Picha Picha

hey ya'll!
(nope, still can't use ya'll and not sound totally weird... thought i'd give it a shot.)
anyway, here is a slideshow of a bunch of my photos from my trip!
they're also on facebook.

http://s917.photobucket.com/albums/ad16/bagamoyo10/Photos%20from%20Margie/

How to become a morning person.

In order to become a morning person, all you have to do is travel to Africa, get used to the time difference and then travel home and don't get used to your old time. Today I woke up at 3:45 am! and it felt like noon. Craziness. So I laid in bed til 5, then got up and went for a run/walk and then made an omelet, and here I am at 7 am, posting my final blog entry for my African adventure before I head to babysit in a half hour.
The last few days in Tanzania were great. At UKUN we did some home visits and also finished painting the rest of the outside of the building. It ended up looking really great! I also did a bunch of data entry. They are now caught up to April 2009. Only 14+ more months of patients to enter into the system!
I also spent a bit more time at the Baobab Home with the kids. Just hanging around the house with them and stuff. It feels more like a family than an orphanage there and I really like the atmosphere.
Thursday night we went to Traveler's Lodge for my going away dinner (as well as Doug and John's). Once again I got carbonara and once again it was delicious.
Friday night we went to Baga Point with everyone in my start group who was left and everyone from the start dates before us. All of the new volunteers went to Zanzibar for the weekend. So we hung out at Baga Point and then went to the arts college which was having some sort of outdoor dance party thing. It was a lot of fun. And finally, on the way home I completed my goal of riding a piki piki! It's a motor bike and you can go anywhere in town for 500 shillings (about 40 cents).
Saturday I just hung around the homebase until it was time to leave. We left at 2 pm because Doug and John needed to pay for their tickets for the following day before the airport office closed. The traffic was pretty bad and it took like 3 hours to get to Dar. I could never live in Dar. It's so ugly and trafficy. Yuck. So I had like 4 hours to hang in the airport before my flight. I just read and bought some snacks and went through security and all that. It's a really small airport. The power went off twice when I was going through security and they had to re-boot the system. Finally we boarded and luckily no one was assigned to the seat next to me so I had room to stretch out a bit. We stopped in Nairobi, Kenya for about an hour and then continued on our way to Zurich.
I tried to get some sleep around 2 am but that's when restless legs kicked in and I felt like I wanted to run a marathon. So I walked around the plane a bit and then looked out the window for a while. There was lightning happening in the clouds below the plane. Seeing lightning from above it was really cool! It looked like someone was in the clouds taking pictures with a really bright flash. There were about 4 or 5 spots of reoccuring lightning. Finally around 3 or so I fell asleep for about 2 hours.
Once at the Zurich airport I found my way to the dayroom area and paid about 10 USD for a shower. Totally worth it though. The Zurich airport is so clean and nice! And then I found a lounge where there were about 6 other people sleeping and I found a bench and fell asleep for about 2 and a half hours (wearing an eye mask and everything).
I didn't really get antsy until the last few hours of my second flight. By then I was ready to get off the plane and be home already.
Now I've been home for a day and half. It's strange. It feels like I've been away for a long time and at the same time it feels like I didn't go away at all.
The rest of the summer is looking a bit bland what with working 2 jobs and a lot of my friends being away. But I think I'll be able to figure out ways to make it enjoyable.
That's all for now. I will post later with a bunch of pictures from the trip, once I upload everything.

<3

"No thanks, I prefer to get my cancer straight from the sun."

It's been a week since I've updated. A lot has happened. Let's see... on Thursday a bunch of us went to Traveller's Lodge which is a resort by the beach and we had dinner there since some of the group was leaving that weekend. The pasta carbonera there is awesome! Ann is right, that it surprisingly tastes like real carbonera. It was a fun night. Friday was my last day at AMAP. It was the kids' last day because they have 2 weeks off. I don't think they understood that we wouldn't be coming back. But I'm sure their used to having new volunteers all the time. Friday afternoon, Caroline (the volunteer at the Baobab Home), picked me up and we went there to hang out for a bit. The kids are adorable! There's currently 7 of them living there, 3 of which are babies, 2 toddlers, and 2 young kids. Friday night we just hung out with Ann, Max, and Richard who all had to leave on Saturday. I woke up early to see them off. It was sad to see them go. I'll probably see Richard if I go to Chicago anytime soon. And I hope I can go to Australia at some point to visit Ann and Max and travel around.

Saturday Sarah, Jerry, Bridget, Monica and I went to Baga Point. Basically it's just a trailer next to a field that they sell alcohol out of. Sometimes there's live music but there wasn't that night. We hung out with some Tanzanian friends and then got Chips my eye for a late night snack. It's basically just an omelet with french fries in it that we put hot sauce and ketchup on. It sounds pretty gross, and I was pretty sceptical but it ended up being really tasty.

Also the new volunteers arrived on Saturday. 19 of them. I have 3 new roommates in the room that I had to myself for 2 weeks. It's the same story as Morocco, it's hard to get used to new volunteers because you get used to the people that are there and it begins to feel like home. Then one day 3/4 of your friends leave and tons of new people flood "your" home. And you have to get used to not being able to use the bathroom whenever you want. And the internet cafe is always busy now (hence the not updating in a while). And I had to condense my things back to one shelf the the others would have room. I admit that I got spoiled! The new volunteers are all pretty nice though. I don't know them very well but they're friendly. And none of my roommates snore which is fantastic!

What else? I've been working at UCKUN this week. We've been doing some painting to spruce up the front of the building. Also we've done a bunch of home visits. I find it frustrating though because we can't actually do anything for these people that will heal them in any way. I feel like we're just going in and playing doctor. Like yea, I can take your blood pressure and heart rate and ask you if you have pain anywhere but then I can't really prescribe medicine or buy you food or cure you of HIV. No matter how many times I take your blood pressure or look at your rashes or feel sorry that you went blind, you're still going to die from AIDS in a matter of months. I know that's really blunt but it's true. And it's frustrating and sad. UCKUN does some good things though. At the very least we let these people know that they're not alone, that there are people out there that still care about them even if the majority of people in their lives shun them. And at times we do give them food when they have no other way of eating, but we try not to have them rely on us for that. UCKUN is shifting to a more educational focus though. I think that will be beneficial in order to prevent new cases of HIV/AIDS. In one of the resources books there I found some surveys that they had given to teenagers in Bagamoyo about using condoms, if they do, why they don't, etc. There were some crazy answers on there. Some of the people thinks it makes them less of a man if they use a condom, or that condoms spread AIDS. They need to be educated so this value of the society can start to change. If it doesn't then the AIDS epidemic will never lessen.

Sunday I went back to the Baobab Home and we took the kids to the beach, not the babies though, they stayed home. I met Terri's son Justice who is adorable! I love when small kids are bilingual, I think it's so cool. He just doesn't know that the word "she" exists so everything is a he haha. I also went there yesterday to hang for a bit because their volunteer Caroline is leaving today so I wanted to say bye and hang with the kids again. I wish I was here longer because the kids have just warmed up to me! I'm going back to tomorrow to hang out and say bye to them. Then some of the CCS people and I are going out to dinner at Traveller's Lodge again since Doug, John, and I are leaving this weekend.

That's about all that's going on. I'm sure I forgot a ton of things but it's hard to remember everything that happened in a week. This trip went by wayy too fast and I don't think I'm very ready to return to the states yet. But I shall make the best of it.

PS- the title is Monica's response when she was offered a cigarette on Saturday night. It made me laugh for a very long time.

Eyes Wide Shut

I know I updated only 2 days ago so this probably won't be that exciting. But it's a lazy afternoon and I can only read my book for so long. Also I needed to get on here to check my e-mail.
On Monday night Jerry was talking about how his placement was getting really crazy. Jerry is a 48 year old retired fire fighter from Chicago. He is medically trained and has been here for like 2 months or so. His placement is at UKCUN, where they work with HIV/AIDS patients. They actually do a lot of things. They do home visits, make sure they are getting their meds, examine the patients to see if a hospital visit is necessary. They also are a walk-in clinic for HIV testing and have had to tell numerous people that they are HIV positive. Jerry was explaining how it seemed like their patients had been doing relatively well and this week they just started falling apart. Also, they got 2 new patients added and had to do initial visits.
Richard and I offered to skip our placements on Tuesday to help out at UCKUN. I'm not sure what made me agree to this since I am the most squeamish person I know. I think part of it is that I was curious about what kind of work they do there, another part was that I know they make a huge difference in the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS. And I knew my placement would survive without me for a day.
Here's a bit of background on HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. The rate of AIDS in Tanzania is 8%. It is 9% in the coastal regions. Bagamoyo has an AIDS rate of 15%. Realistically the rate is probably closer to 20 or 25% because there are many people who live in rural parts who do not get tested. Accurate statistics are difficult to obtain. Basically, because of religious views, those suffering from AIDS are seen as being cursed. As a result, they face tremendous stigma in the community. Their neighbors despise them and very few people are willing to help take care of them. There are also false beliefs that lead to AIDS being spread. One is the belief in traditional healers. The healers tell patients that if they sacrifice a chicken or goat or participate in some special ceremony that their illness will be cured. Of course they are not but since they believe they are, they continue to live the same lifestyle as before, infecting many people with this disease. Also, many people here believe that if you have AIDS you can cure yourself by sleeping with a virgin. I'd really like to meet the dude who started spreading this ignorant lie.
Tuesday at UKCUN (oo-koon) ended up being pretty chaotic and disorganized which seems like the norm there. When we first got there, Jerry explained everything and what we might see that day. How does one prepare for something like this? I don't think it's really possible. I spent a good amount of time picturing the nastiest puss-filled sores that I could imagine and still I don't think I'd be ready to see such horrible things in real life. Luckily, I didn't see anything too alarming on Tuesday.
After the mini "orientation" we got tested for HIV. It's not required or anything but I think Doug just likes to play doctor and practice on CCS volunteers. My results were negative, hooray! After that, Kat, Jerry, John and I went on a home visit. We met Mtaya who has known he has AIDS since September. When he first got tested, his CD4 (T-cell) count was 7. To give you some idea, those without HIV/AIDS have a CD4 count of about 1500. When someone with HIV's CD4 count drops below 250, they are considered to have AIDS. So 7 is pretty damn low. I'm still skeptical that the translation came across correctly but we double and triple checked. The reason I was so surprised was because Mtaya seems to be doing pretty all right at this point. He is 47 years old. We don't know what his CD4 count has been since September because they haven't recorded it on his blue card even though he's been tested every other month since. Overall, they said he looks like he is in Stage 1. They found something hard in his lower abdomen area so we suggested that he go to the hospital for X-rays or an ultrasound. The other thing is that his house was pretty nice for Bagamoyo standards. In the US it'd be appalling but it was relatively clean and organized and there weren't any major repair issues. Also he was the only one in his house with HIV which is really good. And he seemed to be surrounded by people who took care of him. All in all, I was really lucky to experience such a unsurprising home visit for my first one.
AMAP, the placement I'm currently at, will be closed next week because Sahidi has to move it to a new location. Jerry has somehow convinced me that I will be more useful at UKCUN and I have agreed to work there next week. I'm probably crazy and I'm totally unsure if I can handle this. But I feel like it could be a life changing experience. Or at least perspective changing. I will either be doing home visits with Jerry and Caroline or going out to "the bush" (har har), which is the most rural areas, and teaching hygiene and helping them clean up their homes. Everything is still a bit unclear and up in the air. Wish me luck!
My hour is just about up so I'll update this weekend or next week!

Mikumi and Udzungwa

hello my darling readers!
i hope this post finds you well and enjoying hot showers and nice air conditioned houses. i am enjoying none of those luxuries but im still having more fun than you probably ;-)
this weekend was the safari! and it was fantastic! we left early friday morning. joshua, our tour guide, picked us up in a HUGE badass safari truck. all 8 of us fit comfortably. the first hour of the drive was ridiculously bumpy but then we hit a paved road which was much nicer. even on the paved roads tho they have so many speed bumps. they LOVE their speed bumps here. it's quite bizarre. they have all different kinds. the big humps. the small bumps that come rapid fire. the medium sized humps. i never knew there was such a not-so-wonderful world of speed bumps. my theory is that they don't like smooth roads here so when they make a paved road they add speed bumps to make it feel more like the dirt ones.
oh jeez im spending way too much time on speed bumps.
OKAY the safari was great! Friday we rode around for like 5 hours in Mikumi which is the national park. We saw warthogs, giraffes, elephants, zibras, impala, buffalo, hippos, and a bunch of other things! it was so much cooler than going to a zoo and seeing animals locked up in small cages. we also drove around saturday morning for another 4 or 5 hours. our primary goal the second day was to find a lion! actually it became more of an obsession. we strained our eyes for hours and hours but to no avail. the thing is, lions are tan and nearly all the grass and shrubs are also tan. also they are relatively short in the tall grass which makes it even harder to spot them. it's possible that there were no lions out this weekend or it's possible that we were a few yards from one and just couldn't spot him. i guess we'll never know. there were a few false alarms which turned out to be either other animals or just large rocks. it was still an amazing trip tho and i got some great pictures. especially of the elephant herd that surrounded our car saturday morning. they were just loping around, eating some grass. and there were a few babies too! so cute. also, when giraffes run it really truly looks liek slow motion. it's the weirdest thing! your brain goes wait whaaaat? i always thought that when you saw giraffes running on tv that they had put the video in slow motion to make it look epic, but no, that's really how they run!!
the accomodations were mediocre. the first night was in this guest house sort of thing. it was just our group staying there and we had a common room and kitchen and some bedrooms. it was weird because the furniture was really nice and clean and new looking and the kitchen and bathrooms were disgusting!! i guess they discourage the use of water here by just making their bathrooms unbearable. very few of us showered.
saturday after the morning driving around mikumi, we drove about an hour and a half to a national park called Udzungwa. There they have one of the largest waterfalls in Tanzania. We stayed in a hotel/hostel deal and I got my own room which was pretty sweet. The thing that was not sweet was that right outside my room was the bar. If I told you that on Saturday night I slept literally in the middle of the US/Englad worldcup game field, would you believe me? because that is honestly what it felt like. i don't think it could have been any louder. they didn't really have windows that could block noise out either. it was just screens and metal bars. so there really was no hope. and then after the game? a dance party!!! or something that involved very loud music. but then it quieted down. and around, oh, 4 am the goddamn chicken/rooster started it's wake up call every 20 seconds or so. i was ready to go out there and slaughter the thing myself. if i had brought my maschetti i would have. (yes i bought a maschetti and will not hesitate to use it on anyone who tries to mess with me in new bruns).
the amazing part is that i was actually able to fall asleep by like midnight, even with all this ruckus. i was completely exhausted and turned my ipod on, put absinthe the party at the fly honey warehouse on repeat, and drifted off into a very deep sleep. that is, until the chicken ruined it.
sunday we woke up early and drove 10 minutes to Udzungwa and started our hike by 8 am. It took about an hour or more to hike to the top of the water fall. And let me tell you, this was not a leisurely hike, although our tour guide looked like he was just going on a leisurely stroll through the jungle. This hike was STEEP! the kind where you couldn't look too far ahead or you would just give up completely. you had to just look at the step in front of you and go "ok self, can i do this one? yes i can. how bout this one? sure not bad" and go on like this. and just when you're about to tell your new friends "i'm not going to make it, im going to die here. go on without me and tell my family i love them", just when you're about to say that, then youre there. you're at the top of this magnificent 750 meter high water fall and you can see out for miles and miles across fields of sugarcane and small huts. it was beautiful. and then we hiked back down which was annoying because you have to keep stopping yourself from tumbling down the mountain. and when we got to our starting elevation it was another 20 minute hike to the bottom of the waterfall, but again, definitely worth it. after a while you couldn't tell if the liquid you were drenched in was your own sweat or the spray from the waterfall or just the general humidity. most likely a mixture of all of these. let me tell you, i am looking good in the water fall pictures haha.
so joshua met us at the end and brought us food and then we headed into the safari van, stinkyness and all, and began the journey home which took about 5 hours. all in all, it was a great weekend. definitely more of a trip than a vacation. and dear lord, was my butt sore this morning from all that hiking! i didn't think I was going to make it out of bed!! i need to go on more hikes back in the US.
this week is going to be a bit more relaxed because there are no more afternoon activities. just placement in the morning. i love seeing the kids after being away for the weekend. its so precious when they come up and go "mbebe!" (pick me up!). or when they play with my hair until it's a knotty mess. or when they yell "mother!" and show me the shapes and letters that they can write in the dirt. today we tried to tackle colors. which i'm aware is a large ambition with a room full of 3 to 5 year olds. but it went relatively well. although im sure they still don't know any of the colors, they seemed to enjoy themselves and liked when i pointed to one of their shirts and said "green!" or "sabrina is wearing pink!"
and im hoping to go to the baobab home one afternoon this week and see how things are run there so i can help out this weekend and possibly next week. terri stopped by last week to meet me and pick up the suitcase i brought for them. what a wonderful woman! i can't imagine just dropping life in the US and falling in love and moving to a very very foreign country. But now she's been here for 7 years and is fluent in Swahili and knows loads of people in the community and has helped tons of kids grow up and stand on their own two feet. and her new baby girl is beautiful!! terri is truly an amazing woman and i hope i get a chance to talk to her more even though she is always super busy with one thing or another.
ok that's all for now. i'm actually really glad the homebase here doesn't have internet access. i like only being on once or twice a week and not obsessively checking my facebook every few hours. honestly, that was getting a little pathetic and im considering possibly deleting it. or if not, then most definitely drastically cutting back on my usage.
ok i miss you all! actually, i miss most of you! hahaha. :)
LOVE
margie.

Lay Down Your Heart

This week has been good. We have fallen into somewhat of a routine and the days are starting to fly by. On Tuesday we were back at our regular placements. Everything went as usual. One little boy had a huge cut on his hand. Ok well it was like 3/4 of an inch long but that's a huge cut to me. And it was very deep. The kind that probably needs stitches. Sahidi asked me to put neosporin and bandaids on it and I didn't even get light headed! I've been bringing first-aid stuff and wrapping it everyday since. I'm not sure if it's healing though. :-/
I've also had a nasty head cold and cough this week. I'm really not sure how my body is producing this much snot. But I seem to be significantly better today. A lot of the volunteers have been getting sick with fevers and stomach things so I can't complain too much.

Tuesday afternoon Mama Thea told us some of her life story. She is an amazing woman. Mama Thea is the head of all 3 Tanzania programs (Bagamoyo and the 2 Moshi programs). She grew up in an extremely poor family in Northern Tanzania and her mother died when she was 5 and she has 2 younger siblings. Well now she has 11 because her dad remarried 10 years later and had 9 more. Anyway, me telling you the whole story will not have the same effect as when she told it. She's brilliant and very endearing.
"Mama" obviously means mother but here it is used to refer to any woman who is older than you. For example, the children at AMAP call me Mother (well actually it comes out "Mah-da" haha). It was weird at first but now I'm used to it. It's not that they think I'm they're actual mother, it's just a respectful term.

After Mama Thea's story, we all took a visit to one of Bagamoyo's traditional healers. This man was probably about 65 years old and has been in the business since he was 18. Zik translated everything for us. It was very interesting. Some of the stuff is believable. Like he has a bunch of powders and medicines that can be mixed with water or oils and consumed. These are similar things found in our medicines they just don't have the equipment to put them in capsules and package them. But then he went on to show us this stone that looked like amber. He said if you are feeling sick somewhere and the cause is unnatural, like if a witch is using witchcraft to make you sick, then the stone will stick to the part of your body that is being affected, like a magnet...
He also does exorcisms. He told us that the evil spirits often speak through the person they are inhabiting and demand things. So if the spirit wants a chicken, they give it a chicken and wave this magic wand thing around until the spirit leaves. Interesting. He also claims to be able to cure mental illness and I think at one point said he can make you be attracted to the opposite sex if you are not. Umm what else. OH, he has this powder that you can consume and it will make the person of your choice fall in love with you. Give me some of that, doctahh! Hahahah, all in all it was a really interesting experience to see how other cultures view mental illness (evil spirits) and other things of the sort.

Yesterday a few of us took a cooking course to make traditional food. Robert and Chiku, the cooks at CCS, taught us how to make Cibatti (this delicious, oily flat bread), vegetable stew (mboga), and salad for dinner. It was a lot of fun. I really appreciate all of the hard work they do so we can have delicious meals that won't make us sick.

And last night, the same family we visited last week, who put on the performance, came to Hillside (the outdoor bar next door to CCS homebase) to perform again. It was fantastic. They played drums and other cool instruments and danced. At one point they pulled me up to dance and I could tell that no wasn't really an option, I just wished I had more than one glass of wine. But it was fine because they also pulled Doug and Amanda up there. The woman dancing with Doug was doing some weird awkward dance where she kept her legs completely straight, almost hyper extended. And he tried to mimick her. And the whole thing was entirely ridiculous so everyone was focusing on that haha. And someone got a video of it. But anyway, at the end we all went up and danced together and it was fun. Oh also one of the ladies pretty much gave me a lap dance at one point. That was weird. I didn't really know how to react. I don't know how they move their butts like that. It's crazy. But it was a fun night. I took a few videos on my camera so I will post them when I get home.

And today was our last Swahili lesson. We've had 6 total I believe. I know a lot more than I did when I first arrived but I still cannot communicate adequately in Swahili. That would take many more lessons. But Swahili seems much simpler than English or even Spanish. I think it would be fairly easy to learn if I were to live here for a longer period of time.

Tomorrow 7 of us are going on a safari in Mikumu! It is about 4 or 5 hours away and we are leaving at 6 am. We get one Friday off of volunteering for this purpose. I'm very excited to see all of the wildlife and to hike near a waterfall on Sunday. Hopefully I get some amazing pictures. The rest of the group is going to Lazy Lagoon this weekend which is about 30-45 minutes away. It's a tiny island where there is only one resort and apparently it's really relaxing and the food is great. Most of those people are either going to the Serengedi for a safari the following weekend or going on long safaris after their CCS time is over. The Serengedi is about 8 hours away though so it's not really doable in 3 days.

I think that's all for now. I'll post again next week!

P.S.- Bagamoyo comes from Bwaga moyo which means "lay down your heart" in Swahili.

This is Africa

Ah Monday. It's been a long day. But before I get into that I will tell you about my great weekend. 13 of us traveled to Zanzibar which is an island off the coast of Tanzania and is part of the Republic of Tanzania. We left Friday at 1 pm and drove 2 hours to Dar. Then we caught the 4 pm Kilimanjaro ferry. The ride was smooth and the boat was air conditioned which was nice. I slept most of the way and didn't get sea sick. Then someone met us at the harbor in Stonetown on Zanzibar and drove us to our resort. We stayed at Sunset Bungalows in Kendwa. It was pretty nice. No five star hotel but still nice. Amanda, Whitney and I shared a room and we had AC and each had our own double bed with mosquito nets that made us feel like princesses. The bathrooms were... adequate. Still no warm shower which would have been nice since the room was air conditioned. But we're already used to cool showers. The resort also has a bar and restaurant area right on the beach. Our bungalow was about 100 feet from it. Friday we just ate dinner (I got pizza-- not as good as America but it was decent and I've been deprived of cheese), and then hung out at the bar. Whitney and I were exhausted and didn't feel like drinking for various reasons so we went to bed pretty early. I fell asleep in about 12 seconds. The rest of them stayed out an partied until the wee hours, spending buckets of money on alcohol. In Baga the drinks are fairly cheap but at this resort they were about as expensive as any average American bar so if you're looking to get drunk you better have a good amount of money.

Saturday I woke up around 8 fully rested so a few of us went to the restaurant and ordered breakfast which was part of the package. I got a spanish omelette and toast. Then we spent the majority of the afternoon laying on the beach and reading/napping/swimming. I put sunscreen on twice but still managed to get a wicked sunburn on my stomach and chest. The African sun is strong. (I bet you thought there was only one sun, but you're sadly mistaken). We also went to a few of the shops along the beach. I bought a sarong thing that can be worn as a skirt. It's blue and has elephants on it. Later, we had dinner at the resort's restaurant again. It was pretty far away from any major town so there wasn't really anywhere else to go. Saturday night was pretty much the same as Friday. I didn't really feel like spending money on alcohol, or drinking a lot in an unfamiliar place. But everyone else had a good time. Actually I did too. Then Whitney and I hit the hay around 11 or so.

Sunday we woke up around 8, had breakfast, checked out, and our tour guide picked us up and drove us to a spice farm where we went on a spice tour! At first I wasn't that psyched for it because I didn't really know what a spice tour entailed. Basically we walked around their farm which was more like a jungle/forest and they showed us all different kinds of plants and spices and gave us a sample of each to taste or smell. There was cinnamon, nutmeg, star fruit, cocoa beans, a lipstick tree, vanilla beans, pepper, ginger, jasmine, and a bunch of other things that I can't think of right now. At the end we had the opportunity to purchase little pouches of spices or teas or coffee or bars of soap. It was enjoyable. Then we headed back to Stonetown (where the harbor is) and had lunch at a place called Mercury's Zanzibar. It had something to do with the guy from Queen. I'm not sure if he started the restaurant or what. The food was pretty good. Then we walked around Stonetown a bit and went in some of the shops there.

At 4 pm we caught the ferry back to Dar. We had to take the dreaded Sea Bus because that was the only one running at the time we needed to go back. The group who went before us a few weeks ago told us horror stories about the AC being broken and 60% of the passengers vomiting. They said there was vomit spilling out of the bags and running down the aisles and the smell was rancid. Luckily, our experience with the Sea Bus was about 85 times better. For one, the AC was fixed which was great. I can't say that the boat ride was any smoother though. There were definitely a few points where we got air time and it would crash back down against the water. We all took 2 dramamines before the journey back and I didn't feel sea sick at all which was a huge surprise to me. Richard and Freddy both vomited like 6 times each but the rest of us were okay. On the busride back to Bagamoyo from Dar we stopped at a mini mart and picked up some much needed snacks... Pringles, Twix, Nutella, and things like that.
All in all I'd say it was a successful, relaxing weekend.

We told our placements that we wouldn't be there today because there was an event at the hospital that Jerry (one of the volunteers) helped organize. The plan was to clean some of the wards and then for some of us to donate blood if we felt comfortable. The Bagamoyo blood bank is completely dry. So the Red Cross from Dar was there as well as some people from the big hospital in Dar and we all arrived around 8:30 or so. Then we proceeded to sit around for 2 hours waiting for something to happen. Apparently whoever at the hospital okayed this event didn't tell the Monday staff and they had no idea anything was supposed to happen. Moreover they didn't have any of the cleaning or blood drawing supplies that they were supposed to provide. We sat around while they tried to figure out an alternative but nothing ended up happening. It was really frustrating, especially for Jerry, who spent a lot of time organizing this. Also, we all could have been at our placements rather than sitting in the hospital waiting room. Also, the hospital really does need a good scrubbing. I don't think I would admit myself to that hospital if my life depended on it. Especially not for an operation. It's filthy.
We ended up just going to Ukun which is where some of the volunteers work. They go into the homes of HIV/AIDS patients and make sure they are taking their medicine and have food to eat. They also test patients at the clinic. We saw the process for testing for HIV, and had an interesting discussion about the AIDS epidemic, which seems pretty hopeless to me. (I probably shouldn't say that, but it's true). The goal right now is to get these patients the proper care and to extend their lives as long as possible but these people are living in extreme poverty and probably suffering a great deal, not to mention facing immense social stigmas in the community. Do they really want to live longer in such conditions? I guess that's not for anyone else to decide though. These volunteers definitely have the hardest volunteer placement. They see horrible things.

Today's afternoon activity was Batiking/Beading/Drumming at a local artist's place. I chose to learn how to bead a bracelet. It was a very tedious process because they use tiny glass beads. Monica mentioned that she will never look at those little bracelets the same way again and I completely agree. After that, I did laundry. If you're picturing a washer and dryer in your head, replace that image with two buckets and some Woolite. That's right, we have to hand wash everything. We have the option of giving our laundry to one of the local ladies to do it for a fee but I figured I could do it myself and save some money for other things. I have a feeling my hands are going to be very sore tomorrow from all that wringing. I will never take a washer for granted again. All in all it wasn't that difficult though. Swish some clothes around in soapy water, wring them our, rinse them in the clean water bucket, rinse them out, and hang them to dry.

Tomorrow we're back at our regular placements. This weekend 7 of us are going on a Safari which I'm pretty excited for.
That's all for now. Later gators.

mzungus

hey hey hey. so we started our placements on tuesday. i'm working at AMAP- African Modern Arts Park. Sahidi, who runs it, is really cool. Here's how the morning goes....

I wake up at 6:30. Get dressed, eat breakfast. We either walk or get dropped off at our placement and arrive at 8am. Some of the kids are already there and they run and greet us. We just hang out while they play in the yard and make sure they don't get hurt. Other kids arrive. There's usually about 50 total. Then we make a circle. We sing songs like Hokey Pokey, If you're happy and you know it, Old McDonald, and some others that I learned here. They show us how they can count to 100. And they sing this precious song that goes "we need you, we love you, feel at home" and i'm sure they have no idea what they're saying but it's still cute. Then we split them into 2 groups: the older kids and younger kids. Freddy and Jen go with the older ones (Jen is leaving this weekend though), and I take the younger ones. Sahidi helps me usually. Things get chaotic usually. We just teach them basic things like ABC, 123, and squares, triangles, and circles. They know some English, but only a very little bit. Then their attention runs out so we play in the yard until the porridge is ready. It's actually more like milky looking water but i'm sure theres some sort of caloric value. They also got a donation of books so they like looking at those. I point to things and say the English word and they repeat it. I don't know if they actually learn anything but the older kids are pretty smart so I'd like to think AMAP helped them to learn those things. Also it's better than having them wandering the streets getting into trouble. They're so little! I wish I could communicate better with them but.... I can't. So we make do. 

Today at CCS we had game day. We went to a field and played some soccer. Actually I mostly just stood there and then decided I was useless to the team so I watched from the side with Hanna. BUT THEN we played chase the chicken. Didase introduced it as chase the kitchen at first which made me laugh for hours. But basically they let a live chicken go in the field and the volunteers chase it around like fools until it is caught. It's hilarious. Doug caught it and let it go and then I picked it up. The poor thing was probably so scared so I just cuddled it and told it I wouldn't eat it. 

This weekend a bunch of us are going to Zanzibar. We have to make the 2+ hour drive to Dar and then catch a ferry to Zanzibar. I hope to God we take the Kili ferry and not the Sea Boat. I can't deal with boats that rock too much, or people that vomit all over the place. I guess I'll let you guys know next week how it went!

Next week a bunch of us are going to help Sahidi clean up the new location for AMAP. He's moving to a new place and Pili's shop will be there as well as AMAP and their living quarters. The yard for the children is full of garbage and sharp things they can hurt themselves on so we're going to try to fix it up a bit. Hopefully our efforts are successful. 

I think that's about all that is going on... oh the flies here are ridiculous. Amanda and I decided that those children in the Feed the Children commercials don't have flies on them because theyre poor, it's just because they're in Africa. I wish I had brought a fly swatter because I would spend my free time killing those annoying little shits. Even though it probably wouldn't reduce the number by much it would still make me feel better to get revenge. 

I'll post again next week if I have news!

-M

ps- the title of this blog is mzungus which means white people. that's what the kids call us on the street. it's not a derogatory term, it's more just like theyre stating a fact. i still find it weird. i don't think it would go over well if i came back to the states and started shouting "black person!!!" everytime i saw one. or even "white person!!!" for that matter. even the adults here call us mzungus. thanks for stating the obvious! I've been white for 21 years now.

My name is Water

Mambo!
So I made it to Tanzania successfully. Elias is one of the drivers and he picked me up from the airport with another driver. The drive to the homebase from the airport took over two hours. I think I could have walked back faster. The traffic was horrendous!! And this was at 8pm at night. I also found is strange that there were so many people on the streets of Dar at night. Even once we got out of the city it was still very crowded with people walking or selling things or just hanging out. I wish it had been light so I could have seen my surroundings better. I was very happy to reach the homebase. Edna, one of the housekeepers gave me some leftovers from dinner and then showed me my room. I'm staying in a room with 3 girls who have been here for a few weeks already: Tracy, Stacey, and Jen. Jen and Stacey are sisters from Canada and Tracy is from Arizona. They have taught me a lot so far about Bagamoyo.

Sunday and Monday (today) have been filled with orientation. We had a Swahili lesson and a guest speaker from the hospital talk about Malaria and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The HIV/AIDS rate is higher in Bagamoyo than any other part of Tanzania.
And let me tell you, this place is pretty damn rural. I'm still amazed that I'm connected to the internet right now! It's a small room with five computers and it's right next door to the homebase which was clever since I'm sure CCS volunteers are the main users.

The homebase is nice and the staff is wonderful. Zik is the head of the Bagamoyo program and Didas' title is logistician however he does a lot of things for us. Everyone here in Bagamoyo is so polite! Well mostly. We get a lot of stares from the local people, rightly so I suppose. The children are so friendly and love giving high fives or showing us the few English phrases that they have learned. Today we walked through the Monday market as well as made a trip towards Baga Point to a small tailor shop to buy some fabric. Pili is the wife of the man who runs AMAP (Sahidi) where I will be volunteering and she has a shop where she makes dresses and bags and things so if you bring her fabric, or purchase it in her shop she will make whatever you want, for very cheap by American standards. Also all of the proceeds go towards supplies and food for AMAP. Sahidi and Pili have a 2 and a half year old son who they renamed Barack when Obama was elected. People LOVE Obama here!

I found out that I will be working with fairly young children, contrary to my prior belief. Sahidi runs 2 programs, the morning one, when we volunteer, is for street children. Some of them are orphans, some come from single parent families. They are between the ages of 4 and 7 usually. They go to AMAP from 8 am until about 11:30 am and we teach them basic things like the alphabet, or some English words or basic math. They also get to eat some porridge, and for some this is the only food they get all day. So tomorrow we start our volunteer placements. Jen, my roommate who has been here for a while, volunteers at AMAP so she will be able to show me the ropes, which is good. Freddy, who also arrived on Saturday will be volunteering there as well. Today we met Sahidi and he seems very friendly! The other program is in the afternoon for young adults and aspiring artists. They receive training and marketing skills so they are able to profit from their artwork.

The house is soo nice for Bagamoyo standards and I can't really complain. There is no internet but it prevents me from wasting too much time on here. There is no hot water, but believe me, hot water is the last thing anyone wants by the end of an excruciatingly hot and humid day (the humidity is out of control!). Also there's no water pressure but that's no different than my New Brunswick apartment. There's only 4 new volunteers staying in the main house. Amanda (who also goes to Rutgers), Hannah (who was here last summer), Sarah, and myself. The 15 other new volunteers are staying in the Summer House which is about a five minute walk. The advantage? They have air conditioning. The disadvantage? They have to walk to the main house for all of the meals and activities. So basically they only use the AC at night and I haven't really had a problem sleeping, as long as you stay really still and don't get tangled in the mosquito nets.

Speaking of mosquites I already have 5 bites. But Ive been using bug spray and taking my malaria pills religiously so I'm hoping they don't result in malaria. The rest of the group is visiting the hospital in Bagamoyo right now, however I opted out because they said it's much different from America and we might be shocked by what we see. Sounds like a faint session to me. I don't even like American hospitals.

Today I am going to get a cell phone. Mostly to contact the other volunteers and the staff but occasionally for long distance calls. The phones are about 35 shillings (about $25 USD) and then you buy the minutes as you go but those are also really cheap. I think they said it's a half a shilling per second, and a shilling is like nothing. It will be much more convenient when we are traveling on the weekends and also to contact Terri, who runs the Baobab Home. She called me on Sunday to see if I could go on an outing with her but I couldn't because we've been too busy with orientation things. But the 3rd and 4th week we have a lot of free time so I'm hoping to be able to visit them and help out.

Ah, so the title of this blog. All the Tanzanians here pronounce my name Mah-jee (with a soft J) and the word for water here is Maji so basically they remember my name by thinking water. I don't mind it. It could have been a worse word. Like oh, in Swahili your name means prostitute. No thanks!
I'm looking forward to starting our volunteer work tomorrow but I'm slightly concerned about being able to communicate with the children since they don't speak very much English and my Swahili skills are lacking, to say the least. But Sahidi speaks both languages so I think it will be okay. Plus I'm not the first American volunteer they've had.
Alright, that's all for now. I know I forgot to mention so many things but I feel rushed because I'm paying for internet and also dinner is soon!
OH! speaking of dinner, the food is pretty good here! Robert is the cook along with another woman whose name I forget right now. They spend all day cooking and preparing food for us! But still I know I'm going to be craving American food regardless. They don't have very much cheese here. Or milk. Or ice cream. Serious dairy deprivation. Also there aren't really any grocery stores to buy snacks. Oh well, I guess eating healthy is better.
Hope you are all doing well!
I'll blog soon about my volunteer placement.
<3

Swiss Cheese

Hello!
So, as many things in life go, my trip to Tanzania has not gone as planned so far. But before you start to cry out of pity for me, let me explain! Because right now I'm sitting in a lovely air conditioned hotel room for which I didn't have to pay a dime and to my right I have 2 meal vouchers for food! Don't fret.
This is what happened. Mama Nej took me to the airport... yesterday it was (my days are already all mixed up, it feels like the same day still). Then I got a really expensive and not that delicious italian sandwich and waited to board the flight. Everything went smoothly, we all got on the airplane and then out of no where (actually out of the northwest to be more precise) a storm hit! It was pouring and thundering and lightning and air control temporarily stopped the departures. So we waited for about 2 and a half hours on the immobile plane before finally taking off. So I knew right away I wasn't going to make my connecting flight. This knowledge was reinforced by the book I am reading "The Geography of Bliss" where the author explains how prompt everything is in Switzerland. At least the disappointment came early!
So we took off around 9:00 pm and everything went well... no crashes or anything. There was one screaming child but it was far away enough that it didn't bother me. I was able to sleep a little... maybe 2 hours? There was a really nice woman from NJ/Connecticut across the aisle and we chatted a bit. She was vacationing in Zurich with her sister for a long weekend. Luckily there was no one in the seat next to me so I was able to spread out a bit.
We landed in Zurich at about 10:20 am (4:20 am US time), 2 hours after our scheduled arrival. It took like 4 minutes to get off the plane and then another 10 to get to terminal E where my flight would have been. It was kinda sad to know that had my first flight been on time, I would have made it to my second flight no problem. But oh well! I went to the transfer desk who sent me to another transfer desk across the airport at which point I met a lovely young man who was able to help me. He told me I had two options:
1. I could take the 9:30 am flight tomorrow morning and either stay in the airport or pay for my own hotel. or
2. I could hop on a 5 pm flight to london, an 8 pm flight to Nairobi, and then some other flight from there to Dar es Salaam which would get me into Dar es Salaam at 9:20 in the morning.
After a few minutes of contemplation I decided to go with option 2 for two reasons: I wouldn't have to stay in the airport overnight or pay for a hotel, and I would be in Dar es Salaam before 3:30 which is when CCS requests us to arrive. Also, I could say I'd been to 5 countries in 36 hours, how cool right?! So the guy went to book the flight and he called someone else who told him that I couldn't do that, I suppose because one or more of the flights was booked. But they also said that they would pay for me to stay in a hotel and take the 9:30 am flight to Dar es Salaam. So they booked me at the Radisson which is surprisingly nice for being booked by the airline. And it's literally right next door, I didn't even have to go outside to get here because there is a tunnel under the street. AND free internet access. But stupid me, I only broughgt the right adapter for Tanzania so I only have as much time as my battery allows. Oh well. I will probably lounge around the room a bit, grab some free dinner at the airport, take a well deserved shower and hit the hay a little early tonight since I basically skipped Thursday night.

It's weird being all alone over hear. Not really scary or depressing, just weird. I don't think I've ever been this far from anyone I know. I'm completely surrounded by strangers! Some of which have been very kind to me along the way.
Looks like I won't be needing the airplane pillow and blanket I stuffed into my backpack in the case of sleeping in the airport. Woohoo!
I guess there were a decent amount of delayed flights because I saw a lot of people FREAKING out. This one lady, clearly American, was supposed to be in Athens and was screaming at the poor airport worker. I feel bad for the airport people that have to deal with frantic assholes all the time. I myself am guilty of some frantic behavior in the France airport last year. But this year I haven't been worked up all that much. After all, they won't let me fly the plane so there's not a whole lot I can do to control what time I get to Tanzania. I already called the program when I was still in Newark and they said they would be there at 8:10 tomorrow night to pick me up. Then there's the 2 hour drive to Bagamoyo.
Now I just need to figure out how to set an alarm or get a wake up call from the front desk. Missing tomorrow's flight would be a very very bad thing. Hopefully I can blog again soon upon my arrival to Tanzania!


This is what a delayed flight looks like.
This is what a free hotel room in Zurich looks like.

This is what my wildest dreams look like (it's a ginormous wine tower in the lobby).
This is what an ominous or perhaps hopeful sign looks like.

packing...

All of this and some other things need to fit into one carry-on sized suitcase and one normal sized backpack... hmm, looks like im going to have to narrow it down a bit.

I've been doing a decent amount of driving the last few days and it has given me time to contemplate my fast approaching trip and think about what I am most looking forward to, so I decided to put together a list because, well, lists are awesome. Some of these things a lot of people would think of as hassles which is probably why most people don't travel to Tanzania very often...
I'm looking forward to.................
- Not wearing make up for an entire month (or very little).
- Having crazy hair because I won't be straightening it.
- Having no cell phone and therefor be unable to text anyone.
- Having limited access to the internet.
- Having lots of time to read good summer books.
- Surviving on chai tea and veggies and other healthy things.
- Learning how to deal with food cravings.
- Walking to every destination within walking distance.
- Living by the ocean.
- Searching for awesome souvenirs for my family and friends.
- Deciding what personal belongings to leave behind in Africa so I have room in my suitcase to bring home these souvenirs.
- Being missed.
- Mastering the skill of going with the flow.
- Being barefoot as much as possible.
- Making new friends and hearing their stories.
- Using charades, smiling and laughing as a means of communication when there is no other option.
- Meeting Terri, Caito, their children, and the kids at their orphanage (hopefully!).
- Bringing them the much needed cloth diapers.
- Sleep deprivation.
- Learning how to live in a place completely different than anything I have ever known.
- Taking wonderful pictures.
- Weekend adventures.
- The opportunity to teach others as well as learn from them.
- A break from all this craziness to experience a different kind of craziness.

I'm sure there's a bunch of other ones but these are all that I can think of for now. In 72 hours I will be at the airport, hooray!

More pre-departure news!

So I have some exciting new updates! Well, they're exciting to me, they might be boring to you, i'm not sure. I've been in contact with Terri from the Baobab Home and her sister Becky, who lives in New Jersey. I've decided to take an entire extra suitcase with me, filled with supplies for the orphanage. Becky said what they do is buy old suitcases at garage sales and use those to transport things so the person doesn't have to worry about bringing the suitcase back. I'm a bit nervous about lugging two suitcases with me but I will be able to check the bags all the way through so I don't need to worry about them in Switzerland, assuming I make my flight. And then in Dar es Salaam, the Holiday Inn will be picking me up from the airport so they can help me carry them which is good. And besides, how can I turn down an opportunity to bring much needed items like cloth diapers to an orphanage in Tanzania just because I might have a little trouble? Becky is going to pack the suitcase with everything and weigh it to make sure its under the 50 pound maximum and we're going to meet up at some point next week so she can give it to me.

In other news, we had our CCS conference call this week. There were about 10 volunteers on the call and our adviser, Sharon, who actually was also my adviser for Morocco. The conference calls are always awkward because we don't know each other yet and no one wants to talk. Also, there was a horrible echo coming from Sharon's phone and it made it really difficult to understand her! But I got some useful information. Hannah, who was in Bagamoyo for 5 weeks last summer and is returning for 12 weeks this summer, said that there are no dairy products in Bagamoyo so the diet change can be disruptive. She said she already cut out dairy from her diet so her body can get used to it before arrival. I think I will attempt to do the same thing although I probably won't be 100% successful. I haven't been drinking milk or eating any yogurt or anything so that's good. Hannah also told me that the students at AMAP (where I will be volunteering) are mostly in their twenties. I think it will be a really cool and different experience to work with adults! Also, Terri said that her orphanage is in walking distance from where I'm staying so if Immigration allows me to help out there, it will be very easy to get to!

I also found out today that there is now a 9:30 am flight on Saturday! So if I happen to miss my Friday 9:30 am connecting flight I won't have to wait the entire weekend in Switzerland, I can just hop on the flight the next day. Although my hotel room would go to waste and I would miss the 3:30 departure time of the other volunteers, it would still be better than waiting for days or paying for a flight to Dubai.

These are some of the things I've learned since my last post and I am soo excited to get to Bagamoyo! I've found some pictures on the CCS Flickr site posted by some one named Emily Michelle. I'll post them to give you guys an idea of where I'll be staying and such, in case I can't post pictures when I'm there!






One of the CCS homebases in Bagamoyo.

We'll put a distance the size of the ocean... again

Jambo!
So i realized a few times through out this past year that I never updated my blog when I got home from Morocco last year. Probably due to the excitement of arriving home safely and seeing my family and and friends and Ben. And then the memories started to fade a little and writing about the trip home seemed like too much work I suppose. Or perhaps I just didn't want to remember the trip home, I'd rather believe that I just snapped my fingers and there I was. Regardless, this is what I do recall from that (very long) day. We woke up at a ridiculously early hour (5 or 6 am which was midnight back in the states). Mohamed and Abdellah were both gone for the weekend and basically the only person around was the security guard who didn't speak very much English. The man who was supposed to drive us ("us" being Lacey, Liz and myself) to the airport didn't arrive on time. I don't recall how late he was but it was late enough where we had to contact poor Mohamed at such an early hour to give the guy a call. It was also late enough to cause me to start in with extreme anxiety about arriving home. But he finally arrived and we arrived at the small airport in Rabat with enough time to check our bags and board the plane. The person checking my bags asked me for the Newark airport code. You're the one who works here can't you look it up or something? is what I wanted to say. But instead I just gave him "NWK" which seemed the most logical. I later found out it was EWR (that doesn't correspond very well to Newark!!).
So we boarded the plane. I was seated all the way in the back row, which was fine because there were two entrances, one in the front of the plane and one in the back. And then I realized the back entrance wouldn't be used during our exit at the Charles DeGaulle airport. I literally had the most inconvenient seat ever for a short layover. The layover being only an hour and 15 minutes or so. It took a ridiculously long time to get off the plane, and then we had to wait for a bus to take us to a different terminal. By this time I was a crazy person because the bus was taking forever and none of the airport people were willing to do anything in order to help us reach our flight. The bus finally came and stopped at every terminal before ours. And then once we got to our terminal, we weren't even close to our gate. We were literally running through the airport. And Lacey had packed most of her souvenirs and many of her belongings into her GINORMOUS carry on and was lagging behind. So I swapped with her so she could carry my moderate sized one and we sprinted through the airport. LUCKILY we made it to our flight with only seconds to spare, the last people getting on the plane before it took off. And right before we left, an airport worker came on our plane and asked me for my luggage ticket (at that point I realized NWK was not Newark's airport code). So not only did we make it on the flight home (sweaty and panting) but so did our luggage! How wonderfully lucky.
And then when we arrived in Newark we had to go through customs or whatever which took soo ridiculously long, and felt even longer knowing that my wonderful family and my wonderful Ben were waiting for me just a few rooms away! And we drove home and I was exhausted and my mom's cooking, which is normally delicious, was the best thing I had ever eaten. And sprinting through the airport in France was completely necessary and worth it. And that's what I remember from that crazy and long trip home.
And now, here I am, nearly a year later, about to set sail on my second great adventure: Bagamoyo, Tanzania. I am going again with Cross Cultural Solutions, however this time I won't have the comfort of my best friend, or anyone I know for that matter. I also won't have internet access in the house where I am staying. Nor will I have the luxury of a 75 minute layover. This time, I thought I'd really test my running ability. My layover is in Zurich, Switzerland, and if my first flight arrives on time I will have 50 minutes to make it to my next flight. Believe me, the anxiety has already set in and I still have 10 days before I leave. And the real reason for this crazy short layover is because I need to fly using Continental and their partner airlines. And the only option was to fly Continental to Switzerland and then Swiss Airways to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I guess there's not a huge demand to travel there. If I miss my flight, there is not another flight to Tanzania via Swiss Airways for the entire weekend. So that means I either have to wait a couple of days and miss orientation and my first few days volunteering or I have to hop on a flight to Dubai, and then another flight to Tanzania, which would get me there just in time to meet up with the program and the other volunteers. Either way, if I miss my flight, my hotel room will go to waste, so I'm really really really hoping that I can make it!!!
Enough about flight anxiety though! Whenever I do finally arrive in Bagamoyo, I will be volunteering at the African Modern Arts Park and Training Center for Street Children. I'm still a bit unclear about what my duties there will be. I know that these children live at the school and are provided with free education and two meals a day. They take courses in English, Art History, and Art. I believe most of them are 12+ since they are currently working on opening a school for 6-12 year olds. I hope that I can be helpful in teaching them! I think it will be a fun placement, and much different than my orphanage placement in Morocco, which I adored.
A few years ago I heard of this woman named Terri Place who is from New Jersey and who started an orphanage in Bagamoyo, called the Baobab Home (www.tzkids.org). She is a huge inspiration to me, and I have contacted her about possibly visiting her orphanage and helping out some days. However, I learned that the visa situation is complicated and subject to the whims of the immigration officers. Basically, I might not be allowed to volunteer in two places while I am there (who limits the amount of volunteer work someone is allowed to do?!!) But anyway, Terri is going to talk to her husband Caito who is from Tanzania and who knows more about the visa process. I really hope we can work something out! Also, I will be meeting up with Terri's mother before I leave in order to bring a few items to the orphanage for her. Shipping is very expensive and probably unreliable. Unfortunately I won't have enough room in my suitcase to bring a box of cloth diapers.
And that's where I am at this point. Being bored in New Jersey while I wait for the arrival of May 27th and for the craziness and adventures to begin. I will be updating this blog periodically while I am over there but I'm not sure if I will be able to post pictures since I have to go to the internet cafe for access. Cross your fingers and pray for me!