deal with a little bit of uncertainty). Third, the time it takes to set up a volunteer experience makes the independent volunteering option ill suited for short durations of time. Therefore, those who are unable to take extended absences from work or other commitments (at least two months, although three to six months is preferable) may find it a difficult option to pursue. Finally, it’s worth noting that volunteering independently can sometimes limit the places in which you can offer your services. Specifically, it is unlikely you will be able to volunteer in remote areas or villages, which can usually only be accessed by Western travelers with the support of an organization that has access to translators and specialized knowledge concerning how to survive in more exposed conditions.

A final difficulty of independent volunteering that deserves special mention is the issue of obtaining a volunteer visa. Most, if not all, countries will require you to apply for a volunteer, rather than a tourist, visa if you want to partake in relief work. However, volunteer visas can be difficult to obtain on your own. For example, Tanzania requires you to submit evidence that you are affiliated with a specific organization before they’ll issue you a volunteer visa. If you wait until after your arrival to choose an organization, you’ll obviously be unable to submit this required paperwork. Finding an organization like Ujamaa Hostel, who will submit your volunteer visa on your behalf by using themselves as an umbrella volunteer organization, is one solution to this problem. However, these types of organizations are few and far between, and therefore might not exist in the community in which you wish to volunteer. Nonetheless, their convenience means you should at least do a quick Internet search for them before pursuing other options. A less cost effective, but more practical, approach is to enter the country on a tourist visa, and then apply for a volunteer visa once you have found and committed to an organization. However, this will involve arranging and paying for two visas, which can be expensive (in the case of Tanzania, about $100 per visa). Additionally, you may have to volunteer without a proper visa for a certain period of time while the visa is being processed. This is technically illegal, although rarely enforced in most places. Nonetheless, it is a risk both you and the organization need to be aware of and mutually agree to take on. While the process of obtaining a volunteer visa can be nebulous and somewhat difficult, you simply need to be patient and persistent and it will eventually work itself out. (Note: I am working on finding better strategies for dealing with this obstacle, and will post them if and when I find them)

In summary, independent volunteering offers a wealth of benefits to anyone willing to fore go the certainty of a pre-arranged, structured program and do a little extra upfront research. Although the task of arranging an independent volunteer experience can be daunting for first timers, the process is infinitely less complex when you know what to look for in a destination and which resources to utilize to go about finding relevant information. Check back in tomorrow for part II, which will explain this process in greater detail.