Pat Wynne Tanzania 2015
January 10
(from Sigrid) - Why didn't I know you were doing this? Did I miss an email? How long will you be away? Send details please. I thought I had told you about my "adventure" - I'm in Tanzania for 10 weeks, under the auspices of Project Cure, but not doing anything medical. Rather I'm spending the first month volunteering at the school at Stella Maris, then going to Arusha and volunteering at the Plaster House which is a short-term rehab facility for kids who have casts on after surgery. Sometime during my stay, I'll have a 5-6 day safari and hopefully a couple of day trips as well. The only thing I don't know yet is where I'll be staying in Arusha, still hoping to find a home stay or inexpensive guesthouse near the Plaster House. I'll be back in Denver the middle of March, just in time for spring hiking! And if we're doing a summer hut trip or Crested Butte trip, please count me in! If you think the Lumpers would be interested in my periodic updates, please feel free to pass them along. Several people (Polly, Pat M, Cia, Martha, among others) both inspired and encouraged me as my plans began to solidify. Hope all is well with you, will look forward to catching up in a couple of months. Pat |
January 9 Greetings from Stella Maris
It's Friday evening and having completed 3 full days in my Tanzanian "home", I feel very comfortable and settled. It helps that the school doesn't officially start until next Tuesday so I've been able to deal with jet lag and ask a lot of questions, also practice my Swahili! On Wednesday, I went to Moshi which is the closest town, about six miles away, with Teddy, the hotel manager, to do the weekly shopping for Stella Maris (the non-profit lodge that funds the school next door). A daunting experience - lots of traffic of all varieties, pedestrians weaving in and out of cars, motor bikes, push carts, buses and trucks - and not one stop light or stop sign in the whole town! Somehow it all seems to flow, most of the time. Moshi, and Stella Maris, are predominantly focused on tourism as the starting point for Mt. Kilimanjaro climbs. The photo below was taken from my bedroom window early in the morning before the clouds roll in. At 19,330 feet, it's challenging but apparently doable by all sorts of people - just not me! I am looking forward to some day treks at the lower altitudes. One of the young men here showed me a 3 mile loop, fairly flat, which goes thru a coffee plantation so tomorrow I'm going to start walking regularly in the evening when it's cooler. Today some of the teachers came to do scheduling for the school year so I was able to meet the woman I'll be helping in P1 (first grade). There are six grades teaching a standard curriculum dictated by the government, but all taught in English which adds an order of difficulty to the subject matter. School starts at 7:30 and goes until 3:30. Some of the students have to walk as much as 30 minutes each way! Most surprising thing so far: there is a fairly large Muslim population with a mosque nearby so I hear the call to prayer at 5:00 am each morning! Even tho Stella Maris is a Catholic school, there are several Muslim students which seems to indicate mutual tolerance. I hope this is a good way to give you some idea of what it's like here but I would love to answer specific questions or write in more detail about certain aspects of this adventure- just email me your interests or questions. There's wi-fi in the lodge so email works well. I'd love to hear from all of you! Go Broncos! Pat |
January 13 First Day of School
Was today, actually the first day of the entire school year so it was a little crazy with everyone trying to find their new classrooms and settle back into the school routines. Adherence to a strict schedule of periods doesn't seem to be a priority but that may change. Everyone gets new textbooks for each subject, issued by the government and purchased by the school - I spent a good part of the morning numbering the books 1-50 before they were distributed. In addition to English and math, they have books for civics, science, history, and ICT (Information, Communication and Technology). The P1 grade is the youngest, mostly 6 and 7 year-olds, and there are 47 in the class with just one teacher! Learning all their names is going to be a challenge as they all have shaved heads and the only way to tell boys from girls is by which uniform they're wearing: shorts or skirts. I was impressed with their library, seems to be well stocked with books for all levels, games, art supplies, flash cards, etc. My total lack of teacher training and experience could be a handicap! Yesterday was my first real venture away from the lodge. I was driven about an hour just outside of Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park where two guides and 5 young women from Austria and I did about a 6 mile hike into some magnificent waterfalls. My Christmas hiking shoes from Andy had their maiden trek on a very narrow and muddy trail, through jungle growth, small patches of maize, coffee plants and banana trees and across small streams. The Austrian students were very welcoming but I missed my Lumper friends! On Sunday, Teddy (the hotel manager who takes such good care of me) asked me to go with her to a small hamlet nearby to pay respects to the family of a young woman who died a month after delivering a baby boy. The woman had done some work for the lodge and was well known to all the staff so everyone is very sad. We took loaves of bread and sacks of sugar (traditional bereavement gifts?) and joined the dozens of people who were sitting in a small courtyard before being invited in to "meet the baby". The living conditions defy description as I'm not sure I've ever seen such poverty and lack of even the basics. We were about a mile off the main road but light years away from the modern world. We're going back tomorrow afternoon for the burial service and will bring cans of baby formula and diapers. A small example of Tanzanian helpfulness: I was out walking in the neighborhood and not sure that I was going the right way so I asked a young man who was driving by about the directions. He told me how to go in good enough English to understand and then about 30 minutes later, he came back from a different direction just to make sure I had gone the right way! |
The photo below will give you some idea of the children in their school yard. Not much equipment but they play a lot of games with balls. Hope all is well, would love to hear from you. Xoxo, Pat |
January 17 Morning Assembly and other happenings
Every morning the students line up to do calisthenics, sing songs, hear announcements and say a prayer before being marched off to their classrooms. The first graders are all the way to the right, wearing the red and white checked uniforms. Each day, the organization and discipline seems to improve as teachers and students get back into their routines. There is no home room teacher per se as the teachers rotate through the classrooms each period to teach their individual subjects so during the course of a week, each class may see all the teachers at least once. It was confusing to me at first but seems to work ok. I've spent most of my time with the 1st and 2nd graders and am still able to help them with their math! It's apparent even now what a wide range of abilities and/or preparation there is as some just sail through the exercises and some really struggle. . Wednesday I left school early to attend the funeral of the young woman who died following childbirth. The service was held in a local parish church and included an open casket visitation, Catholic Mass and then a procession on foot to her family's home for burial - over 4 hours in very hot weather with the choir of 40+ singing almost non-stop. The music was lovely even though I couldn't understand the words; the sermon was just long! I was the only white person In a crowd of several hundred. After the casket was covered and everyone had laid their flowers, tables were set up outside and a meal was served. I don't know what happened after that because we left but it seemed that many people were staying on into the evening. It was very moving to see so many people, men and women, of all ages, spending that amount of time to honor this young woman and to support her family. I have really enjoyed hearing from many of you so here are the answers to some of your questions: Teddy, the hotel manager, is a Tanzanian woman in her mid thirties (?) who has been at Stella Maris since the beginning, six years ago. She is the heart and soul of the lodge, has 2 girls at the school, one in kindergarten and a baby at home with grandma. She calls me "dada" (sister) and has made my transition so easy and fun. The weather is nice in the morning and evening (70s) and very hot midday (90-ish). The humidity isn't so bad but that may change when the rains start, usually sometime in March. Haven't seen a raindrop yet. The food is not my favorite part of this adventure as the portions are too big, lots of fried foods and starches so I bought myself a jar of peanut butter to make my own lunch! Breakfast is fresh fruit, eggs and coffee; dinner is either chicken or fish in some kind of heavy sauce with either French fries or rice .... At least there are no desserts! The students at Stella Maris come from the nearby neighborhoods - some are relatively well off and some are very poor but they all pay something to attend. The lodge and the Mailisita Foundation (www.mailisitafoundation.org) support the school which doesn't get any funds from the govt because the curriculum is taught in English, not Swahili. Rotary is active here and I think they are supporting some of the secondary schools but not, to my knowledge, Stella Maris. The school was built by volunteers over the course of several years. An Australian couple spent 3 months here and did a wonderful job of painting murals in all the classrooms. More pix next time! Love and hugs, Pat |
January 24 Saturday Morning
This is going to be hard to explain but I feel like I'm living in two parallel universes! Life at the lodge is full of tourists coming and going, most of them here to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. I've met people from all over the world: US, Canada, UK, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Germany, Lebanon, Australia, and Japan. They have spent hundreds of dollars on equipment and clothing, thousands to get here and thousands more if they are going on safari after the climb. The climb alone runs between $1500-$2000 per person. By and large, they are healthy, well fed, successful people on vacation.
Just half a football field away is the school where I go every morning and work with children who live in very different circumstances. Some of them are not poor but none of them has the kind of environment that we take for granted. Example: I overhead a teacher asking a student "When was the last time you had malaria?" Last Tuesday there was a torrential tropical rainstorm that lasted most of the morning. The power went out and the rain on the tin roofs of the classrooms was so loud that the teachers could not be heard. Lunch was delayed because there was no way to cook the food. Most of the day was spent just trying to keep some order. But without the tourists staying at the lodge, the school wouldn't exist and these children wouldn't have the opportunity to learn in English, go on to secondary school and hopefully even farther.
Here is the pic of the library with the murals I mentioned last time.
I had dinner last night with three American women who are involved with another school down the road, Kilimaweha. It's a school that offers some vocational training, short courses in English and math, and some special ed classes for autistic children - apparently there is no special ed curriculum in the Tanzanian system. Listening to their stories (they've been here on and off for several years), I learned a lot about the challenges but also some of the successes they've had and how they think Tanzania compares with the other East African countries - Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. So much to absorb!
I have two more weeks at Stella Maris, then a five-day safari :), and then another month which is still being sorted out. I may decide to come back here as it's fun to see how the children progress day by day. This coming week I'm being taken on a field trip to some hospitals that have received equipment and supplies from Project Cure, my sponsoring organization. One of the destinations is about 75 kilometers away, up near the Kenyan border. Will be interesting to see a little more of this country.... Photos to follow! Please keep writing - I love hearing all the news but am glad I'm not there for the Super Bowl!
Xoxo, Pat
January 29 A Different Perspective
Yesterday was an amazing day! Father Aloyce who is the priest responsible for the 5 hospitals and 43 dispensaries (out patient clinics) in the Kilimanjaro region picked me up in the morning for a full day of visits, tours, talks and then a bonus trip! First we drove about 90 minutes to the eastern flank of the mountain to the largest hospital (300 beds) which has been the recipient of much equipment and supplies from Project Cure. Project Cure is my sponsoring organization here and has been very active in this area for several years (www.projectcure.org). We met with the Chief Medical Officer who was eager to show me the most recent Project Cure donations. Then lunch in the Chaplain's office before touring the rest of the hospital which is spread out over several acres: one-story quadrangles, each of which serves a different population - medical, surgical, pediatrics, maternity, etc. Although extremely primitive in appearance, it was very busy, seemed well organized and at capacity. 10 babies had already been born yesterday and there were dozens of women late in their pregnancies already installed and waiting to go into labor. I was told that women who live really far away come about 4 weeks before their due date! The pediatric ward was heart-breaking with some desperately ill children and their mothers providing a lot of their nursing care. Then Father Aloyce (in the checked shirt below) took me to his hometown which also happens to be one of the entrances to Mt. Kilimanjaro National Park where I was able to see what the first 50 yards of the climb look like. There are several routes up the mountain and this one is called the "coca cola route" because it's the easiest! It was lovely being up higher where it's cooler and much greener because they get more rainfall - not unlike the difference between Denver and our foothills. Our final stop for the day was another hospital that has X-ray, ultra sound and surgical equipment thanks to Project Cure. About half the size of Huruma, it also had an HIV/Aids clinic and they are just starting a laboratory technicians training center. I'm constantly amazed at how much can be done with so little. In between these stops, Father Aloyce and I covered a wide range of topics, from government corruption to contraception to the rise of Muslim fanaticism to traffic problems! He invited all my questions and answered so openly that the time spent together was better than any book I've read. One example: if the police pull you over and ask for water to drink, they are really demanding a bribe to let you continue. But it's not always because they are greedy: sometimes their pay checks have been delayed by the government so long that they are desperate. Tomorrow he is taking me to one more hospital after we have a meeting with the Bishop of the Kilimanjaro Diocese in the morning. Thanks for your emails, they help me to feel not so far away! Xoxo, Pat |
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February 5 Climbing the Mountain
One of the (many) benefits of staying at Stella Maris is getting to know some of the climbers who are here to tackle Mt. Kilimanjaro. It's a rare day that a group is neither beginning their climb or just returning from one. Some days there may be several groups coming and going and each one is a little different. There are people who come solo and are added to a group; there are families who are doing this together; groups of friends who may be climbing to raise money for a charity back home; graduated students who are celebrating before getting jobs. Serious climbers who have trained; people who look like they're going for a short walk; young, but I haven't seen any children, and old - the oldest so far is a 73 year old man from Aspen! Most, but not all, end up reaching the summit and almost without exception, they say: "It was much harder than I thought it would be", "it's the hardest thing I've ever done", "it was the best experience of my life", "I would never do it again"! I have heard nothing but praise for the food, the guides and the porters, regardless of which company was used. So for any of you who has Mt Kilimanjaro on your bucket list, you should probably just do it! But me, I'm going on safari tomorrow and am looking forward to 5 days of driving around in a jeep looking for big animals. Two days in Tarangire National Park and 3 days in the Serengeti- photos to follow! |
Some random info: there are 2 main tribes in Northern Tanzania: the Maasi and the Chagga. Historically, the Maasi are nomadic and the Chagga are the farmers. The Kilimanjaro region is almost 100% Chagga. The Maasi are around Arusha and west. Add to that the fact that when the Catholic and Lutheran missionaries first came, over 100 years ago, they divided up their target territories according to the rivers coming down from the mountain. Every valley was designated either Catholic or Lutheran and the missionaries respected those boundaries so today you have Maasi-Catholics, Maasi-Lutherans, Chagga-Catholics (where I am) and Chagga-Lutherans. Also a number of charismatic denominations and an increasing population of Muslims, many moving west from the coast and south from Kenya. The single unifying element is their language- the official language is Swahili with a strong emphasis on English as well. I am a "mzungu" which means white person. On Saturday we went for brunch and had mzungu food at a huge (62 sq miles!) sugar plantation established during colonial times. Last year they produced 85 tons of sugar! There's a lovely resort/golf course and clubhouse which caters to the international crowd as well as a growing number of rich Tanzanians. And the food was really good! On the way home, we stopped by a river bed where bushels of carrots were being washed by hand in the river before being put into burlap bags for trucking to the capital. Quite a contrast to the sugar plantation! Thanks again for staying in touch, hope all is well with you, Xoxo, Pat |
February 14 Safari Report
What can I say? The past week has been just about perfect: comfortable lodges, thousands of animals, wonderful guides, beautiful scenery, good weather, really good food and plenty of excitement! The adventure began at the Arusha Coffee Lodge, a lovely oasis on the outskirts of busy, crowded Arusha. Set in the middle of a coffee plantation, it was cool and quiet with individual cabins among the coffee plants and jasmine bushes. And really good coffee for breakfast! Early the next morning I flew in a single engine prop plane to Tarangire National Park, about a 45 minute flight but a totally different world. Tarangire has 4500 elephants in about a 2800 square kilometer area. Also giraffes, lions, many different kinds of antelopes, warthogs ("lions' sausages"!), Cape buffalo, zebras and lots of brilliantly colored birds. The lodge, Tarangire Treetops, was built around and in 400 year old baobab trees- my room was actually about 30 feet off the ground! 2 nights there and then on to the Serengeti National Park (same plane, 3 stops later) where I stayed in a much more rustic tented camp set at the base of an enormous kopje. The first night we started to hear the lions roar right after dark and by the time I went to bed, I could hear them moving around in the bush right outside my tent! The second night we were visited by only one lion but 5 elephants. Security is provided by the Maasai (note corrected spelling from previous reports) so I was never in any danger. During the 3 days in the Serengeti, I saw every animal I had hoped to: lions, leopards, cheetahs, hippos, herds of zebras and wildebeest, more elephants and giraffes, and even different kinds of antelopes. Most of my pictures were taken on my 35mm which I am eager to see when uploaded on my computer. But here are a few: Other than the swarms of tsetse flies, this 5 day safari could not have been any better! After exploring other options, it seemed best to return to Stella Maris for my remaining three weeks so I took a bus from Arusha back here and was so warmly welcomed, I knew I had made the right decision! This is what a local African bus looks like from the rider's perspective: Happy Valentine's Day! Xoxo, Pat |
February 21 Back to 'Normal'
Whatever normal is ... Instead of riding along in a jeep trying to find lions and leopards, I'm back in the first grade classroom, teaching them "the wheels on the bus go round and round!" Maybe next week we'll try "itsy bitsy spider". The weather is definitely changing - much cooler in the morning (70 not 90) and muggy because the rainy season is approaching. Many of the kids have runny noses and coughs, I'm just trying to stay healthy!
Last Sunday night we had a very impressive thunder storm with buckets of rain and lots of lightening resulting in the complete loss of the internet for 2 days! I felt very isolated but then had to remember that many people were without power- at least Stella Maris has a generator to keep the lights on. There is much more snow on the top of the mountain now and I wonder how the current crop of climbers are faring. It seems that the climbing season may be coming to an end for a couple of months, picking back up in May and June.
Before I left Denver, I had coffee with Maria Galter who is the Executive Director of AfricAid. She connected me with Jana, the Tanzanian country manager and Devotha, the teacher in Moshi. On Thursday I met Devotha who took me to a secondary school nearby to attend a Kisa class. AfricAid is an organization founded by a student at Colorado Academy in 2001 to support girls' education in Africa (www.africaid.com) - pretty inspiring story of how this one American girl has affected so many lives. One of their projects is the Kisa Project which is a two-year extra curricular class for high school girls on leadership training and social entrepreneurship with the focus being on how they can do something impactful in their own communities. They meet for two hours once a week but have assignments to do in small groups between classes. The topic for the class that I observed was forming teams with different strengths (leadership styles) and collective decision making - very pragmatic and useful in so many different situations! There were 28 girls chosen for this class from over 300 applicants. I was very impressed with the girls and Devotha, a natural teacher and mentor. AfricAid has a Mt. Kilimanjaro climb planned for September if you're interested!
I hope you are having a good weekend and enjoying the snow which seems to be just about everywhere. I love getting getting your emails so please keep writing.
Xoxo, Pat
Whatever normal is ... Instead of riding along in a jeep trying to find lions and leopards, I'm back in the first grade classroom, teaching them "the wheels on the bus go round and round!" Maybe next week we'll try "itsy bitsy spider". The weather is definitely changing - much cooler in the morning (70 not 90) and muggy because the rainy season is approaching. Many of the kids have runny noses and coughs, I'm just trying to stay healthy!
Last Sunday night we had a very impressive thunder storm with buckets of rain and lots of lightening resulting in the complete loss of the internet for 2 days! I felt very isolated but then had to remember that many people were without power- at least Stella Maris has a generator to keep the lights on. There is much more snow on the top of the mountain now and I wonder how the current crop of climbers are faring. It seems that the climbing season may be coming to an end for a couple of months, picking back up in May and June.
Before I left Denver, I had coffee with Maria Galter who is the Executive Director of AfricAid. She connected me with Jana, the Tanzanian country manager and Devotha, the teacher in Moshi. On Thursday I met Devotha who took me to a secondary school nearby to attend a Kisa class. AfricAid is an organization founded by a student at Colorado Academy in 2001 to support girls' education in Africa (www.africaid.com) - pretty inspiring story of how this one American girl has affected so many lives. One of their projects is the Kisa Project which is a two-year extra curricular class for high school girls on leadership training and social entrepreneurship with the focus being on how they can do something impactful in their own communities. They meet for two hours once a week but have assignments to do in small groups between classes. The topic for the class that I observed was forming teams with different strengths (leadership styles) and collective decision making - very pragmatic and useful in so many different situations! There were 28 girls chosen for this class from over 300 applicants. I was very impressed with the girls and Devotha, a natural teacher and mentor. AfricAid has a Mt. Kilimanjaro climb planned for September if you're interested!
I hope you are having a good weekend and enjoying the snow which seems to be just about everywhere. I love getting getting your emails so please keep writing.
Xoxo, Pat
February 27 A Near Tragedy
The unthinkable happened this morning. A high voltage electric wire had blown down into the schoolyard over night and a little second grade boy, for whatever reason, grabbed it and was almost electrocuted. He was thrown backwards and started screaming which alerted a teacher who had arrived early, to grab him and go for help. Thankfully, a couple from Australia, both doctors, were having breakfast in the lodge so he received Immediate medical attention. He didn't sustain any visible injuries but I was delegated to watch him for any delayed reactions. He was clearly terrified but after a couple of hours (5 Hershey kisses, 1 Fanta, and after watching all the videos on my iPad), he wanted to go back to school. Meanwhile, all the children were kept off the playground and the power company guys (summoned in person by Teddy, the hotel manager) finally showed up to reattach the wire. They did say that he was saved by the rubber soles on his shoes. This morning made me more aware that many of the people here live very close to the edge: there are so many opportunities for disaster. First graders carry razor blades in their pockets so they can sharpen their pencils. Children wield machetes when they cut down the dried up corn stalks. Families ride up to 4 people on a motorcycle - 2 parents, 2 children. Very few wear helmets, using seat belts in cars seem to be optional and we haven't even talked about malnutrition and disease! |
On to happier subjects: before I left Denver. I was in email touch with a young woman who volunteered here for several months last year. She recommended that I bring a volleyball for the girls since the boys have plenty of balls to kick around. What she failed to mention was that there was no volley court not to mention a volleyball net! A teacher, Mr. Raymond, and I have taken on a personal mission to rectify that - little did I know what a project that would entail! We did manage to buy a volleyball net and two ten foot poles (cut down by a guy using a hacksaw so close to his hand!) but now the challenge is finding a welder who can figure out a way to attach the net to these poles. And to find a way to sink the poles into the ground so they won't be stolen ... I hope to have girls playing volleyball before I leave here on March 9th but I'm not betting on it! Sunday is the Kilimanjaro Marathon, a half Marathon and a fun 5k. I was going to do the 5k until I found out it was $60 to register so a teacher and I are going to watch and cheer on the participants. The forecast says 90 degrees on Sunday so I hope they all drink a lot of water! My photo for the week: I was out walking and saw these two Maasai who wanted their picture taken - I couldn't refuse! Hugs to you, hope the snow is all gone before I get home! Pat |
March 8 Mission Completed!
After several false starts, the volleyball court (if it can really be called that) was finally finished and the inaugural game played Friday afternoon! Everyone involved - and it did take a village - seemed very pleased with the result and I can only hope that the girls of Stella Maris will enjoy playing half as much as the boys enjoy football. And if you haven't played volleyball in awhile, it's a lot harder than I remembered!
After several false starts, the volleyball court (if it can really be called that) was finally finished and the inaugural game played Friday afternoon! Everyone involved - and it did take a village - seemed very pleased with the result and I can only hope that the girls of Stella Maris will enjoy playing half as much as the boys enjoy football. And if you haven't played volleyball in awhile, it's a lot harder than I remembered!
Another Tanzanian first: I went to a wedding yesterday as the guest of Gabby, a woman I met at the hotel. She and her husband have started a non-profit company here called Samba Treks (www.sambatreks.com) and her local business partner, Charles, was getting married to Dorcas in the Assembly of God church nearby. Gabby and I got to the church about 1:30 for a 2:00 service which actually started about 3:30! The ceremony seemed to be a blend of charismatic Christian practices with a lot of African traditions. The postures of the bride and groom were very serious and formal- no smiling, no interactions, nothing to indicate they even knew each other. The sermon, all in Swahili, lasted almost an hour before they exchanged their vows which were accompanied by much ululating and dancing by family and friends. Then off to a local restaurant after a quick stop at a traffic roundabout for picture taking-
I think the choice of locations for the photo shoot was because the roundabout is one of the few areas that has green grass. The wedding couple became much more relaxed and affectionate at the reception which also included a lovely tradition of the bride feeding her new in-laws small pieces of cake and the groom reciprocating with her family. A very memorable event.
I'm glad that my adventure here, which began with a funeral, has ended with a wedding. And so much in between. Two months has gone by quickly although sometimes I feel like I've been here much longer. One more day at school tomorrow - I will miss some of these children and wonder about their futures. But now I am eager to see my family and friends and await the coming of spring!
Love to all, Pat