TravelStream™ news feed for member glynnja on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/glynnja en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:39:03 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1188127800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1188127800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1188127800/tpod.html Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:39:03 -0500 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Hi All! Thank you for following along with me during the last year.  It was great to get feedback on my entries and to be able to stay in contact with everyone even when I was so far away.  This is my final entry that I apologize has taken months to finish.  I returned home on June 12th and have been organizing a new apartment, job, etc. for the last few months.  I now live in Somerville and just recently started a new job as a clinical coordinator at Harvard Law School.  If you're still interested, this is the story of my East Africa travel after finishing classes.  I have attached more photos than usual too because it much easier and faster to do from here!  I hope you have enjoyed it and perhaps I'll do something this interesting again one day and will keep you in the loop!  Thank you for all your support! After finishing my last exam, I headed to the airport for two weeks of traveling in Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.  The travel plan was pretty complicated and my first stop was Nairobi airport to meet up with friends who had flown down from London (Chris I knew from George Washington, and his friend James).  My plan was to spend three days in Uganda, then fly to Kenya to stay with a friend of a friend, and then fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where I would meet my friend Gita coming from Dar es Salaam and spend a week.  UgandaMy friend Chris from GW and his two friends James and Kristian flew into Tanzania the week before we went to Uganda.  They flew in on Saturday.  We went all around Dar; out at night, laid at the pool on Sunday, and then they headed out Sunday night to fly to Arusha for a 5-day safari.  While I was taking exams, they were enjoying the Serengeti, Ngorogoro, and Lake Manyara in Northern Tanzania. My exams weren't too bad and ,in fact, were a lot easier than the 15-20 page papers that we had had to write during the semester. The tests were made up of three essay questions that we had three hours to complete.  Many of the questions were familiar from research and notes.  It was a bit difficult because I decided to finish all my exams in two weeks instead of taking the three weeks other students had so that I could do some traveling. Four hours after my exams were finished, I headed to the airport to fly to Nairobi to meet Chris and James and then to head to Uganda.  I had been to Kampala, Uganda once before and had loved it.  It seemed like this would be a different experience because James had a friend from high school who was working at an AIDS NGO outside Kampala called Reach Out.We arrived in Kampala (after luckily finding each other at the airport in Kenya even though my phone had died!) James' friend Michaela picked us up at the airport with her boyfriend Fez.  We stayed at their house for the weekend.  This was excellent because we stayed in their neighbor's apartment in the house and had an awesome view of Kampala.  Kampala is built on seven hills. While in Uganda, we went white water rafting and rode boda bodas (taxi motorcycles) around the city. We were there over a weekend and on Saturday night we went to the most ridiculous show of my life, "Love Affairs Featuring the Ebonies."  This was a lip-synced musical using pop songs from artists such as Beyonce and Michael Jackson about affairs that was half English/half Bugandan.  It was playing at the LA Bonita Theater and I swear it changed my life. Good thing there are no intellectual property rights in Uganda because this show would have been able to happen.  It was truly crazy and different; even the dialogue was lip-synced.  This is the website if anyone ends up over that way: http://www.vcl-theatrelabonita.com/index.htmlWe also visited the organization that Michaela works at, Reach Out.  Reach Out is a really amazing community-based program.  It started out of a church but covers the whole community regardless of religion.  It is a HIV/AIDS organization but provides a great model because it's also a center for food distribution, career services, and micro loans.  Having all this in one place better serves the HIV/AIDS-affected community by working on the broader problem of poverty rather than just focusing on the disease.  It is true that programs like these are hard to organize but the Reach Out program really included the community to make the program work with many working as staff and volunteers themselves. Our time in Uganda went by quickly and before I knew the boys were off to London and I was off to Nairobi.  KenyaIn Nairobi, I had arranged to stay with a friend of a friend from GW.  My friend Ben had a friend whose parents work at the US Embassy in Nairobi, and she agreed to put me up.  After getting a little lost in a taxi from the airport, I found her house in a gated UN/ US embassy worker community in the Nairobi suburbs.  When I got there, she had not returned from class at the American University in Nairobi and so I had dinner with her mom.  Her mom is library coordinator for all embassy libraries in East Africa and her dad works for PACT, which is a USAID funded organization.  They truly lead an interesting life and have lived in Cairo for many years, the Middle East, and other locations around the world on different assignments.  Hilary had moved around with her parents her whole life and had just returned from the Peace Corps in Jordan. They live in a really nice townhouse in a gated community of ex-pats.  They have a driver and other house help but this seemed typical among the ex-pat communities and is often necessary.  Nairobi is especially dangerous and because of this extremely segregated.  Originally Nairobi was my top choice for my year abroad but I was talked out of going there by friends and professors. The city was big and really developed but seemed so inaccessible.  Most of the places we went were gated and had lots of security.  We went to a mall and it seemed like we were back in the states; everything was available.  Nairobi was quite developed but really divided.  Granted this could have been more extreme because I was with Hilary and her family and they live in a gated area but I have heard a lot about the violence in Nairobi.  We did go to feed giraffes one day and to the Nairobi museum.  Because Hilary was running a kid's camp this summer, we got a special tour of the museum and were amazed by the number of artifacts they had but were also amazed by the storage of these artifacts; many were piled in big bowls on endless shelves. I also attended class with Hilary one day and it was a much different from my University in Tanzania.  First of all, it was private, which would never happen in the semi-socialist Tanzania and seemed to have great resources.  The students were really nice and were very active in class.  The subject of the class was economics and they discussed topics such as private investment which would not have been discussed in any of my classes.  Kenyans usually speak much better English then Tanzanians because they are taught from an earlier age and the Kenyan upper class is much larger than the Tanzania.  Before I mentioned there was segregation but it's not necessarily a race issue but rather an economic divide.  There are many rich Kenyans but it seems like the divide between rich and poor is much more extreme.  In Tanzania, people talk about "shared poverty" which seems to be left over from socialism.  Tanzanians share everything with their extended families and don't seem so focused on wealth.  Kenya, on the other hand, is a capitalist society and so the focus of of development is economic.  Perhaps I'm just biased toward Tanzania but there really seemed to be a difference.  I saw the same thing in South Africa, the richest country in Africa.  The poor were the poorest even though the country was said to be the most developed.On the last night, Hilary and I went out for a few hours even though my flight was at 7:00 a.m. It seemed worth it when met the son of the former President Moi.  We didn't get home too late, maybe 1:00 a.m., and I fell asleep right away.  I had called a cab for 5:00 a.m. and set my alarm.  Of course my alarm didn't go off and the guards wouldn't let the cab in the gate!  I called around to see if I could get on another flight and worried I would miss Gita who was getting into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that night.  I went to the airport and hung out all day hoping to get on the 6:00 p.m. flight but at 5:45 p.m., I was told it was full and I could go the next day at 3:30 p.m.  Disappointed, I headed back to Hillary's house and contacted Gita to let her know I wouldn't be in until the next day.EthiopiaPoor Gita arrived the night before I did and met up with a Tanzanian friend of mine who goes to school in Ethiopia.  Unfortunately they didn't get along and he dropped her off at a slightly seedy hotel that might have been fine if there were two of us but was a little weird for one.  Fortunately, Gita had gotten in contact with some friends of friends who work at Save the Children in Ethiopia.  The next day, I finally got there.  Gita and I moved our stuff over to our new friends' house and stayed there for the night.  We spent the next day traveling around the city in Russian built cars from the 50s, learning a few words of Amharic, buying baskets, and enjoying Ethiopian food. Addis Ababa seemed more Arabic then any of the other East African countries I had been to and the people were much lighter.  Since the famine in the 1980's, many aid workers had moved to Addis Ababa.  I was skeptical of the Save the Children organization that the girls we met worked for because I had always associated Save the Children with the Sally Struthers commercials of dying African children.  They assured me that the organization knew it had been pegged in that way, and that in general organizations were realizing the harm of portraying Africa that way and now focus on the success of programs.  We discussed that programs that sponsor one child can be harmful.  The children get stigmatized, some children are chosen over others, there are political issues, and it can tear communities apart.  It is much better to support communities or specific issues but because supporting a child is so popular with American donors, it's difficult to get rid of it. After enjoying a lot of spicy Ethiopian food in Addis Ababa, Gita and I headed to Lulibela and Aksum to take in the historical sites of northern Ethiopia.  Ethiopia has all the history of Egypt but none of the commercial business or tourists.  Lalibela is amazing.  It is a city with 11 rock-hewn churches.  These churches built over 800 years ago are built right out of the hills and rock.  They were built this way to avoid destruction in wars and succeeded.  They are still in use today and Lalibela is a pilgrimage site. Aksum is further north than Lalibela and is made up of large steales (like the Washington monument), ruins, and tombs.  It is extremely fascinating and many of the sites have been recently excavated so it seems so raw.  We met some tall Australians in our hostel and walk around all day discovering the local historical sites.  It was good and bad to have met up with them.  Good because I had been sick the whole time I was in Ethiopia (I think it was the altitude, much higher than Tanzania or Kenya) so Gita had someone to hang out with.  Bad because as I was begging to see as many historical sites as possible my Scottish travel company and new Australian friends were ready to drink beer at 2:00 p.m.  Luckily I convinced them to head on even with a bit of rain but it was hard.  Ethiopia was so different from anywhere I had every been and seemed to be so mysterious and full of history.  While we were in Ethiopia, it was the year 1999 by their calendar and this September they celebrated their millennium!Back to TanzaniaAfter all this traveling, I headed back to Tanzania to say goodbye to my friends and family.  It was a really emotional weekend.  My family asked me if they could have a photographer take a photo of me to add me to their family wall and we talked about future visits.  My friends threw a kwaheri (goodbye) party for me and then my family brought me to the airport to head back to the US.  More to come -I am still working on getting some Tanzanian goods over to the US to support an organization working with mothers who have disabled children and working with the Info Camp to set things up for next year.  There is a chance I'll be in touch about those projects.  If you are interested in helping with those, please let me know. Thanks again!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1185137040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1185137040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1185137040/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:49:35 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Hello!  Ok so I really want to get these travel entries finished up so I have a proper account of this year abroad.  I apologize for the delay in writing and hope that some of this information is still interesting even though I am back around.   I am now living in Somerville, MA near Tufts University and have two temporary positions for the summer. My original plan was to move out to California this fall but this plan has changed and now I think I will be sticking around Boston for awhile in order to be with family and save some money for law school.In my last entry I talked about my trip with my friend Lindsay from high school.  We had a great time and it was really hard to see her go.  I knew that I only had two months left and had a lot to finish in that time i.e. exams, dissertation research, final papers, the leadership camp, and all my East Africa traveling.  After Lindsay left, I knew I was going to have to hit the ground running and spend my time juggling all the things I had started.  Fortunately or unfortunately when I got back, I had more time then I thought because the University was on strike.  The students were being asked to pay 40% of their tuition fees but were refusing.  They began their strike the week that exams were supposed to start. The issue of tuition was an interesting one in the Tanzanian school system and in some ways was directly linked to the country's socialist past.  It was difficult to get anyone to explain the situation to me because they said I would not understand.  Students were being pulled from buses for trying to leave campus for "deserting the cause" and all classes were being disturbed by mobs of students.  From what I gathered, it seemed that in the past students who performed well in their A-levels (high school exams for college entry), got scholarships for 100% loans at the University.  After that, other students were admitted if they could pay their fees.  Then at some point after complaints, the school started offering the 100% loans to all students. However, these loans have a pay back period of 10-15 years, no interest, and in most cases are never paid back because there is no method of enforcement.  Basically, the students on loan were get free education. At the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, students had to sign an agreement that they would pay 40% of school fees this year.  This applied to all incoming first-year students regardless of income.  Many blamed the change on the World Bank pressures to use "cost-sharing" in social service programs.  The students said they didn't want to pay or at least didn't want poorer students to be excluded from the university because they couldn't pay the 40%.  The professors, on the other hand, said that the students needed to pay because the school had no money and that even families that could pay were taking government loans that they knew they didn't have to pay back.After three days, the school was closed and all undergraduate students were suspended for the month.  They left in droves and the campus was completely quiet for the month.  It was such a strange thing because no one would really talk about it.  I wanted to discuss the issue with my fellow students but they didn't want to talk about it or offer solutions.  These strikes happen every year for one reason or another and it just seemed like this was how it was done.  After all of the undergraduate students left, the graduate students continued on their regular schedule in an empty campus. I also came back to find out that my friend and our house girl Matty was pregnant.  She is 19.  Mama talked to me over and over again how she had warned Matty not to "play sexy" and how she had tried to keep her away from boys.  Matty was really upset and Mama was afraid that she would do something to herself.  She had the other girls watching her all of the time.  Matty said that she wanted to leave because she felt that she brought shame onto the Reverend's house.  The first week was really tense and I wasn't sure how the family was going to handle it.  It seemed like Matty had nowhere to turn because when Matty had gone to the doctor on campus, she had told her to tell Mama Ngao about the pregnancy and had also told her not to seek an abortion.  Because the doctor was a member of the Ngao's church, it was clear that she would have told the Ngaos about the pregnancy if Matty had not told them herself.  Matty also did not have the option of going home because she had no support there and the father of her child worked as a truck hand and had no money either.  The Ngaos discussed the options and told Matty they would support her.  It was a really positive turnaround and Mama Ngao began talking about it as a blessing in disguise.  I was really wonderful to see how they wanted to support her but it was also hard to see because someone in Matty's position really has no option.  I told the Ngaos I would help in anyway that I could as well. Outside of campus and my house, I continued to work on the Info Camp program with Phylo.  After talking to the U.S. embassy, they agreed to give us space and technical support for the camp.  A contact at a local hotel, the Peacock agreed to give us food.  The Rotary Club of Dar es Salaam gave us a donation for t-shirts and my home Rotary cCub of Peabody, MA gave us a donation for other supplies.  It was all coming together.Phylo got together a team of 10 student leaders from various student groups on campus to volunteer as counselors for the event.  We met every Sunday to discuss the content and logistics for the camp.  The team that Phylo got together was phenomenal.  They were all interested in the cause (helping young women become more confident leaders) and were willing to commit their time to the planning.  They had great ideas for sessions and all had some background in presenting topics.  The camp took place on Saturday May 12th and Sunday May 13th.  We held sessions on team building, communications, career skills, Internet know-how, and emotional intelligence.  The 40 high school girls that participated said that they had never been part of anything like this camp and really got into all of the sessions.  It was a huge success.The week after the camp finished was reading week before exams and I hurried around to finish my dissertation interviews, work on final papers, and study for the upcoming exams as well as plan my flights for travel to Ethiopia the day after exams ended.  During this time, I had dinner with all of my classmates to say goodbye and tried to fit in other time with friends I had meet outside of campus.  I wish I had had more time in the end to say good-byes and finish up but all in all the experience in Tanzania was wonderful and being at the University really allowed me to understand the Tanzanian perspective on development.  I did have some time to say goodbye to my family after my two weeks of traveling so I'll mention more about that in my final entry... which I promise will be written in the next two weeks!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1182549060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1182549060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1182549060/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:44:09 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Arusha, Tanzania

Hi All!  Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote.  The last two months in Tanzania flew by and before I realized it, I was already home.  I arrived home last Wednesday night and am excited to be back.  I hope you don't mind but I'm planning on backlogging my entries a bit.  I have lots to write about so I am going to try to do it piece by piece.  I'll start with Lindsay's visit, which I already have a draft for, then post about school and the Info Camp, and then about my final trip to Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.  I also want to apologize for leaving on such a sour note.  My last entry was such a downer with muggings and such.  I assure you these next few will be more upbeat.Since the end of March plenty has happened.  My good friend from high school, Lindsay Pollock, came to visit for two weeks.  I traveled to Iringa with my friend Michelle from Dar.  The Vagina Monologues showed in Dar es Salaam.  I interviewed various characters for my dissertation research.  Phylo and I completed the Info Camp that we had been working on all year.  I finished my coursework and then traveled all over East Africa.  Thanks for reading.  Attached at the bottom is the final article response to the sexual harassment charge from the last entry.  Lindsay's Visit -I was so excited to have Lindsay visit me in Tanzania.  We had been taking about the possibility ever since I found out about the opportunity.  Lindsay is a wonderful friend, outgoing person, very open to anything and so she was bound to love Tanzania.  She arrived on Sunday April 1st (it was April fool's day but unfortunately I couldn't come up with a trick that was clever enough) and stayed at my house for the first days.  My family loved her, especially little Rachel.  She brought them all I Love New York t-shirts (which they all wore on the same day when they went to the beach!).  The first thing we did when we came from the airport was stop at a fundraiser for Mama's choir group.  Mama had really wanted us to go but I didn't realize we would be guests of honor!  I think it was an interesting introduction for Lindsay with traditional song and dance.  There was an auction while we were there and we had some gifts bought for us including spinach, kangas, and almost a chicken!  Everyone wanted to welcome the new mzungu (foreigner).Monday morning we woke up and Lindsay headed to class with me.  Unfortunately Linds had taken her malaria pill before breakfast, which made her really ill as the malaria pills often do (confession: I stopped taking them in January because they were giving me stomach issues).  But, after some water and a nap she was up and ready to experience Irish pub quiz night in Dar es Salaam.  The next day we headed up to Arusha via a 10-hour bus ride to go on safari.  We stayed with my friend Rashid, who works for the United Nation Tribunal on Rwanda that is located in Arusha (a really interesting job and international justice process).  We went on safari in Tangiere National Park and the Ngorogoro Crater.I had insisted to our tour company that we wanted to stay at the camp on the edge of the Ngorogoro Crater because I thought it was the wonderful camp that I had stayed at before.  But, it turned out that I had been at another camp with a beautiful view, pre-established tents, and a small restaurant.  The camp on the edge of Ngorogoro was super basic and with the altitude, was freezing cold.  Lindsay and I had only brought light long sleeve shirts so we had to wear everything we owned and drink lots of tea!  We did have some great entertainment from our guide who told Lindsay and I about nyumba ndogo (small house) which is the swahili term for girlfriends you keep when you're married.  It's pretty common for men to have many nyumba ndogo(s) and our guide expressed to us the benefits of multiple girlfriends and how it was cultural, as Lindsay's cringed.  In Maasai culture (a tribe found in Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya), men take many wives so that they don't have to work.  It's the man's job to build the house but after that the women and children cook, clean, watch after the livestock, and pretty much do all the work.  It seemed pretty ridiculous.  However, Lindsay and I decided to start a similar tribe with women in the house building role. After a lively discussion, we headed to our chilly tent to get some sleep.  Fortunately and unfortunately, the camp area is not fenced off so animals can walk through the camp at night.  We were advised to use the bathroom before sleeping and not to get up.  We heard all kinds of noises around the tent, animals grazing or looking for leftovers.  Lindsay was scared something would eat us and I was afraid something would fall on my head (those buffalo are so big!  And we were in a flimsy little tent!).  I tried to make animal noises to lighten up the moment.  Lindsay was not amused!After our safari, we headed to Lushoto dubbed by the Germans as "the swiss alps of Tanzania" because it's quiet, beautiful, and a great escape from the heat of Dar es Salaam.  A honeymooning couple that Kyle and I met in Zanzibar said it was their favorite part of their trip and they had been on a ten-day safari and to Zanzibar so I really wanted to check it out. Some of my friends from Dar were staying at a farm there for the weekend.  The farm was really cute and served great home made cheese.  The views were amazing, the people really friendly, and the scenery was so green.  We went on some hikes, visited a waterfall, and relaxed a lot. After Lushoto, Lindsay and I headed back to Dar to then head over to Zanzibar.  In Stone Town, Zanzibar, we went shopping a lot, went on a boat to prison island to visit the giant sea turtles, missed the sunset twice (we were shopping), snorkled (aka got stung by tons of tiny jelly fish), and ate at the highest rooftop restaurant Emerson and Green.  After Stone Town, we headed up to the north to rasta beach at Nungwi to swim all day and watch the shooting stars.  The next day we headed back to Dar and did a bit of fabric shopping.  Lindsay is a designer in New York and loved all the colorful patterns. When the day came that Lindsay had to leave, I was really sad.  I thought that having her here would make me less homesick but it made me more homesick and I wanted to get on the plane with her to visit home and I even checked the price!  Fortunately, I didn't get on because I had plenty to do for the next two months.   Other Foreign Students Surprised by Sexual Harassment AllegationsMarch 27th, 2007 - Dar Es SalaamAfter throwing a man, who allegedly sexual harassed her, into a glass shop front window in downtown Dar Es Salaam a few weeks ago, foreign exchange student Rachel Jamison left Tanzania for the United States having had enough.On her return to the United States, Jamison wrote a 12-page single spaced report alleging that in a number of instances both on and off campus, police, security officers, students, staff, professors, and others that she came in contact with during a seven month study abroad at the University of Dar Es Salaam had sexually harassed her and in some cases even attempted assault. In her report, she says that a man withheld her registration for classes until she agreed to sleep with him, that a student stole a 30-page paper from her demanding sex for its return, and that a man undid her blouse on a crowded bus and fondled her. The report conveyed an extremely terrifying experience of studying abroad in Tanzania. As an American student studying at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for the last seven months, I was surprised to hear the allegations of sexual harassment. This especially because I had chosen Dar Es Salaam for its peace and safety as compared to other African countries. Having been at the University during the same period of time, my experience and the experience of other students I know has been mostly positive and we have observed the environment and Tanzanian people to be extremely friendly and welcoming.Tanzanian people are said to be some of the friendliest people in the world and from my experience that has been true. Every time I walk to class or am walking in the city, people greet me as they pass. If we have met before, then they will stop to ask me about my studies and my home. The colorful surroundings are warm and comfortable. Kangas (dyed fabric) and fresh fruit crowd the shop fronts. Streets are bustling with people. On campus, students study together on the grass and play the latest "bongo flavor" music in the dorms. It is a fun and exciting place to be. However, as an international student, it is very important to remember that Dar Es Salaam is a big city and that one must be cautious of the surroundings. Harassment does happen in Tanzania as it does in every part of the world. Being foreign and mostly Caucasian, international students do tend to get a lot of attention in the city. Street vendors trying to get your attention will often call to you using the term "mzungu" meaning white or European person or in some cases, men will call to you using the term "mchumba" meaning fiancée or girlfriend while confessing their love to you. These types of harassment are usually harmless and happen often in town but almost never on campus. Studying abroad can be difficult and traumatic for many students. Usually it entails being more independent, meeting new people, and living in a country and culture much different then their own. The experience can be eye opening and exciting but also lonely and unfamiliar. In this context, one of the most important things can be having access to a network of other foreign students and daily assistance from an international office. At the University of Dar Es Salaam, the International Cooperation, Links, and Projects Office known as the Links office is open daily to assist foreign students and other internationals and advise them on questions or problems. Mabel Kaaya, Senior Administrative Officer of Links office is one of the friendliest and most attentive people that I have met at the University and has handled the problems of international students year after year. These problems range from visas and roommates to thefts and incidents of assault. Any and all incidents relating to international students at the school are to be reported to this office. There are approximately 22,000 students at the University of Dar Es Salaam in a given year, 190 of those are foreign students. The University understands that foreign students may be targets for theft and so puts them in dorms with more security and with roommates that are pre-screened. The University hosts a welcome week for international students with a security brief, introduction to Dar Es Salaam, and other talks. When it comes to safety, the University takes matters of assault and sexual harassment very seriously adhering to a strict anti-sexual harassment policy. In Rachel's case, the University has appointed a committee to investigate the charges. Unfortunate incidents happen in all parts of the world and are not unique to Tanzania. Many times these types of horror stories are the only ones that make it back to students interested in studying abroad, whether they are true or not. While these may leave a lasting impression, the actual experiences are few and far between. In truth, most would say that coming to Tanzania and studying at the University of Dar Es Salaam is the experience of a lifetime and that Tanzania is a welcoming country with some of the friendliest people, deepest culture, and is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I am one of them. More information related to Jamison's report can be found in the Minnesota Daily "Harassment Abroad" February 27th, 2007, InsideHigherEd.com "Sexual Harassment on Study Abroad" March 1st, 2007, The Star Tribune "Study Abroad Can Find a World of Peril" March 19th, 2007, and other sources online.Jessica Glynn 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1174918680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1174918680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1174918680/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:38:02 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Hi All, sorry that it's been so long since I wrote last.  Since Kyle left at the end of January, I haven't been on any exciting trips but instead have been focusing on classes, my research, and friends and my family in Dar.  I could say that both nothing has happened and a lot has happened. I n this last month or so, I have felt that I really do live in Dar.  This semester's classes are more interesting and more challenging, as they are focused more on African issues like the conflicts in Somalia and Sudan, the situation in Zimbabwe with Mugabe (some think he's a hero), East African integration, the failure of structural adjustment programs, African philosophy, and more.  All of the other students know of these events from daily newspapers and a lifetime of living in this region of the world, so I have been able to interact with my fellow students more and ask for their experiences and their opinions.  I have also started interviews for my research on Non-profit Accountability, which will keep me busy for the next couple of months.School, friends, and research have made up my day-to-day life but it has still been quite the experience.  Currently, I am writing a response to a report a foreign student wrote about being sexually harassed repeatedly here in Dar.  I have added the link to the end of this entry if you want to take a look.  Our previous house girl was supposedly possessed and left for home when her 12-year old sister passed away.  The leadership camp that Phylo and I have been working on is moving forward and is scheduled for this May or June.  However, one of the other students we were working with, a second year Masters student in Development Studies, Brendon, age 41, passed away from a stomach disease.  He had been sick for two weeks.  And lastly, I was mugged.  It really has been a strange month or so that has made me think a lot.  On top of that, I've started thinking about moving back to the US and what I'd like to do next, perhaps work on a campaign, move to LA, and eventually law school. We'll see! Starting Chronologically....After getting back from Zanzibar with Kyle, I headed home to get ready for the coming semester.  When I got back, I found Mama with a hoarse voice, looking very tired.  I asked her about it and she answered in all seriousness that Vomalia, our new house girl (Matty had left to take some time at home) was possessed. She and the pastor had been up for hours the night before ridding the demons from Vomalia's body.  There were 11 demons originally, but only one remained.   The one demon left was the demon of her father who Mama says is Muslim and is a witch doctor and does not want Vomalia going to church or living in Dar. Vomalia did not look any different although she did seem pretty tired.  I thought the whole thing was pretty silly but would never tell Mama and the Reverend that.  I did, however, tell Phylo, a Tanzanian friend who is a third year law student at the University.  She told me that her neighbor in Kenya had been possessed and that I'm lucky that I don't believe in the mapepo (demons) because then they wouldn't bother me.  I couldn't believe she thought it was true.  I then asked some other friends and most of them had stories of witch doctors and demons.  It was pretty crazy.  Vomalia ended up leaving to go back to Iringa when news came that her 12-year old sister died.  Mama said it was probably their father who did it with his witchcraft.  This was for real?After the possession, things were pretty quiet around here for awhile.  A new Irish pub opened on the Pennisula and my friends and I took to it.  Sarah Kanopka, a friend from GW who is working in the Peace Corp in Morogoro and also studied abroad with me in Cape Town came to visit for a weekend.  Life was pretty ordinary in Dar and really hot. This next story I went back and forth about telling.  I don't want people worrying about my safety because most of the time I do feel safe and this also could happen in any city. Two weeks ago, I was walking to the bus to meet a friend in town.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go so I waited a bit and ended up leaving a lot later than I usually do, at 7:30 p.m.  It was dark already.  I didn't take a bag with me just in case.  I walked to the bus (daladala) stop near hall 3 because I wanted to get a bottle of water and there is a small stand on the way.  I usually never go to this stop because it's not well lit and often no one is around.  As I walked down the path to the daladala stop (you can see the stop from the dorm), I was looking around cautiously at the few trees.  The young man in a blue button down shirt who looked like a student did not faze me at all.  However, as he passed me, he hit me in the face with his arm, put his arm around my neck, and we fell to the ground.  On first instinct, I grabbed him in his groin.  He let go.  I screamed.  People came to the top of the hill, he ran away, and so did I.  The whole thing lasted about 2 minutes but was pretty creepy.  I headed back to my house with a sore neck and face and a few cuts in my mouth but mostly just shaken up.  Mama was home and was so worried.  She wanted to take me to the hospital but there was no need.   I made a report with the police and with the international office but I hadn't seen his face so there wasn't much we could do.  It was a hard lesson to learn but has definitely made me more cautious then before and it was good to know I could defend myself if need be.Ok, so this brings me to the last story and a slight moral dilemma that I have with it.  Rachel Jamison was a student here last semester from the University of Minnesota.  She was here until February when she threw a man through a window after he called her a "kibonge" or a very large or full person (usually a woman).  She refused to report the incident with the international office and left the country shortly after.  When she got back, she wrote a 12-pages report alleging that security officers, police, students, staff, professors, and others she came in contact with had sexually harassed her and in some cases even attempted to assault her while she was here.  The facts were very unclear and she interchanged the words like "he asked for a date" and "he asked for sex."   This was reported in the Minnesota Daily, Inside Higher Education Magazine, picked up in part by the Associated Press, and other papers.  It is widely available online.  The allegations are very serious and have caused the University to be on guard, Universities in the US to rethink their programs here, and possibly a rise in the sexual harassment level in Tanzania. After being assaulted myself, I still think Tanzania is wonderful and that one has to be careful but that generally everyone is really friendly.  I do believe that sexual harassment happens and that it needs to be addressed on campus but I think that about the US too. Unfortunately, I can't say that my experience has been 100% safe after this last experience, but for the most part it has been fine, and people have been welcoming and friendly.  Most of the other foreigners I know would say the same thing.  Tanzanians are amazing people and in most cases will go out of their way to be hospitable and welcoming.  It's too bad that sometimes things do happen and that it is often the negative news that makes it back to the States.  I'm hoping that a positive article will help to show that Tanzania is a great place without denying that it is a third world country and that it's important to be careful.On a more positive note (most experiences are still positive), the leadership camp Phylo and I were planning is definitely going to happen.  It will be a leadership and civic education workshop lead by University students for high school girls.  The U.S. embassy is giving us space and a great guy named Jeff from the NGO BienMoyo helped to refocus the program so it's shorter and can actually happen.  The program will take place on a Saturday with 40 high school girls and will cover leadership skills, goal-setting, guest speakers, and career planning.  We are still looking for some funding but things are coming together. Also, for St. Patrick's Day, the Irish Society (who knew, there are a few Irish here) had a fancy ball at a hotel downtown.  It was really nice and having nothing fancy to wear, my friends and I had dresses made for us by a local tailor named Tina who lives near their house.  The dresses came out great and the event was lots of fun -- another unexpected experience!Currently, I am really excited because my good friend from high school, Lindsay Pollock, is coming out on Sunday to visit for two weeks.  We are planning to do some travel around and I can't wait.I was really hesitant about sending this entry because it is super negative and taken alone would seem pretty bad.  However, things like this do happen here.  I still feel safe and have made great friends and had great experiences.  Being here in Dar has been amazing and I am still so glad that I am here.  This last couple of weeks has just given me a few different things to think about. I hope I haven't been too much of a downer.  I miss you all.  Thanks for reading.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1171359300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1171359300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1171359300/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:10:44 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Arusha, Tanzania

Hello!  Hope everyone is doing well and not getting too sick in the cold weather.  Below is a quick update and then Kyle's thoughts on his trip to Tanzania.  Enjoy!  This semester is shaping up and after a delay of only one week. Classes are up and running.  This semester, I will continue with my core course: Political Thought, Research Methods, and Issues in Development but will add Health and Development and State and Civil Society (aka the history and strengths of Socialism with well-known socialist, Professor Othman).  This past weekend I attended a RYLA (Rotary youth leadership awards) conference in Bagamoyo, which was held for Rotaractors (Rotarians will know this: but, it's usually held for high school students but here they held it for college students involved with Rotary in order to just get it going).  It was interesting and even fun.  However, at one point, they had an HIV/AIDS presentation that was the worst I'd ever seen.  It was by the director of the organization no less.  It was full of misinformation, juxtapositions, and confusion.  It made me want to switch my research on the accountability of orphans and vulnerable children's organizations to research on accountability of HIV/AIDS organizations.  There is so much money coming in for HIV/AIDS trainings but it's difficult to regulate.  Again, I hate to say anything negative about good causes but sometimes there needs to be better checks.  On the flip side, though, many organizations are functioning very well and have made huge differences in Africa.  Anyway, that's my soap box paragraph.  Next week I'll post some news about the supposed demonic possession of our house girl and other new stories. Kyle Goes to Africa I've never been anywhere.  Sure, there have been trips to New York and Hawaii, and my life in Washington DC is quite a lively experience, but these are places within the realm of familiarity.  It was America.  You know what to expect: pre-wrapped, uniform America.  The billboards say exactly what you would expect them to say.  You know where to look for things.  The vending machines are always in the same nooks, and the bars will have Budweiser.  These are givens, and they go unquestioned in the mind of the boy who is applying for his first passport. I departed for Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, from LAX on New Years Day, 7 p.m., after a nice hot shower and a stop at Starbucks.  I figured I wouldn't have the opportunity to do either for a couple of weeks.  This trip was the beginning of a mental shift, a realization that the "givens" I had grown accustomed to should be identified.My 28-hour journey included an overnight layover in the Zurich airport, I stepped off the plane and into the Dar Es Salaam Airport.  I no longer had any idea where the vending machines were. Thank God for Jess.  Though I hadn't seen her in six months, she recognized a harrowed and travel-weary Kyle, and loaded me in a cab.  She was to be my guide and confidant for the remainder of the trip, and honestly, I would have been lost without her. The state of Tanzania was shocking.  Now, some of my opinions (they are most definitely my own) about Tanzania may not be the most open-minded, so let me just say this before I begin: I believe that my girlfriend is safe there.  That should speak volumes.  And I care about the state of Tanzania, so my concerns are not merely complaints.  These are just the observations of someone that has seen three weeks of Tanzania, and nothing else. Now:-The roads...I can't describe the roads.  How I took for granted the double yellow line.  The entire hierarchy of "right-of-way" eludes Tanzania.  It's merely the car that's there first or the bigger one.  Yet, with such trouble over drinking water, governmental organization, a private fire department, and the obvious diseases and poverty, what can really be done about the roads?  Only a select few were paved, and all of them had crater-sized potholes.  Yet the cab drivers were all acclimated, and bounded over the hills in modified sedans.-Once out of the city, the land was breathtaking.  It was like walking through a Discovery Channel special, complete with shoulder-height termite columns and small, adorable monkeys.  The indigenous people wore bright red shawls, carried walking sticks (and talked on cell phones closer to the resorts), and herded cattle (the children kept after the goats.) They all waved at me passing by, understandingly, as if they knew I could never fathom their lives.  They were right. -I let Jess haggle.  She's MUCH better at it than me. Plus, she speaks Swahili (remarkably well, though I had picked up a couple words I have since forgotten).  And we had to haggle for everything.  It was strange to walk into a store, and immediately realize you are being sized up for your level of ignorance.  They had me pinned. -The safari in Arusha was the most memorable aspect of the trip.  Every animal that could kill and eat me on the entire continent was at one point no more than a few feet away.  We met up with the most giggly Swedish girls on the three-day journey, one of whom lost a sandal to a hyena in the middle of the second night (RIP sandal.)  But they were great fun, and teammates on our excursion.-After the safari, we flew to Zanzibar, and on the first night, I thought I was going to die.  Let me explain: we arrived on the 12th, and after walking the alleyways and shore side restaurants, we passed out early.  And, in the middle of the night, we awoke to gunfire.  Okay, I SWORE it was gunfire.   I locked the door and pranced around nervously, while Jess kept the level head and called the hotel. After a little translation problem and many more claps of noise outside, Jess arrived at the answer.  It is my opinion they should warn American tourists that the midnight firework celebration of their Liberation Day sounds an awful lot like gunfire. -I have never been anywhere.  But in Tanzania I realized that I also knew very little.  I did not know that Coca-Cola bottles get recycled and reused as-is.  I did not know that there existed places where policemen accepted and expected bribes (we saw it happen), while thieves caught red-handed were subjected to the extent of mob rule.  Or of a place that where giving my snack to one child meant I'd be swarmed by 20 others, where sleeping up against the mosquito net at night would result in over 120 bites all over one side of my body and where armed men holding rifles watch your hotel at night.  You don't think about these things ahead of time.  And yes, they make sense in retrospect.But coming back to "The States," I realized the incredible amount of invisible systems that keep our society stable.  Things like building codes, the FDA, Triple-A, and stoplights.  How far removed Safe-way is from the guy who grew the nectarines.  And the eco-friendly pesticides he was approved to use so I can eat them.  With all these systems, we are protected. It seemed to me that Tanzania lacked these.  It was a nation of people making the best out of a limited situation with little guidance.  They were good, warm people who had been routinely failed by any number of things-gone-wrong.  And I am finally beginning to understand why Jess is so interested in the politics and the "plumbing" of nations like this.  There is cause for concern, and at least someone cares to learn about it.Saturday morning, January 19th, I arrived in Washington and, with much appreciation, I had a Starbucks coffee, and a shower.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1169722200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1169722200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1169722200/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:51:19 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Zanzibar, Tanzania

Hello All, Happy New Year!  I'm back in Dar after a fabulous three weeks of traveling with my Dad & Margot and then Kyle.   We went to Bagamoyo, Arusha, Zanzibar, and all around Dar.  It was really nice to have visitors and they had a great time. I was getting a little anxious for them to get here around Christmas time because most of the people that I know in Dar were leaving for the holiday break.  The foreign exchange students finished their one semester, my Tanzanian student friends went back to their home regions, friends who work for NGOs went traveling or went home, and Dar in general seemed pretty empty.  It didn't even seem like Christmas; everything was business as usual.  I guess in the US and Europe, we over-hype the Christmas season but I'm not going to lie -- I did miss it a little. My family did get a small Christmas tree, which was really adorable.  It reminded me of the one Charlie Brown had.  And on Christmas morning there was a service at the church complete with Christmas carols in Swahili!  As I mentioned in the last entry, I did find some company for the Christmas weekend, the Glynns.  They invited me to stay at their house for a few days around Christmas.  It was wonderful.  They have two boys and a cousin around my age and the whole family was hilarious and really knowledgeable, which led to lots of great discussions.  We took a trip to Bagamoyo one day, had lots of good food, and watched a few movies.  I was really grateful to be a part of their celebration.  I spent the two days before Christmas with them and then Christmas day with my Tanzanian family.  The rest of the week I spent finishing up papers before my parents came into town. When they finally arrived on Friday, my Tanzanian family went with me to meet them at the airport and convinced me to wear my Maasai halloween costume to surprise them.  It happened to have poured earlier in the morning so the roads were really bad.  We couldn't make it to the hotel where they had made a reservation.  Instead, they stayed at a place closer to the University, which ended up working out better.  Their visit was so much fun.   We had dinner with my family, my Rotary host, Saada and her husband, and the Glynns. We traveled around Dar and to Bagamoyo and spent the New Year in Zanzibar.  The following Wednesday, Kyle arrived and my parents headed off to Arusha for a safari.  I was really interested to hear what they had to say about the whole experience so I asked if they'd write part of this travel entry.  Their entry is included below.  Kyle is working on his entry too and it should be up sometime next week.  He's an English major so I expect good things from him! Also, I just wanted to add a quick note of thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts around the holidays.  It was so thoughtful and I really appreciated it! Bill and Margot's Excellent Adventure in Tanzania Jessica has asked us to contribute to a travelblog entry about our trip to Tanzania for 2+ weeks at the end of December/beginning of January. What intense pressure that request is, considering how fascinating Jessica's entries have been. First, we'd like to report that Jessica is alive, well, and thriving, although life in Dar es Salaam isn't always easy.  She, indeed, has many wonderful people in her life who enrich her experience and who look after her.  Baba and Mama Ngao (her Dar parents) are among the world's most loving and upbeat people.  They treated us like celebrities.  They picked us up at the airport and then nearly got stuck in the mud and rain several times while driving to our remote hotel (most or many of the roads in Tanzania aren't paved).  We ended up not making it to our original hotel because the roads were so flooded out; but we ended up at a hotel that was much more conveniently located.  On our first night, they hosted us for dinner at their house, where they sang to us, gave us gifts, led us in prayer, and fed us a traditional African meal, although we were a little concerned because we were supposed to eat some of the meal with our hands and they don't use napkins!  You're supposed to wait until the end of the meal to wash your hands (I think we both wiped our hands a bit on our clothes in the interim.)  We laughed a lot with them.  They are wonderful people and Jessica is extremely fortunate to be living with them.  The next night, we had dinner with Jessica's Rotary host, Saada and her husband Juma, who have helped her immensely.  We also got to meet one of Jessica's friends, Danielle, a Canadian who is in TZ working on AIDs education.  Finally, we got together twice with the Irish/Tanzanian Glynns, Jessica's sort-of adopted family (remember that she met Brendan Glynn in a bar and then spent Xmas with them).  They are probably just a few years older than we are and we loved socializing with them.  We even went with them to a brand new Irish pub in Dar.  They have lived in Tanzania for about 6 years; Brendan is a consultant for the government.  We have been corresponding over e-mail to compare the Glynn family trees and to see if we have common roots. On the "life in Dar es Salaam isn't always easy" front: it is, indeed, very hot and humid.  When we were there, it was in the 80's with humidity in the 80 range.  This is Dar's summer, so we undoubtedly experienced some of the hottest weather.  Fortunately we had a hotel with AC (needless to say, Jessica stayed with us there).  As Jessica has said, the electricity does go out fairly regularly, which is annoying (it happened the night of our dinner with the Ngaos so we ate by candlelight).  Jessica's room at the Ngaos is perfectly fine, although with a tin roof, it can get quite hot especially when the electricity goes out and she can't run her fan.  As she has written before, university life can be a little frustrating since the faculty don't always show up for their own classes.  And getting on-line isn¡¦t easy either.  We visited one of the two University computer centers, which is tiny and very crowded; and now, there is a new policy that students can't use those computers for e-mail during the day.  So that explains why Jessica isn't always a regular e-mail correspondent.  Cell phones are staples in Tanzania though.  Everyone, including the poorest people in rural areas, seem to have cell phones and they are "pay as you go."  Voice calls are relatively expensive, so Jessica text messages her friends constantly -- the "thumb generation" at work. Getting around is also a challenge.  Jessica took us on a few dala dalas, the over-crowded, cheap (about 20 cents) mini-buses.  We took a lot of taxis too, although you have to haggle with every taxi driver on price; they initially try to charge you several times what they should.  Every taxi ride was preceded by about 5 minutes of intense negotiation.  You can't drink the running water so we were constantly in search of bottled water (also helpful for downing our daily malarial pills).  As you know, Jessica doesn't get hot showers at home which I suppose isn't so bad in Dar's hot weather.  Finally, there are those mosquitos!  We slept with mosquito nets in most hotels and had to slather on deet repellent at night or risk many bites. We traveled with Jessica for the first 6 days: in Dar, Bagamoyo, and then exotic Muslim Zanzibar for 3 nights.  In a little role reversal, Jessica was fully in charge.  We hung back and let Jessica take care of us all along the way.  Using her Swahili, she conducted intense negotiations with every taxi driver and merchant.  On the trip to Zanzibar, we arrived at the ferry to discover that it was sold out.  Jessica told us to "wait here" while she pushed her way into the crowded ticket office and managed to get us tickets for a bit of a premium (Tanzania's version of scalped tickets, I suppose).  When we left Jessica to go on safari, as Kyle arrived, we were reluctant to leave our capable guide to manage on our own! We had a fabulous safari experience in three gorgeous national parks in the "northern circuit."  We spent six days in lush Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorogoro Crater (the "eighth wonder of the world"), and the renowned Serengeti seeing every bit of wildlife imaginable (although we were disappointed not to see cheetahs or leopards -- they are very rare).  Elephants, zebra, giraffe, hippos, lots of lions, hyena, the rare black rhino, all kinds of antelope, all kinds of birds, ostrich, monkeys, baboons, the list goes on.  The Crater is like a modern day Jurassic Park, a rich environment for so many animals.  The Serengenti is immense; mostly vast bush-covered plains filled with herds of migrating wildebeest and zebra.  We loved being in the Land Rover all day with our knowledgeable Maasai driver/guide, Lesikar.  We stayed at various "luxury" tented camps and lodges and enjoyed meeting and talking to other travelers around the campfire.  We should note that the climate in this part of the country is quite different from Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar.  There is virtually no humidity; it's warm and sunny during the day and lovely and cool at night. After our safari was over, we met up with Jessica and Kyle at Arusha National Park (they were just finishing a short safari of their own).  We had two fun days with them at a wonderful lodge run by a nice German couple with a beautiful pool and good food.  One day, we went hiking in the Park and around the craters in the foothills of Mt. Meru (the second highest peak after Kilimanjaro).  To hike in the parks in Tanzania, an armed ranger must accompany you, so there we were hiking with our ranger and his rifle.  It's amazing to us that Tanzania has such gorgeous and diverse landscape AND so much wildlife.  Jessica said that Arusha National Park looks like New Hampshire with giraffe. We should also observe that most of Tanzania is, of course, quite poor.  Except for downtown Dar, which does have modern high rises, we mostly saw dirt and rocky roads with shacks that serve as retail stores.  In the countryside, we saw many thatched-roofed mud and dung huts, many local people hauling water in buckets on their heads, and many tending herds of cows and goats.  Cows are a form of wealth for the Maasai tribe in particular.  In most of Tanzania, a man pays his prospective wife's parents in cows in order to marry her.  Everywhere we went, both in the city and in the rural areas, we saw many people walking everywhere, many walking long distances; along the roads, in the fields and bush, everywhere. Our trip to Tanzania was a rich experience for all of our senses.  We loved the safari, visiting Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, and Dar es Salaam, meeting Jessica's friends and "family" and especially being with Jessica.  Our primary reason for going was to visit Jessica and we were able to experience some of the adventures she has had.  Traveling with her and seeing her happy, healthy, and thriving was the highlight of our trip.  We are glad to know how well Jessica is doing and maybe we can sleep a little better knowing that she has many people looking after her. Bill and Margot Glynn
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1166796420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1166796420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1166796420/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:51:56 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Kampala, Uganda

Hi all!  Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year to you all!  I'm sure you are all enjoying a frosty winter but here it is only getting hotter!  This Christmas will be a lot more low-key than usual sans my eight siblings and two households.  I've been a bit bummed about missing Christmas for the first time especially because there isn't really the holiday hoopla here that I'm used to and many of my friends are leaving the area for the break.  Luckily, however, I was invited by potentially long lost family members to their house to celebrate the holidays this weekend.  A few weeks ago I met an older couple from Galway, Ireland who work in Tanzania.  Somehow we started talking about Ireland and I mentioned that we have some cousins who live there.  They asked me my last name and it turns out it's their last name too!  We got to talking and they invited me to their house for Christmas!  They happen to have two sons and a niece (who is volunteering in Kenya) around my age that will be in town for the holidays.  I'll just stay with them for the weekend and then on Christmas day, come back to campus to attend service and have dinner with my Tanzanian family.  It should be fun!  The following Friday my dad and stepmother will be here and the Wednesday after that my boyfriend, Kyle.  I am really excited to show them around Tanzania.  We'll be heading up to Arusha for safari, touring Dar, and spending New Years on Zanzibar.  The last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting as I have finished up assignments, traveled to Uganda, and said goodbye to friends who were here for only one semester.  It's exciting to have been here for so long and I look forward to even more experiences in the next semester.  Kampala, Uganda Uganda is amazing.  The landscape is beautiful with greenery everywhere.  The transportation is fun - boda boda motorbikes, the people are so friendly, and the weather was great, almost cold!  Armed with the theory that Uganda was closer to the equator and therefore hotter (Prof. East, I should have asked for your advice!), my friend Sarah and I boarded the plane for Kampala last Monday with our tank tops and shorts.  We had been talking about going to Kampala since the beginning of the semester but hadn't really found the time.  I was especially interested in going because I almost decided to go to University there instead of in Dar (luckily I didn't because the University was out this semester because the professors are on strike).  Sarah wanted to get out of Tanzania and had heard about the white water rafting at the source of the Nile.  We arrived in Kampala late Monday night and took a cab to a friend's house, the brother of a friend from Dar es Salaam.  We spent the next day exploring downtown Kampala and visiting Lake Victoria.  At Lake Victoria, we watched as people boarded the boats to local islands and talked to ten 18- 25 year old Ugandan fisherman who were really interested in what we were doing there.  We also saw these giant dinosaur-looking storks that live on port.  They were about 4 feet tall and really creepy looking, although no one seemed to notice them except Sarah and I who were extremely frightened when they flew overhead (pictures attached).  While in Kampala, I expected to use my Swahili some but apparently it is not good to do so.  During Idi Amin's dictatorship in Uganda, he tried to force people to use Swahili instead of the native Luganda.  The people did not accept the change and still associate the language with that repressive regime.  Sarah had to stop me every time I tried to thank someone because I am so used to saying thank you in Swahili, "Asante."  The next morning we woke up at 6:00 a.m. and headed to the Game superstore to meet up with our ride to Jinja to go white water rafting at the source of the Nile.  It was a little rainy that day, which made it pretty cold, but we were still really excited.  There were 10 other people rafting with us.  We were split up into two groups -- the ones who wanted the most extreme ride and those who wanted it to be calmer (not that white water rafting is ever calm).  Unfortunately for Sarah, I volunteered us for the extreme ride.  In our raft, we had three UN peacekeeping soldiers from Pakistan who are stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a German traveler, and our Ugandan rafting guide.  We were a little frightened when our guide told us that there are Crocodiles in the Nile but supposedly they stay away from the rapids.  The trip was a lot fun and everyone made it out alive, although there were a few cuts and bruises.  After rafting, we headed up to the hostel, which was definitely a haven for extreme kayakers and rafters as everyone did both and loved to talk about it.  We found out that staff from the company that we went with had recently made the first trip by raft from Uganda to Rwanda (4 weeks) and in 2004, made the first source to end trip up the Nile from Uganda to Egypt (4 ½ months).  The next morning Sarah woke up to find out she had been bitten by something.  She had a red swollen bump the size of a baseball on her leg.  One of the other guys in our bunk, an extreme kayaker, happened to be a surgeon and told us an awful story about a guy who had been bitten by a spider on the neck a few weeks before.  The area around his bite has swelled up and then rotted off, leaving a large wound on his neck.  I guess at this point we should have gone straight to the hospital but instead Sarah wanted to watch to see if it got any bigger and we carried on to Sipi falls for some waterfall viewing and hiking. The Sipi falls area was beautiful and we stayed way up in the hills with a gorgeous view of the waterfalls.  It had taken us five hours by bus to get there and the area was pretty remote.  The hostel called for a local doctor from a nearby hospital to come to check out Sarah's leg.  He gave her a shot of cortisone (right in the hostel lobby in her bottom) and some other anti-histamine.  He didn't say what it was that bite her but was sure she had just had an allergic reaction.  The next day we went for a hike to the falls.  Throughout the day, we were invited by several locals to view the local circumcision ceremonies.  Apparently, we came to Sipi during circumcision week.  All of the 16 year old boys in the area were to gain their manhood.  They were paraded down the street all day by family and friends, then all night the family celebrated, and in the morning the boys would line up to be circumcised.  They would then spend two weeks alone in a hut recovering.  We decided that it might not be appropriate for us to attend.  The following morning we headed back to Kampala and had Sarah's leg checked out by another doctor because it had been growing.  He told her that she had been bitten by a tetsy fly and that the swelling would start to go down once the medicine kicked in.  We were very relieved that her skin would stay on.  That night we stayed with another friend of a friend in Kampala and checked out a night life a bit. It was pretty fun. In the morning, we headed back to Dar to finish up the semester.    
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1164114120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1164114120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1164114120/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 11:27:21 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I am very thankful that I will not be missing out on turkey dinner this year and that there are two large ex-pat turkey dinners happening, one today and one on Saturday.  Tonight's dinner is rumored to have 40 people and 10 turkeys.  I'm excited about the dinners but I do wish I were home in MA celebrating with friends and family! The last few weeks in Dar Es Salaam have been very random.  This past weekend I went to a wedding on Saturday and was part of a bridal photo shoot for a magazine on Sunday.  The weekend before, I went to my family's home district and went deep-sea fishing with a Rotarian.  I was also invited by a South African TV producer to help out on the set of a well-known TV show that is taking place in Tanzania and Zanzibar.  They needed local production assistants to help the executive producers get around, make phones, and such.  It's an American show and Katherine (who is also helping out) and I signed a ten page legal document stating that we wouldn't reveal any details of the show for three years!  So, please if you're interested in any details, speak to me on November 6th, 2009. Should be fun!Send - off party: Last weekend, my friend, Magda and I went to Kilembero with my Mama to attend a send-off party.  In Tanzania, a bride has a send-off party before she is sent to be married.  In Swahili, a man 'gets married' and a woman 'is married'.  There is no word for a woman to get married instead she is just married.  I was glad that Magda came with me because the ceremony and the bus ride were very long.  We thought that the party was in Morogoro town which is two hours from Dar but instead it was at the edge of the Morogoro region which was six hours away.  Because we had just planned to go and come back the next day, it was a long journey.  The bride is the daughter of the Pastor's elder brother.  It was nice to attend a family party because we were included in the festivities.  We got to meet the whole Ngao family and they were all very warm and friendly.  Mama has always called me her daughter so the rest of the family continued with niece and sister, etc. which was so nice.  We all piled into a bus to go to the hall for the party and everyone sang songs on the way. Big celebrations in Tanzania all have the same sort of order.  A female MC leads the whole event, telling people when to do things and telling jokes (sometimes even singing).  Once everyone is seated, the families of the bride and groom come in dancing and then the bride comes in walking very slowly.  At one point, the bride cuts the cake and feeds it her family and friends.  As special guests, Magda and I got to receive the cake.  The celebration was pretty long and there was a gift portion (where the guests dance their gifts to the front), a speaking portion, a champagne presentation, and dinner.  After the party, we slept in a guesthouse near the mother of the bride's house (with the loudest goats I've ever heard next door!).  In the morning, we had mbezi soup (goat's meat!) and waited for the bus back to Dar Es Salaam.  The 10 a.m. bus came at 11:30 a.m. and was crammed full of people.  Because it was the only bus back to Dar Es Salaam we had to get on and push for some standing room for the 6-hour bus ride back.  It was actually a pretty funny experience and Mama Ngao kept laughing and saying that now we really know how the African lives.  We stood on the bus for about 2 hours and then stole a bit of space on the floor next to the driver, although standing up might have been more comfortable because on the floor, Magda fell asleep on me!Fishing:I was so excited when Hatim, a local Rotarian asked Katherine and me to go fishing on his boat.  I thought that we would have a couple fishing lines out over the side of a sailboat but instead we were going deep-sea fishing!  We set out for the yacht club Sunday morning and boarded his boat, La Louve.  We waited for the captain and then put all seven heavy-duty fishing lines in the water.  It was a beautiful day for fishing and the water was so clear you could see the fish from the boat.  We were hoping to catch a sail fish with can weigh up to 70 pounds.  The captain told us to look for feeds, which are areas where the larger fish are feeding on the surface so you can see them and they are also often accompanied by birds circling above which are easier to spot.  We didn't catch any sailfish but we did see some.  They kind of look like sharks because all you see if their black fin out of the water.  We also saw schools of fish and dolphins!  We did, however, catch three small wahoo (which were 3 feet long and 10 pounds but still considered small) and Hatim, Katherine, and I all reeled one in.  For lunch, we stopped at a well-known sand bar where there were a few families docked with their boats.  I did get a little sea sick in the morning but bounced back after an hour.  All and all, it was a wonderful day!Wedding:Saturday, I went to the wedding of the bride from the send-off party.  It was in Dar Es Salaam so it was easy to get to.  Mama Ngao and I went to a family member's house around 2:00 p.m. and the wedding started around 3:00 p.m.  There were actually two couples getting married at the same time, completely unrelated.  It was a Catholic church and there was a whole service before the wedding proceedings.  Many of the family members fell asleep including Mama Ngao and the mother of the bride!  Once the wedding proceedings started, they woke up.  The bride and groom said their vows and signed their marriage certificates.  Then, they left the church dancing with their certificates to greet all the people waiting outside.  In some ways, it seems that the wedding celebrations are more important then the service because not many people came to the actual service but everyone was at the parties.  After the service, we went to the beach to take some pictures (the same one, I had walked along before with the Ngaos when there were seven wedding parties and this day it was also that busy).  We then went to the reception, which was pretty similar to the send off party except that the groom was involved and the MC at one point did a rap! My turn to be a bride:Two weeks ago a friend of mine asked me if I would help model a wedding dress for a multi-cultural bridal magazine.  His roommate's friend, Rukia, works for a wedding planner who wanted to produce the magazine.  They needed to find some white models so they asked Matt, Nathan, Corey, and I, all students at the university.  It was one of the weirdest things I've ever done.  Tuesday, Corey and I were fitted for wedding dresses.  Thursday, I went into the salon to get extensions (a weave!) put into my hair.  Then on Sunday, they put giant fake nails on my hand and an up-do in my hair.  We then went to the kunduchi beach hotel for the shoot.  There were seven brides in all and eight grooms.  We were all parading around the hotel in our wedding clothes.  Some of the hotel guests were even taking pictures of us!  I met Emperous Gypsy Mama Africa (her real name on her passport) who works for a local theater company and whose little grandson, Lawrence was in the shoot.  It was a long day from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m. but it was definitely fun and something different.  They paid for all the meals and transportation and were very grateful for the help.  Corey and I even got a call from the photographer yesterday asking if we would be interested in doing another shoot for a hotel advertisement!  This time paid! Other news:Last Monday, Katherine and I went to the Rotary Club of Dar Es Salaam North to give a presentation. The club was smaller than our host club and meet at night instead of during lunch but they asked a lot of good questions and were really interested in our experience at the University. Mr. Kyle Slavin has officially booked his ticket to Dar Es Salaam and will arrive the night of January 3rd. My dad, Bill and stepmother, Margot booked theirs a while back and will be flying in on December 29th. Needless to say, I am excited for visitors.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1162720500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1162720500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1162720500/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:56:40 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Mombasa, Kenya

Email HomeHi guys, sorry it's been a while since I last wrote but I did get some pictures up for each of the entries so I hope you like them!My classes have officially started up and it's been both interesting and frustrating.  It has been interesting to hear from the other students about what they think about development in Africa and how they feel about Tanzanian politics.  It has been frustrating because professors often don't show up and the department is compensating for the late start of classes by scheduling exams in January during the holiday break.  I'm hoping to work something out with the head of the department because both Kyle and my parents will be in Tanzania that week.  It seems that all of the professors have outside businesses and jobs because their salaries are so low, so to compensate they only come to a fraction of the classes and then often reschedule them based on their availability rather then the class'.  However, I am glad that things have started and it's been great to meet and get to know all my fellow students.  They're an interesting bunch and range in age from 23 to 47 but most are in their 30s, male and married with children. For each of my five classes, we have a minor and major assignment to write.  The topics for these papers have included 'utopian socialism vs. scientific socialism', 'the epistemology of Marx and Engels on German Ideology, Max Weber on Bureaucracy, and Mao on Contradictions', 'regime power in international politics', and 'how to solve the problems of Africa'.  I'm not sure if you can tell from my assignments but the classes are very focused on socialism and communism.  I mentioned in my first entry that the department history stated a focus on socialism in the 70s and a move toward globalization and poverty reduction now, but it's still mainly focuses on socialism and the genius of Karl Marx.  Tanzania is still very socialist in policy and political thought.  There is also a lot of talk of how the west exploits Africa.  It is not as if I can disagree with the fact that the west, especially colonialism, has exploited third world countries and during the Second World War created self-interested alliance.  But, it's hard to prove that I myself did not do any of this exploiting and that there is some good that has come from international partnerships.Kenya:  Last weekend, I went up to Mombasa, Kenya with two friends from the University for a long weekend. I t was the Muslim holiday of Eid, which ends Ramadan.  It's interesting because you don't know when the holiday will be because it depends on the sighting of the moon.  It could have been Sunday and Monday, Monday and Tuesday, or Tuesday and Wednesday depending on which night the moon appeared.  I hadn't been exposed to a lot of Muslim culture before I came to Tanzania so it's been great learning here.  Eid ended up falling on Tuesday and Wednesday so we had a five days in Kenya. Kenya is more developed then Tanzania and you can tell that as soon as you get into a town.  It's very industrialized.  Also, children in Kenya learn English in primary school so most people speak English and actually would rather not talk to you in Swahili.  There is a bit of rivalry between Tanzania and Kenya mostly because Kenya is more aggressive in its policies and Tanzania is often referred to as the "sleeping giant to the south" because is is usually slow to act.  However, there are talks of an East Africa Coalition which would combine Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (and perhaps Burundi and Rwanda) but it seems that the opinions about the coalition are very mixed.  Some people think it's a bad idea because the economies are so unstable on their own and might not be better off together and that Kenyan's large economy would take advantage of the less developed, Tanzanian economy.  On the other hand, throughout the continent there is a big push for sub-regionalization to strengthen trade relations and economic relations within Africa and many believe that these African partnerships are the only way for African countries to become competitive in the global economy.In Mombasa, we spent the first day in town checking out the tourist sites.  These included Fort Jesus, which was a Portuguese and then Arab fort from the 15th century.  It is designed in the shape of a human body and was used not only to defend the newly conquered territory but also to house slaves before they were sent out.  (Surprisingly, the Portuguese name of Fort Jesus stuck because when the Arabs came in they destroyed the church in the Fort but somehow the name stayed.)  We then walked around old town admiring the Arabic architecture.  The next day we went to the beach.  The beach is very developed with huge hotels lining the shore, which is unlike the quiet huts on the beach in Tanzania.  After two days in Mombasa, we decided to head up the coast a bit to Malindi (2 hours) which is a smaller coastal town which was actually the entry point for Portuguese ships on the east coast of Kenya before they moved to Mombasa.  Malindi is a huge get away for Italians.  Many of the street vendors and sales people know Italian and will shout Ciao at you as you pass.  So unexpectedly, we ended up eating a lot of good pizza in Kenya.  In Malindi, we visited the Vasco de Gama pillar erected in the 15th century to lay Portuguese claim to Malindi and walked along the beaches a lot.  The hostel that we stayed in was right next to a mosque, which was probably not a good location given that it was Eid.  Usually on campus, you can hear the 5 a.m. call to prayer from the mosque but it's not that loud because we are a little further away but here our window was literally five feet from the mosque and for Eid there was a lot going on.  That night there was a call to prayer at 1 a.m., 4 a.m., and a service that started at 4:30 a.m. and because they conduct the service over loud speaker, it was interesting but very loud!  On Wednesday, we happy headed back to Dar for some much-needed sleep!Halloween:  Last weekend, some friends of mine in Dar threw a Halloween party, which was really fun.  Tanzanians don't celebrate Halloween and when I tried to describe it to my family they at first thought I was talking about a food and then maybe thought I was crazy.  It's actually a really weird holiday to explain especially when I was trying to tell my sisters in broken Swahili!  But I did give them some candy corn that was sent from home and showed them pictures of people in costume.  The party was really interesting.  Most people dressed in African gear because it was hard to find costumes.  My friend Sarah and I dressed as Maasai, traditional east Africans who dress in red and blue plaid.  The Maasai are one of the only tribes in Dar that still wear their tradition outfits in town.  Another friend of ours, who is actually a visiting Fulbright law professor at the University, dressed as neocolonialism.  He wore a three-piece suit with hotel brochures in his hat and pockets and made a World Bank contract complete with pictures of how your country could look.  He then took pictures with people in traditional African gear and the devil.  It was pretty funny but now that I writing about, I realize how dorky that sounds!  Oh well!  I've attached the picture for your viewing pleasure. Other than that, my life has been pretty calm lately. I t's easy to write about trips and experience but harder to write about daily life.  Just being in class, riding on the dala dala, and meeting new people is really interesting and has given me the opportunity to have a lot of great conversations and cultural experiences.  I do however miss everyone from home and look forward to hearing news from home especially about Halloween, jobs, holiday plans, and just life in general!  Asante sana unasoma huyu!  Tafadhali utaandika karibu! (Thank you for reading this!  Please write soon!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1160069040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1160069040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/glynnja/tanzania-_06-07/1160069040/tpod.html Wed, 12 Sep 2007 10:48:49 -0400 Discovering Africa -- international development, language, culture, people, and politics. One girl's wayward journey to Dar Es Salaam, the University, and through out Africa!

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Arusha, Tanzania

Last time I left you, my entry was a bit unnerving because there had been a riot, an energy crisis, and two pick-pocketing attempts.  I hope that I didn't scare anyone away from traveling to Africa because that's not what I meant to do.  Ironically, the next day I was in class and a student asked me to step outside to talk to a journalist.  The journalist (from a Dar Swahili newspaper) was writing an article on "how the West perceives Africa" and wanted my opinion as someone who clearly likes Africa.  He asked me why all western media portrays Africa's conflicts, health issues, and negative stigmas but never speaks positively. [And in fact, in a Boston University study I read later that surveyed the biggest US newspapers, they found that there were barely any positive articles about Africa (an excerpt of the article is below, the rest can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/580.html.)] He asked me what the solution was and we talked about a combination of informed journalists from Africa who could write about their country themselves and an active commitment of "western" countries to writing positively about Africa.  After that interview, it got me thinking about how I portray Africa in my writing and in my stories.  Africa as a continent has so much to offer, such as beautiful beaches, towering mountains, and diverse wildlife but it also has amazing culture, the warmest people, and so much potential.  I know that I might be preaching to the choir because if you're reading this you probably have some interest in what Africa is really like but I thought I would just mention it.  After this excerpt more about the safari and classes....["Today, we call on the media to be more fair and balanced in its coverage of Africa. We spent a good part of the day examining the record of coverage of some America's most distinguished publications - The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and US News & World Report. We reviewed their coverage of the continent over a 10-year period - from 1994 to 2004. We found their coverage of the continent to be anything but fair and balanced. For example, here in South Africa (under the leadership of the present government and that led by Nelson Mandela, this country has had the longest period of sustained economic growth in its history. That story has yet to be told in the detail in which South Africa's problems are covered.The record of coverage of other parts of the continent is equally abysmal. One of the more notable areas of progress on the continent over the last ten years has been in the area of education, yet, it was the smallest category covered with only 20 articles. APARC's State of Africa Report 2003 highlighted some of the noteworthy achievements in education: a literacy rate in Botswana of 90 percent, the enrollment of an additional 1.7 million children in primary education in Kenya, the rise of persons in teaching training colleges in Ghana to 8,500 from a low of 6,000 in the year 2000, and the construction of more than 600 new classrooms over that past year in Malawi. [1] These, or similar gains from 1994 to 2004, were not reported in the more than 2,700 articles surveyed from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, or US News & World Report. The findings of this (and other) surveys indicate that coverage of Africa, by the leading sources of American media, is, at best, dismissive of the continent's progress and potential, and thus leading to continued "exotification" and marginalization of the African continent. At worst, coverage disregards recent trends toward democratization, betraying an almost contemptuous lack of interest in the potential and progress being achieved on the continent. Underneath the present major American media coverage are buried stories of untold and unpublished growth, reform and sustainability. While this survey was not intended to establish a causal relationship between perceptions about Africa and the preponderance of negative coverage of the continent's democracies, it is logical and reasonable to conclude that there is such a correlation between negative coverage and negative perceptions."]Safari!Day 1:  Last weekend, I headed up to Arusha via bus with my new Norwegian friend, Trude to go on safari.  It was a 10-½ hour bus ride and in the end, we were happy to get off!  When we got there, the hostel that we had found in the Lonely Planet book was full so we went across the street to another hostel that seemed a bit sketchy but ended up being just fine.  It was night when we got there and the electricity was off so we weren't quite sure what we were getting but at $4,000 TSH ($3), the price was right!  After talking to the Massai man who had checked us in, we headed to a nearby safari company he recommended, Jackpot Travels.  Trude and I were worried at first because Arusha is renowned for it's "fly catchers" or people trying to scam you into cheap safaris.  However, the guy that we met seemed legitimate and we wanted to leave in the morning so we booked at $250 for two days: Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater.  We were told that two British chaps and a Canadian guy would be with us (they were on a five-day safari).  We were happy to have to company.  Then we went to find Pizzarusha, a small pizza place in town to eat as much as we could after the foodless bus ride!  (We did have a power bar and some cashew nuts!)Day 2:  The next morning we met the safari operator at his office to take us to the bank to take out $250 in Shillings.  For some reason or another, all fees to the operator and to the parks must be paid in US dollars.  We then met our British travel friends, Jon and James, who we were excited to find out were around the same age and quite funny.  They have checked out several other tour operators (6 or 7) and had gone with, Jackpot, which made Trude and I feel much better about our decision.  We then went to pick up our fifth traveler, a French-Canadian named Claude who had come to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. However, in a test hike up Mt. Meru (the 2nd highest mountain in Tanzania) he got pulmonary edema (extreme shortness of breath from high altitudes) so he was advised not to hike anymore.  He seemed pretty bummed about it and as it was a charity hike and he had been raising money for it for some time.  However, the company he went with put him on this safari instead of leaving him to do nothing.  So with our group of five, Jon and James - the Brits, Claud - the French- Canadian, my friend - Trude, the Tanzania guide- Mike and me - Jessica, we were off on our safari (side note: safari means journey in Swahili).Lake Manyara was an awesome park to start in and because it was our first day we were all pumped to see anything.  The park itself is very green and a beautiful backdrop to any picture.  We saw tons of elephants, some hippos, monkeys, all kinds of antelope, plenty of zebras, and more.  It was an awesome day.  And I have to say that half the fun of going on safari is being in the Landrover.  During the day, we would all hang out of the top of the car whenever we could and would often sit up there if there were no park rangers around.  It was a lot of fun.  That night we camped at Lake Manyara and it was actually a bit cold.  The Arusha area is the coldest in Tanzania and we really needed our long sleeves, which doesn't mean much to you Bostonians or Maine-iacs but in Africa you don't really expect cold weather!  The campsite was great with a small bar where we ate the meal provided by our cook.  After dinner and some conversation, a bunch of us went to look for shooting stars. Trude has never seen a shooting star so she was determined to!  The sky was absolutely beautiful with no light pollution at all. We saw about 10 shooting stars and just talked about life. Day 3: We were all determined to see as much as possible so we asked Mike, our tour guide if we could get out really really early so we decided to wake up at 5 am even though we had gone to bed at 1230 am.  Everyone was a bit tired and chilled in the morning as we headed to the Ngorongoro Crater.  At first, it was difficult to see because of the fog but when the fog lifted and the sun came out it was amazing.  The Ngorongoro Crater itself isn't as beautiful as Lake Manyara but you see lots of animals.  It's a large open plain and zebras, antelope, ostrich, and wildebeest are everywhere.  We saw a male lion pretty close up, some rhinos but they were pretty far away, a leopard in a tree, some cheetahs checking out their lunch (my favorite sighting of the whole trip), a hippo pool with flipping hippos, and plenty more.  It was a great day and I have tons of pictures of everything (even video of the hippos flipping!)  [Side note: I'm waiting on a photo compressor and then I'll get them up on the net.]  I'm also getting copies of the boys' pictures because they had intense lenses that were like a foot and a half long.  I think they might be able to count the teeth on the lion in their pictures because their zooms got so close. That night, Trude and I left sadly to take the 1- ½ ride back to Arusha. Day 4: Sunday we got up early to go to the Massai market to buy some crafts and headed back to Dar on another 10 ½ hour bus ride.  This time it seemed a bit longer!Classes: Ok, so after a wonderful and adventurous weekend, I came back to find that classes were starting!  And as Melinda said in an email "Jess, you're the only person I know who would be sad that classes hadn't started yet" but was getting a little worried about the legitimacy of my time here! I'm the youngest in my course with most other masters candidates being in their early to late 30's.  The classes are really small with only 40 students in the program, which is nice. The one thing that might get a little annoying is the fact that the teachers often asks me to give the western opinion or western facts because I'm the only non-Tanzanian in the group.  Because western opinion usually involves subjects such as the minimum hourly wage in the US, why the US didn't sign the Kyoto protocol, or an explanation of the war in Iraq, it can be a bit uncomfortable.  I guess it comes with the territory!  For my program in the Institute of Development Studies, I must take three compulsory courses, which include Research Methods, Issues in Development, and Political Thought.  On top of these courses, I've chosen two optional courses Energy and Environment and Contemporary International issues and I'm also taking an intermediate Kiswahili class and auditing a public international law class. Projects:I'm also working on some research and side projects.  I am hoping that I'll be able to do some research for the Legal and Human Rights Center and we've been talking about a few ideas with specific concentration on the advocacy department.I've also had a new idea about my dissertation.  I might write about non-profits in Tanzania. I learned from an executive director, Sister Jean, who has worked in Tanzania for 40 years that when she started there were 5 NGOs in Tanzania and now there are 3,500.  With that fact in the back of my head, two weeks later I met an American volunteer working at a primary school in Dar who was worried about corruption in the organization he was working with.  It seems that the $1,000 dollars he had paid to participate in the program was going to build a house for the director of the program and that none of the money was going to the schools that the volunteers were working with.  It worried me that there was so much corruption in Tanzanian NGOs and I asked around for more information.  I found out that the government is currently drafting some legislation to increase NGO transparency but it's up in the air exactly who would regulate if the legislation was passed.  I've also heard many stories from Tanzania friends about people they know who get money from donors by sending pictures of fake projects or children that they don't really work with and then take the money for themselves.  These so-called "brief-case NGOs" are a big problem in Tanzania. I've also met a Tanzanian friend who is a 3rd year law student at the University who wants to start a small program.  She believes that children in Tanzania don't get any leadership, decision-making, or communication skills at a young age and that it affects the types of leaders that in Tanzania.  She wants to create a small camp for secondary school children (ages 12 -18) in order to give them team building and leadership skills.  It sounds like a great program and she really has the drive to make it work.  Tanzanians in general are pretty complacent people and it's true that even many leaders don't stand up for their rights or know how to make good decisions.  She wants to start with a group of 30 students over the weekend in December/January and see how it works.  She's hoping to get the backing of the Ministry of Education and then go to corporations to get sponsorship.  The cost is very small and because it's an initiative by Tanzania students I think it's going to work well.Anyway that's what I have on my plate at the moment; it's not all work though.  I did make it to the Jay-Z concert last night and it was pretty fun.  He's on an international tour.  The concert was held in a venue that was much like a warehouse and it was pretty hot but I think everyone had a really good time.  I think I'm going to take it easy this weekend and get some school stuff done but there are talks of going to Kampala, Uganda next weekend!Small side story to finish:Yesterday my host mother was telling me about a food she had just tried that she thought I would know and like.  She was explaining it as scone cut in half with minced meat mixed with egg yolk in between the scone.  I had made pizza the week before and she said it was just like pizza.  I was thinking maybe it was a calzone or something.  After much confusion, she told me the place that she hadn't gotten it from and I realized that she was talking about a hamburger!  There is this amazing little place in Dar next to a gas station that sells the best hamburgers ever!  I had never thought about the egg in the burger and describing the bun without ever having had one before!  Maybe you had to be there but we both thought it was pretty funny! Thanks for reading! I hope it wasn't too much information at once!
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