I'm Alive! I promise (long post)

Day 6 (6/23):

I hope I don’t start repeating myself too much on these. I’m trying to post the most interesting things that happen to me, or even just the stuff that sticks with me most throughout the day. Ah well. Here goes.

Wednesday started out the same. We have three options of eggs for breakfast in the morning: scrambled, fried, or “Spanish” (which is essentially a green pepper omelet). I had decided to be brave the previous morning and try the Spanish omelet. Bad choice. I went with just toast this time. Toast, tea, and juice. My morning staple.

Class was the same. Some days its really interesting, and we have awesome discussions and really cool debates over world issues, and then other days its just kind of boring and we have to pick a part international documents that just kind of run into each other after a while. The weather here has a lot to do with it too. Every day is pretty much the same, it’s chilly in the morning and kind of overcast and as the day goes on it gets warmer and the sun burns the clouds away. But even though we’ve only been here a week, we’ve all kind of been able to tell which days will take longer for the sun to come out, and those days the conversation usually lags. Those days all we want to do is snuggle in our beds.

After class my roommates and I decided to venture to the more touristy market that we had failed to find the day before. It was AWESOME. Exactly what we had been looking for the day before. Not to say that I don’t want to see authentic Arusha or experience what local life is like, but other than shady street vendors with stolen goods, we hadn’t been able to find any places where we could feasibly buy gifts for family or even for ourselves. This place was exactly what we were looking for.

So the Maasai people are the local tribal people in the East African region, not just Tanzania. Unfortunately, though their culture is amazing and rich, they are mostly destitute and poor. A lot of times they will make crafts and small gifts and things to bring to the bigger towns to sell. This is what the market was. It was several lanes of tightly packed shopfronts with all different wares. From jewelry, to traditional Maasai weaponry (spears, knives) to typical African clothing, like congas and katangas. It was amazing. If you need a comparison, it’s probably be best to compare the Maasai people and their products to the Amish people who sell things at Reading Terminal Market. The best part of it, however, is that they hike up the price for white tourists because I guess enough of them pay the asking price, but they’re really impressed when you haggle and barter with them, and are much more willing to lower the price. Rule of thumb is generally to go at least half of whatever their first offer is, and work from there.

We had SO much fun. It was amazing and overwhelming and fun. I bought this really beautiful blue scarf (more on that later) and a traditional conga that I may get made into a wrap skirt by one of the local tailors.

By the time we got out of the market, we were tired and hungry and hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We decided to try a place called Africafe, which is a very western-style, tourist coffee house. We were so hungry by the time we ordered, however, that we couldn’t back out when we saw the price tag. I ordered a cheese burger (yes, I’m ashamed to admit it) which was $8,500 shilling, roughly 6.71 USD. For those of you who don’t know Arusha or even Africa, that’s kind of outrageously expensive. But then again it’s meant to be. We have many other options to eat in town that are cheaper and cater to local food, but we wanted to say we’d gone there at least once. I’m ashamed to admit how absolutely ecstatic I was about my burger. I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever had a better burger in the states. Maybe its because I was starving or because I was missing food from home, but its embarrassing how much I enjoyed that burger, lol.

After we got back from lunch, we decided to play cards together (I taught the girls rummy, family, you would be impressed) and watched the world cup. It’s nice because the world cup plays games at regular intervals on the tv here, so every day we watch the 5 oclock game, which ends right at 7, in time for dinner. (I saw the entire USA game, and saw that final goal. EPIC). And then there’s a game at 9:30 which we watch. Emily usually goes to be by that time, so Libby and I have our nightly routine where I play mahjong titans or chess on my computer and write my blog entry and she does the class readings and we have the world cup on low or mute until it ends at like 11:30 and we both go to bed. It’s nice to have a routine with her, especially since we get along so well.

After dinner, before the heading back to our room, I had another girl in our group, Amran, show me how to wrap my hair with the scarf I bought at the market. I’m very excited and will most likely wear my hair like that off the plane. It’s a nice look, it’s practical, and its easy, especially when my hair gets gross and I don’t feel like doing it that day. I’ve learned a life skill that I cannot wait to bring back to the states.


Day 7 (6/24):

As previously mentioned, I tried to spice things up on Tuesday by trying the Spanish eggs, and that was a mistake, but I decided two days later to try the last option, the fried egg. Spanish eggs? Bad decision. Fried egg? Best decision I ever made in my life. The eggs here have very light yolks. I mean, they exist, but when they make scrambled eggs, its almost as if its only whites, that’s how light the yolks are. But the fried egg was amazing. I buttered my toast, stuck that bad boy on there, added some salt, and I was in heavy. It was a nice addition of protein to my morning. The other piece of toast I usually reserve for buttering and adding marmalade. A nice dichotomy of salty sweet. Anyone who knows me, knows I love me some salty-sweet.

Class was interesting again today, but like my theory proves, the sun came out earlier, and we got our first good shot of Mt. Meru since we got here. I was stoked. I got some good pictures, but I can’t wait to get more. There is something seriously incredible about being able to come back to the apartment complex, glance over your shoulder, and see the second highest mountain in the country saying hello. Especially since a lot of times the clouds are still there, but they are wispy enough to be able to see both sides and the peak. Awesomeness.

After class we met up with Auntie Frida, our assistant program director, at the Peace Research Center and she talked to us about volunteer opportunities for us while we’re here. Heifer International isn’t accepting any more volunteers, unfortunately, but there are two others that interest me. One is called Uhai and it’s for people and orphans suffering from HIV/Aids and it would mostly be delivering food to their homes. The other one is at an organization called Shanga and they employ physically disabled and deaf individuals to make crafts and things to sell. It’s significant because in African culture, people with disabilities are outcast and stigmatized as cursed so it’s really hard for them to find employment. I know Rich and Patrick are probably laughing right now, but it’s sort of a serious problem here so I’m excited to see how that is. We’re going there for lunch tomorrow to meet with the people and see if they need help from any of us.

At the Center, we also met two girls from the spring semester trip who had stayed a little while after it was over to do other traveling. They were really awesome to talk to because they gave us names of trustworthy people in town and like good places that were cheap to eat at and just general advice. It made me sad though, because these girls had been there since February and they were leaving to go back to the states and while I know I would have never been able to handle that long of a time away from home, I know that 5 weeks isn’t nearly enough to cultivate the types of friendships they made and experiences they saw. It sort of motivated me to be more optimistic and outgoing about being here and to make the most out of what I can. I know that’s common sense going in, and I know that most of you said that it would get easier every day, but I’d like to give you all a pat on the back and say that yes, you were right. It does get easier every day, and not even easier, more enjoyable. It helps that I’m building stronger bonds with the girls here, but it’s definitely my adjustment to life here is smoother and I’m excited for everything that I’ll see and bring home with me. (Starting with learning to wrap my hair)

We took the advice of the girls and tried a new place for lunch that was right across the street from Africafe, next to the bookstore where we buy postcards and like infinitely cheaper. They sell traditional Tanzanian food, and some more western style foods, but its all cheap, and its all made with their tourist customers in mind, even if the majority are locals. Like, they make sure they boil the water they wash the fruit in, that kind of stuff. Which I liked a lot. I got a chocolate crepe and sweet tea for $4,500 shilling ($3.21 USD). It was awesome.

Since we only have two meals a day served to us, (and trust me, they’re awesome. None of us complain about the food at the hotel. It rocks), we decided as a group to do dinner every day, and figure out lunch on our own. As cheap as things are here, lunch every day adds up. So we hit the grocery store on the way home to start making sandwiches to bring for after class. I bought brown bread, which is kind of like a mixture of wheat and rye (yum), peanut butter, and mixed fruit island jam. For PB&J sammies. Fun fact: simba in Swahili is the word for lion, while rafiki is the word for friend. Tembo is elephant, and hakuna matata really means “no worries”. Oh, and safari really means journey.

I also found nutella at the supermarket we went to, which is hard to find here, and it was mad expensive. But also totally worth it. I cannot wait to get back to my room after class next week and chomp down on nutella toast and pb&j.





Day 8 (6/25):

So a lot of the program that I’m on is about self-motiviation. By that I mean, you’re expected to figure things out yourself, and then seek assistance when needed. Not necessarily that they set things up for you and you take advantage of them. That’s not exactly what I expected, and I think it’s slightly unrealistic in a 5 week time frame, but that’s the way it is, so whatever. I’m saying this in relation mostly to volunteer work. I realized when I got to college that a lot of people volunteer, or have, in their lives. Other than the occasional holiday where I would help my mom wrap presents for local families or make up food baskets, and at school once where I helped do housework in Philly, I haven’t done as serious outreach/volunteering as most of my peers. So like, volunteer culture is something strange to me. Not bad, by any means, just something I’m not familiar with.

Here, though, there is an expectation that you will get involved in some kind of volunteer work, and there’s even a certificate if you complete more than 15 hours of volunteer work and it recognizes the extra-curricular experiences you’ve pursued. So anyway, not complaining, just explaining why this is new to me.

So Alex, this girl in my group, is a Criminology major from University of Florida, so when she heard that we would possibly be able to sit in on a court proceeding for the United Nations International Tribunal Council for Rwanda, she got really excited. She talked to our program director and really took the initiative to set up us going. Technically all the proceedings are open to the public, but its kind of tricky trying to finagle a group of 17 going. Either way, after working on it for most of the week, she told us yesterday that she would go over in the morning (it’s a 2 minute walk from our classroom) and make sure they would accept all of us, and then she would pick us up from class and we would go. 20 minutes into class she showed up and gave us the ok. We all trekked over to the Arusha International Conference Center (AICC) where the United Nations Interntional Tribunal Council for Rwanda meet and try war criminals from the Rwandan genocide. That whole things sounds lofty and cool right now, but none of us really knew the gravity of what that meant until we got there, and then not even fully until after we left.

We were able to sit in on the morning sessions of the case. From 9-10:30 and then from 11-12:30. We sat in a long room with one wall of glass windows looking into the courtroom. There were TVs for us to be able to watch the close-ups even though we could see clearly through the glass and then we had headsets so that we could listen, since the prosecution was in French. The three judges presiding over the case were really intense, as was the whole experience.

Basically, for those of you who don’t know, in April 1994, the president of Rwanda was assassinated. His plane was shot out of the sky. The political tension that had already been present in the country for several months previous came to a head at this point. There was division between the two ethnic groups in the country, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Essentially, these groups didn’t exist before the Belgian colonists came and needed a way to divide and conquer, so they vagrantly made up physical differences between these people and restricted them from marrying into the other group, from interacting, from everything. After many years of this, it wasn’t made up any more, the divide existed between the people. The Belgians succeeded in creating a great enough difference between the people that they didn’t think to rebel against their colonists. After Rwanda received its independence, those divisions still existed. Like I said, it all came to a head in April 1994, with the president’s assassination and what ensued what the genocide of nearly 800,000-1 million Tutsi Rwandans by their opposing ethnic group, the Hutus.

The government officials, who allowed this to take place, and who staged the coup-de-tat against the regime are considered war criminals, and while we weren’t able to see the individual they were trying today, we saw the testimony and cross-examination of another war criminal who has already been tried and convicted of 11 crimes against humanity and is serving a life sentence in prison, bearing witness against him. Our chairs were lined up behind the witness stand, on the other side of the glass. I literally was separated by 2 and a half feet, and a thin pane of glass, from a man (Colonel Bagosora) who was in part responsible for the death of almost 1 million Rwandan people.

The prosecution mostly questioned him about the night of the coup, and his role in it. It was funny, when they asked him the course of events for that night; he said that “stumbled” on a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff in the government, which was against the law. None of the people present at the meeting the night of the president’s assassination had authorization to hold a meeting like that, and when he “found” the meeting that night, the other people present were considerate enough to invite him to be co-chair of the meeting.

The whole experience was intense and interesting and made me so much more sure of that I want to deal with genocide and the charging of war criminals. Today was the first time I was interested in and excited for law school. I can’t even begin to explain the gravity of my experience. Maybe it will be one of those things that I will just keep for myself, because I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to explain to someone what that experience meant to me.

Ok, so, other than that, which was amazing, we then left and were picked up from the Museum to go to Shanga for lunch, as mentioned before.

After driving out of Arusha for 25 minutes, we pulled off the main road onto a dirt road with forest on one side and some kind of farm on the other. We turned into a small driveway and see a small compound set in a pretty clearing in the forest. We walked through an arch of beaded glass and recycled ceramic pieces into the main clearing. It was a series of low open buildings with people working at various stages of craft on beadings and jewelry and cloth. Shanga, like I said before, is an organization set on a beautiful coffee plantation (hence the farm on the way in) that employs physically disabled and deaf/mute individuals. They pay them well and allow them to be proud of the work they do. They had a gift shop on premises and set in a beautiful garden on the grounds. 100% of the sales from the restaurant and the fit shop went back to the organization. Not only is it morally awesome, but they are also almost completely environmentally sustainable. All of the firewood used to fuel the kilns where they were making the beads comes from the coffee plantation next door, and not from clear cutting the forest around them. They work with the Maasai people to learn the craft of their jewelry-making and collaborate within the organization. All of the cotton used to make katangas and congas is grown locally. The packaging they use to sell the jewelry and products is made from recycled paper in the compound, and they receive glass and aluminum from restaurants and manufacturing places respectively, from Arusha. This place was amazing. Behind the buildings was a beautiful sloping lawn with recycled wood chairs and couches with handmade pillows and cushions, and across the lawn was the restaurant where we got treated to lunch. This restaurant was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to. It must have been 5 star quality, AND everything about the restaurant was sustainable and organic. The food was delicious and the experience was amazing. I plan on doing a lot of my volunteer work at this place. Another cool thing they did was offer Tanzanian Sign Language to the non-deaf workers so that they have a common language that everyone can understand between them.

The food was delicious and fresh and yummy and the coffee from the plantation next door they had us drink with desert was the most delicious coffee I’ve ever tasted in my life. I bought a bag of beans just to bring home and drink. SO good. (How good, Pat? So good.)

The entire day was overwhelming because we did two pretty major things in one day whereas we only usually do one small thing, so we all needed some process time afterwards. I wrote my blog, obviously, and now I’m going to eat dinner.

The line-up for this weekend:
Sat – camel-back safari near Mt. Meru
Sun – music swap with the roomies and maybe laundry

Love and miss you all tons!

Also, if you ever need to contact me while I’m here. Either its an emergency at home or you haven’t heard from me in a while and you’re worried, my consistent phone number is as follows, and please type in exactly as it is, including the plus: +255 685 242 029

Feel free to call. I keep money on it regularly, and I would love to hear from you guys!

Colleen