sitting on a bench under an awning, waiting with ten or so other unfortunates without an umbrella for the daily onslought of rain to stop, or at least slow enough for a sprint, i found myself pondering, once again some interesting observations. first, tanzanians appear not to sneeze. this was an extremely relevent observation as i have a bit of a cold and always attract an uncomfortable amount of stares and "pole"'s (think poor you) when i go into my frequent fits of sneezing. in my five or so months here, i have witnessed three tanzanians sneezing. it gives them a much more hearty, capable sort of image in contrast to the pale, sneezing creature that i have become. because although yes, i am in africa, it happens to be the rainy season and i have been hard pressed to find the necessary rays of sunshine. i might as well be in england.
another somewhat health related observation is that tanzanians interpret yawns differently than most americans. one day at the solar workshop i yawned. when someone noticed this, i got a hearty "pole" for my hunger. i thought that obviously my swahili is not as good as i thought because that's ridiculous, i was obviously tired. another day, another yawn, one of the deaf workers noticed this time and signed "pole" for my hunger. this required investigation. it turns out that tanzanians regard yawns as signs of hunger, not in any way related to being tired. hmm. my swahili abilities can be relied upon once again.
so many mysteries and discoveries, so little time. about three weeks in fact. hmm. chris and i had the most romantic valentine's day in our history, which to tell the truth isn't saying much but this was truly lovely. some friends here treated us to a stay at kisalanza farm which is about an hour from iringa and is absolutely lovely. to the point of ridiculousness actually. we stayed in a room in a converted stable house which had a bed with actual fitted sheets instead of just a top sheet tucked-into the foam mattress. that would have been enough for me in and of itself but there was a laughably beautiful sunset, and dinner. dinner was in the ruins of a mud hut with a restored roof, which gave it a grotto feeling, especially with the kerosene lamps and small charcol stove. the food was amazing, quiche with fresh, locally made fetta and beautiful fresh vegetables, savory scones with homeade cream cheese, a ridiculously rich chocolate cake. the only problem with the whole thing is that we stuffed ourselves so full that we couldn't actually move. the breakfast was just as lovely, which was a welcome relief because i have been panicking a bit about my daily breakfasts of two slices of whitebread with margarine. call me spoiled. but it was an absolutely wonderful time, such a nice way to enjoy a holiday we so rarely celebrate.
soon, i will see many of you. love. annie
Feb 16, 2008
Feb 2, 2008
who's to say it's not for the best?
i've been quite bad at keeping in touch lately, and for that i apologize. my birthday was quite unforgettable. chris arranged a surprise safari to the nearby national park, which was lovely despite being possibly charged by an angry elephant resulting in our being stuck in a swamp for three hours and chris getting a wretched sun-burn. but that is our style, we don't just go on a safari, we go on an adventure safari. it was great fun and excitement.
we've been focusing most of our time on the solar project, with me dabbling in some cafe work and bookeeping. our time is rapidly drawing to a close and so we're trying to ensure that our impact is as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.
i still take time for trying to absorb as much as possible. yesterday morning, as we were waiting for a dalladalla (minibus)i saw a rather horrible thing. a women climbed out of the dalladalla, the conductor went to get her parcel from the trunk. it was a bucket. the bucket fell over and blood seeped out. then i noticed that in the bucket was a pig head, barely covered by a piece of cloth, it's ear flopping all around. a way to start the day. no pig's heads before 9am please. other strange animal sitings: three goats strapped onto the back of a bicycle, chickens heads popping out of the most unlikely places, actually, most of my images revolve around animals strapped on bicycles. so to those of you who balk at doing grocery shopping on a bike, i say if some people can carry goats, or up to 5 mattresses, or large panes of glass, i can carry some flour and broccoli.
so we're looking at the end of our trip rapidly approaching and towards coming home to the comfort of a recession. if anyone has any leads on jobs for us, please let us know. seriously.
love. annie
we've been focusing most of our time on the solar project, with me dabbling in some cafe work and bookeeping. our time is rapidly drawing to a close and so we're trying to ensure that our impact is as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.
i still take time for trying to absorb as much as possible. yesterday morning, as we were waiting for a dalladalla (minibus)i saw a rather horrible thing. a women climbed out of the dalladalla, the conductor went to get her parcel from the trunk. it was a bucket. the bucket fell over and blood seeped out. then i noticed that in the bucket was a pig head, barely covered by a piece of cloth, it's ear flopping all around. a way to start the day. no pig's heads before 9am please. other strange animal sitings: three goats strapped onto the back of a bicycle, chickens heads popping out of the most unlikely places, actually, most of my images revolve around animals strapped on bicycles. so to those of you who balk at doing grocery shopping on a bike, i say if some people can carry goats, or up to 5 mattresses, or large panes of glass, i can carry some flour and broccoli.
so we're looking at the end of our trip rapidly approaching and towards coming home to the comfort of a recession. if anyone has any leads on jobs for us, please let us know. seriously.
love. annie
Jan 9, 2008
and we can thank socialism for that!
the afore promised nerve-calming entry never quite materialized and so i will enter into a brief discussion of tanzanian politics.
first. the situation in kenya is not flowing over into tanzania. the only result in tanzania is closed borders and a place for refugees, but absolutely no violence.
second. although kenya and tanzania share many things such as: ecosystems, mount kilimanjaro, and the maasai, the two countries have had drastically different political pasts.
when tanganika won their independence in 1961, Nyerere, commonly referred to as "mwalimu" or "teacher" was elected president. Nyerere followed a socialist agenda, much of his own making. he ruled absolutely but without much corruption that plagued other african leaders during the post-colonial times. he had many flaws in his regime, most notably his collective agriculture system which he thought was a natural outcome of the melding of traditional african culture and socialism. he did however, unite tanzania in a way that did not happen in many other east african, or indeed african countries. education in his time was free, and in kiswahili, with the result that literacy rates soared in the country and a large portion of the country is able to communicate in a common language. he pulled people together in a way that made them identify as tanzanians first, tribe second. in many ways nyerere's policies failed, but it is a country much more united than many other neighbors.
kenya didn't have this same leader to bring unity. their first leader was kenyatta, who was a member of the largest tribe, kikuyu. kenyatta opened the country up to trade and followed the classic capitalist route for economic improvement, much different from his southern neighbor, nyerere. soon after his election, he was accused of patronage politics, favoring members of his own tribe. these tensions have persisted since kenyatta's time, inevetibly being exploited now by the current politicians.
so after that brief and very superficial explaination, you can see that the tensions in kenya are quite unlikely to flow into tanzania and you can be glad. but quite sad at all of the atrocities being committed in kenya and the disappointing fall of one of the more stable countries in east africa. i hope that if not detailed, this was at least somewhat enlightening. love. annie
first. the situation in kenya is not flowing over into tanzania. the only result in tanzania is closed borders and a place for refugees, but absolutely no violence.
second. although kenya and tanzania share many things such as: ecosystems, mount kilimanjaro, and the maasai, the two countries have had drastically different political pasts.
when tanganika won their independence in 1961, Nyerere, commonly referred to as "mwalimu" or "teacher" was elected president. Nyerere followed a socialist agenda, much of his own making. he ruled absolutely but without much corruption that plagued other african leaders during the post-colonial times. he had many flaws in his regime, most notably his collective agriculture system which he thought was a natural outcome of the melding of traditional african culture and socialism. he did however, unite tanzania in a way that did not happen in many other east african, or indeed african countries. education in his time was free, and in kiswahili, with the result that literacy rates soared in the country and a large portion of the country is able to communicate in a common language. he pulled people together in a way that made them identify as tanzanians first, tribe second. in many ways nyerere's policies failed, but it is a country much more united than many other neighbors.
kenya didn't have this same leader to bring unity. their first leader was kenyatta, who was a member of the largest tribe, kikuyu. kenyatta opened the country up to trade and followed the classic capitalist route for economic improvement, much different from his southern neighbor, nyerere. soon after his election, he was accused of patronage politics, favoring members of his own tribe. these tensions have persisted since kenyatta's time, inevetibly being exploited now by the current politicians.
so after that brief and very superficial explaination, you can see that the tensions in kenya are quite unlikely to flow into tanzania and you can be glad. but quite sad at all of the atrocities being committed in kenya and the disappointing fall of one of the more stable countries in east africa. i hope that if not detailed, this was at least somewhat enlightening. love. annie
Jan 4, 2008
fupi lakini tamu
i believe chris will be writing a soothing explaination of the differences between tanzanian and kenyan politics in an effort to alleviate the worries of our friends and family. i will instead write on a fairly trivial subject. so throughout my travels, there's always a type of awkwardness i feel because everyone else seems so adept at doing things that are unfamiliar to me such as: somehow squeezing my body in between two people when given only enough room for maybe my neck, but not my entire butt. i stuggle and apologize and settle myself on the edge whereas a tanzanian woman with hips that make my sizeable hips look waif-like will look at the same size space and without thinking plunk herself down and somehow make space. walking in the incredibly uneven streets is a stuggle for me, whereas women here can not only carry a baby and an entire tree but wear heels without stumbling. anyway, so all of these things and today i saw a man running to catch a dalladalla that i was sitting in, he prepared to leap smoothly into the moving vehicle and instead ran smack into it, provoking the laughter of the entire car. not nice to laugh at other people, but it is nice to once and a while not be the source of clumsiness.
Solar project to-do list
I thought that to give readers back home a better idea of what Annie and I are actually doing here I'd post my to-do-list and along the way articulate for my own benefit some of the challenges we're facing. Hopefully from this I can better understand what our priorities should be for the remaining 10 weeks.
Update BOM (Bill of Materials) with new frame cost
Every solar panel we sell is enclosed in a protective wood frame. The frames are fairly simple but do require some detailed carpentry work. We've outsourced their production to a fundi (a generic kiswahili word for some sort of skilled craftsperson, everything from electricions to seamstresses). Turns out I was working from the old price when I developed the bill of materials. Now the frames are about 500 Tsh (US$0.45) more expensive. We really should develop an in-house production system, and it seems like that was something that Gary was working on before he had to leave. We have a surplus of labor in the solar workshop, so it is just a matter of figuring out how to make these things, training everyone and then following up with strict quality control. The frames are the third most expensive component after the solar glass and labor, but because we are only using 25%-40% of our labor potential (very low efficiency) we could really drive down the cost.
Reply Gary report
I finally got the email address of my predessessor after only two months of asking. Turns out he wrote a pretty extensive report and summary of his work, which he kindly emailed to me before Christmas. Some of the things he was working on are solved now, such as low cost lighting, but others I had no idea existed, such as the extensive troubles with making plastic frames in house (probably why we now use wood), how the current quality control system was implemented, etc. I'm also going to print out his report and put it in the solar folder for Destori, the Tanzanian man Neema is hiring with funding from Solar Aid to replace Annie and me.
Create Instructions
One nagging thing I've been meaning to finish for almost two months is a set of printed instructions in kiswahili and english. Nothing we're doing is complicated, but it is not intiuitive especially for people without much exposure to electrical gadgets. We need to translate the instructions, take some instructional photos, test them out on a couple people and get them printed.
Verify functioning of 1W panel w/ Kobe
Paul has complained a couple times that his one watt panel does not work with the kobe (turtle) universal phone charger. The 2W panel works great, but it would be quite unfortunate if the 1W panel didn't supply enough current for the charging circuitry. There are a couple alternative problems, such as maybe Paul isn't putting his panel in direct sunlight, maybe the sunlight in the rainy season is not sufficient, or maybe his charger is a different design. The problem with buying really cheap chinese electronics on the street is that you never know what is going to be inside the box. I've bought 3 or 4 regular wall AC powered phone chargers on the street out of curiosity (they cost maybe two bucks each) and each one has been curiously designed in conflict with my limited knowledge of the laws of electronics. A one diode bridge rectifier? The components never match the PCB silk screen layout either, showing that the design has been changed since it was first designed, perhaps dependent on the price and availablity of components. Really makes you appreciate things like CE and UL certification.
Price Sheet
I'm kind of proud of our current price sheet, it looks straight out of a catalog page with pretty pictures and everything. But it is still in English and our prices are going up slightly next week so it's in need of an update. We also need to verify my translation of the wholesale price sheet.
Duka Project
We are trying to expand our sales network to the point that every resident of the Iringa region is within a 500 Tsh (US$0.45) public mini-bus ride of buying our products. Radio shack has apparently reached the point where something like 90% of the people in the US are within 7 miles of one of their stores. They're still working on the whole selling things people need or want part, but you have to admire the market penetration. We hope that by expanding into the rural areas we can introduce our products to a wider audience beyond Iringa city limits and also maintain people's attention for the month or two they will need to save to buy, say, a light set. To do this we have applied for a interest-free loan on behalf of 12 yet unknown small shops (called duka in kiswahili) to allow them to borrown 160,000 Tsh (US$140) for 20 months. This start up capital would finance the purchase of initial inventory.
To encourage accountability Andy has opted to identify shops through existing contacts within the Diocese. I need to identify who these contacts are and the encourage Andy to move ahead in identifying shopkeepers. Then we will organize some sort of introduction and training, perhaps a seminar in Iringa or maybe one-on-one with each shop. Either my kiswahili needs to improve dramaticaly or I need to train Andy or another fluent speaker in how to give such a session.
We also need to design some secure bump proof way of transporting panels to minimize breakage, maybe adapt a cardboard box. It would be good if each shop gets a cusioned reuseable transport box. The fairly narrow profit margin and the high cost means that one broken panel would destroy the profit of 5 sales.
This Duka project will be our major effort over the next 10 weeks, yet without careful timing and intensive management it is unlikely that it will get off the ground before we leave.
Travelling Sales people
The two solar projects in Kenya have had a great deal of success using travelling sales people. One barrier to the success of that model around Iringa is our lose population density. Where one person on foot or a bicycle can reach thousands of people in Mombassa or Nairobi they would be lucky to reach more than a few hundred outside of Iringa. That said, there are successfull traveling sales people in the district that we should be able to partner with.
Train Destori
Our replacement as is a man named Destori, who I haven't met yet but who is apparently really great and well organized. He is graduating from a local university in a month and will step in as the full time solar manager. We need to make sure he is 100 percent up to speed by the time we leave.
..... So it looks like we'll be busy for the next 10 weeks.
Update BOM (Bill of Materials) with new frame cost
Every solar panel we sell is enclosed in a protective wood frame. The frames are fairly simple but do require some detailed carpentry work. We've outsourced their production to a fundi (a generic kiswahili word for some sort of skilled craftsperson, everything from electricions to seamstresses). Turns out I was working from the old price when I developed the bill of materials. Now the frames are about 500 Tsh (US$0.45) more expensive. We really should develop an in-house production system, and it seems like that was something that Gary was working on before he had to leave. We have a surplus of labor in the solar workshop, so it is just a matter of figuring out how to make these things, training everyone and then following up with strict quality control. The frames are the third most expensive component after the solar glass and labor, but because we are only using 25%-40% of our labor potential (very low efficiency) we could really drive down the cost.
Reply Gary report
I finally got the email address of my predessessor after only two months of asking. Turns out he wrote a pretty extensive report and summary of his work, which he kindly emailed to me before Christmas. Some of the things he was working on are solved now, such as low cost lighting, but others I had no idea existed, such as the extensive troubles with making plastic frames in house (probably why we now use wood), how the current quality control system was implemented, etc. I'm also going to print out his report and put it in the solar folder for Destori, the Tanzanian man Neema is hiring with funding from Solar Aid to replace Annie and me.
Create Instructions
One nagging thing I've been meaning to finish for almost two months is a set of printed instructions in kiswahili and english. Nothing we're doing is complicated, but it is not intiuitive especially for people without much exposure to electrical gadgets. We need to translate the instructions, take some instructional photos, test them out on a couple people and get them printed.
Verify functioning of 1W panel w/ Kobe
Paul has complained a couple times that his one watt panel does not work with the kobe (turtle) universal phone charger. The 2W panel works great, but it would be quite unfortunate if the 1W panel didn't supply enough current for the charging circuitry. There are a couple alternative problems, such as maybe Paul isn't putting his panel in direct sunlight, maybe the sunlight in the rainy season is not sufficient, or maybe his charger is a different design. The problem with buying really cheap chinese electronics on the street is that you never know what is going to be inside the box. I've bought 3 or 4 regular wall AC powered phone chargers on the street out of curiosity (they cost maybe two bucks each) and each one has been curiously designed in conflict with my limited knowledge of the laws of electronics. A one diode bridge rectifier? The components never match the PCB silk screen layout either, showing that the design has been changed since it was first designed, perhaps dependent on the price and availablity of components. Really makes you appreciate things like CE and UL certification.
Price Sheet
I'm kind of proud of our current price sheet, it looks straight out of a catalog page with pretty pictures and everything. But it is still in English and our prices are going up slightly next week so it's in need of an update. We also need to verify my translation of the wholesale price sheet.
Duka Project
We are trying to expand our sales network to the point that every resident of the Iringa region is within a 500 Tsh (US$0.45) public mini-bus ride of buying our products. Radio shack has apparently reached the point where something like 90% of the people in the US are within 7 miles of one of their stores. They're still working on the whole selling things people need or want part, but you have to admire the market penetration. We hope that by expanding into the rural areas we can introduce our products to a wider audience beyond Iringa city limits and also maintain people's attention for the month or two they will need to save to buy, say, a light set. To do this we have applied for a interest-free loan on behalf of 12 yet unknown small shops (called duka in kiswahili) to allow them to borrown 160,000 Tsh (US$140) for 20 months. This start up capital would finance the purchase of initial inventory.
To encourage accountability Andy has opted to identify shops through existing contacts within the Diocese. I need to identify who these contacts are and the encourage Andy to move ahead in identifying shopkeepers. Then we will organize some sort of introduction and training, perhaps a seminar in Iringa or maybe one-on-one with each shop. Either my kiswahili needs to improve dramaticaly or I need to train Andy or another fluent speaker in how to give such a session.
We also need to design some secure bump proof way of transporting panels to minimize breakage, maybe adapt a cardboard box. It would be good if each shop gets a cusioned reuseable transport box. The fairly narrow profit margin and the high cost means that one broken panel would destroy the profit of 5 sales.
This Duka project will be our major effort over the next 10 weeks, yet without careful timing and intensive management it is unlikely that it will get off the ground before we leave.
Travelling Sales people
The two solar projects in Kenya have had a great deal of success using travelling sales people. One barrier to the success of that model around Iringa is our lose population density. Where one person on foot or a bicycle can reach thousands of people in Mombassa or Nairobi they would be lucky to reach more than a few hundred outside of Iringa. That said, there are successfull traveling sales people in the district that we should be able to partner with.
Train Destori
Our replacement as is a man named Destori, who I haven't met yet but who is apparently really great and well organized. He is graduating from a local university in a month and will step in as the full time solar manager. We need to make sure he is 100 percent up to speed by the time we leave.
..... So it looks like we'll be busy for the next 10 weeks.
Dec 28, 2007
delinquency, at this age?
i realize i have been quite delinquent in my posting and for this, i am sorry. now it seems somewhat ridiculous and difficult to recount our trip to malawi when we are more in the post-christmas time period. but we did go to malawi a few weeks ago which was originally why we have not kept in touch.
our visas were going to expire and so we were forced to spend two weeks travelling around a country that is, i think a well kept secret, but a beautiful one. some of the most lasting images or memories are: being somewhat shocked and alarmed when asked by a adolescent boy "would you like a killing?" instead of instantly reacting, i gave it a second until the boy produced a carved keyring, not in fact a knife or other weapon. in bantu based languages people often confuse the "L" and the "r" sounds which is of little consequence in say swahili but can make a shock in english turning an innocent question about our desire for a keyring into a proposal for murder. i heard this phrase more often than was comfortable, receiving a small shock each time. the pleasantly old-fashioned view of women walking in the hot sun with parasols to shield them. boys and women selling mushrooms the size of their heads on the side of the road. the ever present smell of fish oil that had at some mysterious juncture gotten on chris' pants, then on his shirts as he attempted to wash the smell out. it was a brief flirt with the life of a fisherman's wife that turned me from the idea completely. the amazingly beautiful view from our camping spot on a cliff overlooking the third largest lake in africa. making the understandable but stupid decision to drink from a waterfall after running out of water hiking up a huge mountain in the unforgiving african sun, luckily, my stomach has not suffered the consequences. small images and memories from a beautiful and amazingly friendly country.
after worrying pretty much for four months about spending christmas in africa (quite reasonably as anyone who has been to my parent's house at christmas time can attest to, it's pretty magical) we are on the other side, without any major depression or break-downs. in fact we had a very nice christmas, although it didn't feel quite like christmas, per say. we stayed in iringa in the house of some missionaries that we don't know, but are gone for a few months. it was lovely to have my own kitchen, i haven't been able to cook for myself in months and it was getting to me, so i compensated by cooking for about three days straight. it was chris and my first christmas together in our six years so we took advantage of the opportunity to create our own tradition which was mostly singing christmas songs before opening presents. so chrismas passed without problems and quite nicely, we were able to talk to most of our family, reading the night before christmas out loud, which is a hartley family tradition that i love, and spending the afternoon with the hart family.
we opted for spending the new year in a more romantic spot than iringa however and are now in zanzibar, staying with our friends claudia and saidi and their beautiful daughter kianga. it's good to be back here, although much, much hotter than our home-base of iringa, and much more full of people who would like to follow us around singing "jambo, jambo bwana, habari gani? nzuri sana!" which is somewhat of a downfall.
so there it is, a post, finally. i would love to hear from any and all of you. love. annie
our visas were going to expire and so we were forced to spend two weeks travelling around a country that is, i think a well kept secret, but a beautiful one. some of the most lasting images or memories are: being somewhat shocked and alarmed when asked by a adolescent boy "would you like a killing?" instead of instantly reacting, i gave it a second until the boy produced a carved keyring, not in fact a knife or other weapon. in bantu based languages people often confuse the "L" and the "r" sounds which is of little consequence in say swahili but can make a shock in english turning an innocent question about our desire for a keyring into a proposal for murder. i heard this phrase more often than was comfortable, receiving a small shock each time. the pleasantly old-fashioned view of women walking in the hot sun with parasols to shield them. boys and women selling mushrooms the size of their heads on the side of the road. the ever present smell of fish oil that had at some mysterious juncture gotten on chris' pants, then on his shirts as he attempted to wash the smell out. it was a brief flirt with the life of a fisherman's wife that turned me from the idea completely. the amazingly beautiful view from our camping spot on a cliff overlooking the third largest lake in africa. making the understandable but stupid decision to drink from a waterfall after running out of water hiking up a huge mountain in the unforgiving african sun, luckily, my stomach has not suffered the consequences. small images and memories from a beautiful and amazingly friendly country.
after worrying pretty much for four months about spending christmas in africa (quite reasonably as anyone who has been to my parent's house at christmas time can attest to, it's pretty magical) we are on the other side, without any major depression or break-downs. in fact we had a very nice christmas, although it didn't feel quite like christmas, per say. we stayed in iringa in the house of some missionaries that we don't know, but are gone for a few months. it was lovely to have my own kitchen, i haven't been able to cook for myself in months and it was getting to me, so i compensated by cooking for about three days straight. it was chris and my first christmas together in our six years so we took advantage of the opportunity to create our own tradition which was mostly singing christmas songs before opening presents. so chrismas passed without problems and quite nicely, we were able to talk to most of our family, reading the night before christmas out loud, which is a hartley family tradition that i love, and spending the afternoon with the hart family.
we opted for spending the new year in a more romantic spot than iringa however and are now in zanzibar, staying with our friends claudia and saidi and their beautiful daughter kianga. it's good to be back here, although much, much hotter than our home-base of iringa, and much more full of people who would like to follow us around singing "jambo, jambo bwana, habari gani? nzuri sana!" which is somewhat of a downfall.
so there it is, a post, finally. i would love to hear from any and all of you. love. annie
Nov 24, 2007
Safety razor, oh safety razor
I've been confounded by the problem of shaving for more than 12 years. It takes a lot of time, razors are expensive, and when you try and stretch out their useful life it hurts.
No more! I've discovered safety razors and I don't think I'll ever go back. The name "safety razor" is used to differentiate the product from a "cut throat" razor that one may have seen used in cowboy movies. The safety razor has a metal guard to prevent deep cuts while still allowing a close shave. The blades are sold in cute little packets containing five or six double sided blades individually wrapped in a cute little envelope of wax paper and then regular paper. They cost about 200-250 shillings a packet, about US$0.20 or US$0.04 per blade. I get between 2 and 4 good shaves per blade. The quality of shave is far superior to that of my old Mach 4 or whatever the latest shaver is at maybe a 100th of the cost. I'd often seen the blades for sale at the grocery store in the US but had never seen a razor for sale. I'm planning on buying a couple hundred blades to take back the US and would be more than happy to bring back razors (500 shillings each) for anyone else who wants to throw off the yoke of expensive shaving.
Annie is not at all sold on the idea, but month old armpit hair is a tough shave job for any razor.
A complete and comprehensive guide to the subject can be found on this Wikipedia page and you can see a picture of my razor with blade pack on the photo site here.
No more! I've discovered safety razors and I don't think I'll ever go back. The name "safety razor" is used to differentiate the product from a "cut throat" razor that one may have seen used in cowboy movies. The safety razor has a metal guard to prevent deep cuts while still allowing a close shave. The blades are sold in cute little packets containing five or six double sided blades individually wrapped in a cute little envelope of wax paper and then regular paper. They cost about 200-250 shillings a packet, about US$0.20 or US$0.04 per blade. I get between 2 and 4 good shaves per blade. The quality of shave is far superior to that of my old Mach 4 or whatever the latest shaver is at maybe a 100th of the cost. I'd often seen the blades for sale at the grocery store in the US but had never seen a razor for sale. I'm planning on buying a couple hundred blades to take back the US and would be more than happy to bring back razors (500 shillings each) for anyone else who wants to throw off the yoke of expensive shaving.
Annie is not at all sold on the idea, but month old armpit hair is a tough shave job for any razor.
A complete and comprehensive guide to the subject can be found on this Wikipedia page and you can see a picture of my razor with blade pack on the photo site here.
Nov 23, 2007
modes
confusion and an misunderstanding of purpose is a recurring theme in my travels, an i know for certain that i am not alone. often people here do things that to me and many outsiders seems inexplicable and at best we accept the cultural difference and at worst we proclaim the entire country full of illogical people. more often than not there is a simple explanation that we, because of language barriers or some other communication glitch just don't get. an amazing example of this dynamic for me is clothing. i have always been somewhat humbled by the way tanzanians present themselves, there's no better way for me to put it than fancy. everyone looks nice if it's possible. there were innumerable times when i was asked why wazungu look like they don't care-why is that mzungu walking without shoes in the city when he can obviously afford shoes? this is unthinkable to the tanzanians who in general are not only well-dressed in matching tailored outfits but always seem to have ironed their clothes. even if i have nice clothes it never occurs to me to iron them, i just walk around with wrinkly clothes and hope the wrinkles work themselves out. this was an inexplicable difference to me. i figured tanzanians have more self-respect than westerners or value what they have more than we do. which may still be true but i learned a more than reasonable explaination for the prevailance of ironing: parasites. apparently there is a paracite which lays it's eggs on clothes while they are drying in the sun. when a person wears the clothes, the larvea somehow get under their skin, wait a few weeks, hatch and then eat their way out. ironing kills the eggs. so logical! so i had come-up with this whole cultural explaination for something that turns out to be a parasite. i would make a great anthropologist i think.
so i continue to make or stumble into revelations about my life here and discover the reasons for seemingly inexplicable events or actions. but there are still so many mysteries such as: why is that stool sitting in the middle of that patch of barren earth and why are those nice-looking shoes sitting on the stool? what is the driving force behind frantically screaming wazungu? will i ever stop fearing the old man who sits with the scales and yells incomprehensibly as i walk past? will i ever understand what he's yelling?
i had a quite a lovely thanksgiving here, despite my initial apprehension. i went the the market in the morning, as i do everyday now, but this time bought loads of food for a classic thanksgiving meal instead of food for the neema cafe. having become familiar with a number of sellers in the market, i felt comfortable walking and explaining to them about the american sikukuu. (a brief explaination is that if you want to make anything bigger in swahili you add kuu: siku is a day, sikukuu is a holiday. mkuu is a boss or important person) i spent the day cooking at the home of an scottish ex-pat cooking two apple pies, stuffing, vegetable pot-pie, gravy, sweet potatoes, and green beans. the other contributor to the meal did the mash potatoes. then we moved down to andy and suzie's house, they started neema craft and are a lovely family with two small girls. our tanzanian host-parents came and it was almost everyone's first thanksgiving. i think we did the holiday justice and i felt amazingly thankful for being here, despite missing my own family quite a lot. that's one holiday down, one to go.
happy birthday mama.
love. annie
so i continue to make or stumble into revelations about my life here and discover the reasons for seemingly inexplicable events or actions. but there are still so many mysteries such as: why is that stool sitting in the middle of that patch of barren earth and why are those nice-looking shoes sitting on the stool? what is the driving force behind frantically screaming wazungu? will i ever stop fearing the old man who sits with the scales and yells incomprehensibly as i walk past? will i ever understand what he's yelling?
i had a quite a lovely thanksgiving here, despite my initial apprehension. i went the the market in the morning, as i do everyday now, but this time bought loads of food for a classic thanksgiving meal instead of food for the neema cafe. having become familiar with a number of sellers in the market, i felt comfortable walking and explaining to them about the american sikukuu. (a brief explaination is that if you want to make anything bigger in swahili you add kuu: siku is a day, sikukuu is a holiday. mkuu is a boss or important person) i spent the day cooking at the home of an scottish ex-pat cooking two apple pies, stuffing, vegetable pot-pie, gravy, sweet potatoes, and green beans. the other contributor to the meal did the mash potatoes. then we moved down to andy and suzie's house, they started neema craft and are a lovely family with two small girls. our tanzanian host-parents came and it was almost everyone's first thanksgiving. i think we did the holiday justice and i felt amazingly thankful for being here, despite missing my own family quite a lot. that's one holiday down, one to go.
happy birthday mama.
love. annie
Nov 21, 2007
Contact info
We have a new cell phone, +255 78 282 0244 and a mailing address of sorts, c/o P.O. Box 329, Iringa, Tanzania. If you are good at searching you should be able to find a phone card to call cell phones in Tanzania for less than $0.15/min.
Nov 18, 2007
happiness is a warm gun
chris and i have finally moved in with the lovely family of which we spoke before. pastor stafford and mama happiness have welcomed us most profusely into their home. the house itself is a kind of square shape with a courtyard in the center which is where all the activity centers. chris and i have a small room off of the courtyard with a small sitting room, quite lovely. all of stafford and happiness' children are grown and moved out but they have taken in three boys who were previously living in the street and an nephew and a niece. and there's another american, paul, who also volunteers at neema building a bottles to beads kiln. living with a family again is really nice, they are quite attentive and provide chai at every waking moment. those of you who know my struggle to leave my addiction to caffiene in america will laugh at the return of my steady drip now.
mama happiness is somewhat of a character if only because she says "asante sana" to absolutely anything you say, really anything.
our new home is a bit of a distance from town which means we had to buy a bike. i say one bike because we are planning to travel with me on the rear rack and chris doing all of the work, this is the most economical means possible. buying the bike involved about three full days of bargaining which included me offering to bring another mzungu woman for them to marry in exchange for a couple of thousand shillings off of the price of the rear rack. this was only after having to refuse an offer to be swept away to another village away from my husband, in which case i could assume chris would get the bike for free in exchange.
i'm considering either planning a thanksgiving celebration for our host family or ignoring the holiday altogether so i'm not reminded of missing my family terribly during arguably my favorite holiday. i'll let everyone know. love. annie
mama happiness is somewhat of a character if only because she says "asante sana" to absolutely anything you say, really anything.
our new home is a bit of a distance from town which means we had to buy a bike. i say one bike because we are planning to travel with me on the rear rack and chris doing all of the work, this is the most economical means possible. buying the bike involved about three full days of bargaining which included me offering to bring another mzungu woman for them to marry in exchange for a couple of thousand shillings off of the price of the rear rack. this was only after having to refuse an offer to be swept away to another village away from my husband, in which case i could assume chris would get the bike for free in exchange.
i'm considering either planning a thanksgiving celebration for our host family or ignoring the holiday altogether so i'm not reminded of missing my family terribly during arguably my favorite holiday. i'll let everyone know. love. annie
Nov 15, 2007
There is a great deal of sun here.
Why build solar panels in Tanzania? It's where they keep all the sunlight.
A brief explanation of the solar project at Neema Crafts that I am working with:
We make 1/2W, 1W and 2W panels that sell for about US$8 to US$20 each. They can be used to charge cell phones, charge batteries for LED lights or directly power radios. The competing solar products on the market here start at US$400 for a 14W panel, battery, charge controller and 2 6W CFL lights, enough to light two rooms in a house. We do the same thing for US$40, but a little bit more inconveniently as you have to hook the lights up individually to charge them, and they probably are not as bright. They are bright enough to light up a small sitting room well enough to read and write by, certainly brighter than the kerosene wick lamp people use now.
Supposedly people in this area are spending about 1/3 of their monthly income on fuel and batteries for lights, about US$18/month. People need light because the sun goes down at 6:30pm every night and kids need to do homework while parents do cottage industry type work. Even a few extra hours of light can make a huge difference.
People use cell phones to check market prices, contact vendors and customers as well as communicate with family and friends. Many people without access to gird power have cellphones and need to charge them. Instead of spending all day traveling to the nearest power station and then paying to charge, they can buy our cell phone chargers that are powered by the 1W or 2W panel.
The solar glass is imported from Croatia at about US$3.75/watt and then wired and assembled into a frame by a team of disabled workers. The business model is potentially quite profitable and hence self-sustaining. We are working now to expand our sales network, adding shops in rural villages as well as commissioned sales people.
My role in the endever is as technical adviser, troubleshooting bugs, improving productivity and streamlining the manufacturing process as well as producing sales material. Similar projects have been started in Kenya, Benin and probably other areas of Africa. There are many larger solar companies, but their products are priced beyond the reach of rural farmers. The success of projects like ours will probably inspire those companies to enter into the micro-solar market, although they may have a hard time competing on price.
You can read more about the project here:
A brief explanation of the solar project at Neema Crafts that I am working with:
We make 1/2W, 1W and 2W panels that sell for about US$8 to US$20 each. They can be used to charge cell phones, charge batteries for LED lights or directly power radios. The competing solar products on the market here start at US$400 for a 14W panel, battery, charge controller and 2 6W CFL lights, enough to light two rooms in a house. We do the same thing for US$40, but a little bit more inconveniently as you have to hook the lights up individually to charge them, and they probably are not as bright. They are bright enough to light up a small sitting room well enough to read and write by, certainly brighter than the kerosene wick lamp people use now.
Supposedly people in this area are spending about 1/3 of their monthly income on fuel and batteries for lights, about US$18/month. People need light because the sun goes down at 6:30pm every night and kids need to do homework while parents do cottage industry type work. Even a few extra hours of light can make a huge difference.
People use cell phones to check market prices, contact vendors and customers as well as communicate with family and friends. Many people without access to gird power have cellphones and need to charge them. Instead of spending all day traveling to the nearest power station and then paying to charge, they can buy our cell phone chargers that are powered by the 1W or 2W panel.
The solar glass is imported from Croatia at about US$3.75/watt and then wired and assembled into a frame by a team of disabled workers. The business model is potentially quite profitable and hence self-sustaining. We are working now to expand our sales network, adding shops in rural villages as well as commissioned sales people.
My role in the endever is as technical adviser, troubleshooting bugs, improving productivity and streamlining the manufacturing process as well as producing sales material. Similar projects have been started in Kenya, Benin and probably other areas of Africa. There are many larger solar companies, but their products are priced beyond the reach of rural farmers. The success of projects like ours will probably inspire those companies to enter into the micro-solar market, although they may have a hard time competing on price.
You can read more about the project here:
http://solar-aid.org/neema-crafts-solar-project-update/
and here: http://solar-aid.org/diy-solar-in-tanzania/
Chris H.
Nov 12, 2007
food service strikes again
i have recieved one complaint that it has been far too long since i last posted, that's enough to propel me to write again, even if for my one fan. so...
we're still settling in iringa, hopefully to be moving in with a family tomorrow, but as many things here, i've been told "kesho" many times, so we'll see. but it should be a nice change from staying in a funny dorm-like place with a receptionist who is alternatively very friendly, holding my hand as we walk, or quite mean, barring her teeth ferociously. actually right this minute, we're staying with the family who started neema crafts and they're a lovely family.
we are just returning from an expedition in dar es salaam in which we spent days wandering the market looking for 100 camping lights, 150 small plastic christmas balls, and 480 binder clips. i am proud to say we found all of the above although not without the casualties of losing/having our phone stolen and me with a myriad of skin problems due to the extreme heat in the city. i mean really the heat was incredible. my poor ring finger is swollen quite too large to wear my ring and is now losing some skin. ugh. but we also made quite an unexpected friend, while walking down the street. Jake, (our newly appointed friend) is an out-of-work navigator on ships who speaks about four languages and has been in at least as many different jails in various countries. he invited us for dinner at his house, which is a single room with a bed and we dined on a quite lovely selection of beans and rice.
our trip back to iringa was fairly uneventful besides that we changed buses and rode in te much more flashy "Sumry" bus that plays loud hip-hop, has curtains with little baubles and serves soda. the attendents on the bus were under the impression that we spoke no swahili and so made sure to translate every announcement for us which was so kind, i didn't have the heart to speak swahili. it did make for some amusing translation when the bus pulled to side of the road and it was announced that we had "three minutes for a short break" which meant you could run to the side of the road to pee.
things at neema seem to be taking shape really well although as my title suggests i once again find myself in food service. neema has a lovely little cafe staffed entirely by deaf people, however when going over the books this past weekend, it was discovered that it is loosing quite a bit of money. so i was asked to spend some time working in the cafe to see if there's something systematic going terribly askew. i know, who goes to tanzania and ends up working in a cafe? me. but it's actually quite nice. i'm also starting investigating the possibility of dyeing wool naturally and making various felt crafts to sell. there's one flock of sheep in the entire country who have wool, not hair and we have access to them, but we need to figure out a process and fiddle around with fun dyes and crafts. thank you appalachia for teaching me about wool.
we also seem to be making progress on the solar front, figuring out sales packages and trying to make out the best way to set it up as a micro-credit project. chris is going with some of the guys from the workshop to a village tomorrow to see the current sales process and whatnot. i have to stay at the cafe which is somewhat disappointing but i will probably get to go next time.
anyway, sorry this was not a more colorful, detailed story, filled post, but i felt i needed a larger update. so there you go. love.
we're still settling in iringa, hopefully to be moving in with a family tomorrow, but as many things here, i've been told "kesho" many times, so we'll see. but it should be a nice change from staying in a funny dorm-like place with a receptionist who is alternatively very friendly, holding my hand as we walk, or quite mean, barring her teeth ferociously. actually right this minute, we're staying with the family who started neema crafts and they're a lovely family.
we are just returning from an expedition in dar es salaam in which we spent days wandering the market looking for 100 camping lights, 150 small plastic christmas balls, and 480 binder clips. i am proud to say we found all of the above although not without the casualties of losing/having our phone stolen and me with a myriad of skin problems due to the extreme heat in the city. i mean really the heat was incredible. my poor ring finger is swollen quite too large to wear my ring and is now losing some skin. ugh. but we also made quite an unexpected friend, while walking down the street. Jake, (our newly appointed friend) is an out-of-work navigator on ships who speaks about four languages and has been in at least as many different jails in various countries. he invited us for dinner at his house, which is a single room with a bed and we dined on a quite lovely selection of beans and rice.
our trip back to iringa was fairly uneventful besides that we changed buses and rode in te much more flashy "Sumry" bus that plays loud hip-hop, has curtains with little baubles and serves soda. the attendents on the bus were under the impression that we spoke no swahili and so made sure to translate every announcement for us which was so kind, i didn't have the heart to speak swahili. it did make for some amusing translation when the bus pulled to side of the road and it was announced that we had "three minutes for a short break" which meant you could run to the side of the road to pee.
things at neema seem to be taking shape really well although as my title suggests i once again find myself in food service. neema has a lovely little cafe staffed entirely by deaf people, however when going over the books this past weekend, it was discovered that it is loosing quite a bit of money. so i was asked to spend some time working in the cafe to see if there's something systematic going terribly askew. i know, who goes to tanzania and ends up working in a cafe? me. but it's actually quite nice. i'm also starting investigating the possibility of dyeing wool naturally and making various felt crafts to sell. there's one flock of sheep in the entire country who have wool, not hair and we have access to them, but we need to figure out a process and fiddle around with fun dyes and crafts. thank you appalachia for teaching me about wool.
we also seem to be making progress on the solar front, figuring out sales packages and trying to make out the best way to set it up as a micro-credit project. chris is going with some of the guys from the workshop to a village tomorrow to see the current sales process and whatnot. i have to stay at the cafe which is somewhat disappointing but i will probably get to go next time.
anyway, sorry this was not a more colorful, detailed story, filled post, but i felt i needed a larger update. so there you go. love.
Oct 25, 2007
an additon if you will...
my post yesterday felt a bit hasty, not quite full of the detail i try to include. so to remedy that i will try with a description of our self-described harrowing journey here, which jonathan described so accurately in the comments. by the way, thanks for the comments! chris also uploaded some pictures onto the picasa web album so you can use the link on the side of the page to see them.
so to begin with chris and i were a bit nervous about taking a small african communter flight anywhere, but we were given a discount on the tickets after sitting befuddled in a office for a very long two hours. so we went, and it was not so bad, a lot shorter than the ferry and not as cold but we got a little nervous when we had been sitting on the runway for about a half an hour and the pilot apologized for the delays but there were some problems beyond their control. hmm. then someone at the back of the tiny plane said something in swahili and about four swahili-speakers promptly stood up, grabbed their luggage and left the plane. quite worrying. but then we were off and there were no problems i am happy to say. we navigated the taxi stand much more successfully than our first arrival into the country, bargaining the taxi drivers to a mere 10,000 TSH, a full 15,000Tsh less than the first time. believe me these are achievements.
a fairly unremarkable stay at the YMCA in Dar other than our passing a data cd to an investigative journalist in the canteen of the hostel, this is how things are done people. the next day we were set to take the semi-luxury bus to iringa, but our pre-arranged taxi driver didn't show so we were forced to find another. one young man was so earnestly insistant that we agreed. off we went but after the first really necessary stop (the other intersections we merely slowed down) the driver stalled, not once but over and over again. after many "tsk" sounds (a noise to convey disapproval) we got going, only to repeat the process many times. finally at a major intersection, our young driver got so nervous, he couldn't start the car at all, turned around and asked chris "unawesa?" or "can you drive?" so amidst the frantically honking horns and shaking fists, chris first attempted to climb directly into the front seat, got stuck, thought better of it and got out and ran around. thus begun chris' new career as the first mzungu taxi driver in dar. i felt bad for the poor driver, it turns out he was borrowing the car, and he seemed quite relieved when i told him the same thing happened to me when i learned to drive manual.
the bus was what i like to refer to as "the poor man's safari" because while hurtling through the scenery we managed to spot elephants, giraffes, gazelle, and some baboons. a bargain at $15 compared to the hundreds you pay for the serengeti. but as i mentioned, it was a great change of scenery, the coast is beautiful, but the beauty here is much more rugged and i somehow resent it less. because you have to think the ocean is beautiful, it's so obviously beautiful, of course you love it, but the scenery here is breathtaking and more wild. think my aversion to the band which has been referred to as the poor man's mountain goats.
anyway, upon arrival in iringa we (well chris if you want to point fingers) decided against getting a taxi to go to the chosen hostel and decided to walk. with our big backpacks and all. nothing much needs to be said other than for everyone to know that we were lost and i hadn't eaten since breakfast and the sun was setting. enough.
but that's plenty said about that adventure. we're having a lovely time fiddling around with solar panels, chris doing most of the fiddling, me translating to the employees of the solar workshop. who by the way are wonderful people, patient with our swahili, eager to tinker, and incredibly welcoming. i've never worked with people with disabilities before, and honestly i often forget that i am now, we're learning some sign language and learning a ton. one interesting tidbit about swahili if i can explain it correctly is that each noun for a person is in the m/wa class which means it either begins with m or wa ie mtu/wat (person/people). but if you want to discribe a small person, you can take it out of the m/wa class and put it into the k/vi class, to make it diminuitive. the words for people with disabilities are all in the ki/vi class already ie kiziwi (deaf person) interesting. it wouldn't fly in our p.c. world.
that's about it for today, the internet access here is really fast for some reason so hopefully i'll have the chance to post often.
love. annie
so to begin with chris and i were a bit nervous about taking a small african communter flight anywhere, but we were given a discount on the tickets after sitting befuddled in a office for a very long two hours. so we went, and it was not so bad, a lot shorter than the ferry and not as cold but we got a little nervous when we had been sitting on the runway for about a half an hour and the pilot apologized for the delays but there were some problems beyond their control. hmm. then someone at the back of the tiny plane said something in swahili and about four swahili-speakers promptly stood up, grabbed their luggage and left the plane. quite worrying. but then we were off and there were no problems i am happy to say. we navigated the taxi stand much more successfully than our first arrival into the country, bargaining the taxi drivers to a mere 10,000 TSH, a full 15,000Tsh less than the first time. believe me these are achievements.
a fairly unremarkable stay at the YMCA in Dar other than our passing a data cd to an investigative journalist in the canteen of the hostel, this is how things are done people. the next day we were set to take the semi-luxury bus to iringa, but our pre-arranged taxi driver didn't show so we were forced to find another. one young man was so earnestly insistant that we agreed. off we went but after the first really necessary stop (the other intersections we merely slowed down) the driver stalled, not once but over and over again. after many "tsk" sounds (a noise to convey disapproval) we got going, only to repeat the process many times. finally at a major intersection, our young driver got so nervous, he couldn't start the car at all, turned around and asked chris "unawesa?" or "can you drive?" so amidst the frantically honking horns and shaking fists, chris first attempted to climb directly into the front seat, got stuck, thought better of it and got out and ran around. thus begun chris' new career as the first mzungu taxi driver in dar. i felt bad for the poor driver, it turns out he was borrowing the car, and he seemed quite relieved when i told him the same thing happened to me when i learned to drive manual.
the bus was what i like to refer to as "the poor man's safari" because while hurtling through the scenery we managed to spot elephants, giraffes, gazelle, and some baboons. a bargain at $15 compared to the hundreds you pay for the serengeti. but as i mentioned, it was a great change of scenery, the coast is beautiful, but the beauty here is much more rugged and i somehow resent it less. because you have to think the ocean is beautiful, it's so obviously beautiful, of course you love it, but the scenery here is breathtaking and more wild. think my aversion to the band which has been referred to as the poor man's mountain goats.
anyway, upon arrival in iringa we (well chris if you want to point fingers) decided against getting a taxi to go to the chosen hostel and decided to walk. with our big backpacks and all. nothing much needs to be said other than for everyone to know that we were lost and i hadn't eaten since breakfast and the sun was setting. enough.
but that's plenty said about that adventure. we're having a lovely time fiddling around with solar panels, chris doing most of the fiddling, me translating to the employees of the solar workshop. who by the way are wonderful people, patient with our swahili, eager to tinker, and incredibly welcoming. i've never worked with people with disabilities before, and honestly i often forget that i am now, we're learning some sign language and learning a ton. one interesting tidbit about swahili if i can explain it correctly is that each noun for a person is in the m/wa class which means it either begins with m or wa ie mtu/wat (person/people). but if you want to discribe a small person, you can take it out of the m/wa class and put it into the k/vi class, to make it diminuitive. the words for people with disabilities are all in the ki/vi class already ie kiziwi (deaf person) interesting. it wouldn't fly in our p.c. world.
that's about it for today, the internet access here is really fast for some reason so hopefully i'll have the chance to post often.
love. annie
Oct 24, 2007
Umeme ya Jua
today is the close of our second day in iringa, in the southern highlands of tanzania after a few harrowing days of travel.
first off, iringa is beautiful, it's atop a bluff overlooking some crazy scenery of mountains/hills, hopefully we'll post some pictures. the weather here is lovely, warm sun, cool air and chilly nights, such a welcome relief from the coastal weather which is hot and getting much hotter. there are lovely blooming trees here and it's much cleaner than zanzibar. we hooked-up with this solar project here run through "neema crafts" i think you can look it up online. it promotes sustainable development and employess disabled people at a fair wage. apparently there are an inordinate amount of disabled people here and it is quite a difficult life, with limited health care and almost no chance of employment. this project is really awesome, they sell beautiful handmade crafts but are starting to get into solar panels for charging batteries, cellphones, and lights. it's an awesome project and the people building it are friendly and knowledgeable and can understand my swahili, so that's awesome.
so we're settling in here, there are some struggles with getting everything worked out, and whatnot, but overall it's nice. we have to talk to the woman who's the head of the project when she gets back next week to see if we will be working long-term or just kind of floating through and learning what we can.
the harrowing journey was quite ridiculous involving a small commuter plane from zanzibar to dar, a taxi-driver who literally didn't know how to drive, a 8-hour bus ride through the mountains and a ridiculous sun-down trek around iringa with our full bags looking for a non-existant hostel. but we're here.
i'll keep everyone updated, and you all do the same for me.
love. annie
first off, iringa is beautiful, it's atop a bluff overlooking some crazy scenery of mountains/hills, hopefully we'll post some pictures. the weather here is lovely, warm sun, cool air and chilly nights, such a welcome relief from the coastal weather which is hot and getting much hotter. there are lovely blooming trees here and it's much cleaner than zanzibar. we hooked-up with this solar project here run through "neema crafts" i think you can look it up online. it promotes sustainable development and employess disabled people at a fair wage. apparently there are an inordinate amount of disabled people here and it is quite a difficult life, with limited health care and almost no chance of employment. this project is really awesome, they sell beautiful handmade crafts but are starting to get into solar panels for charging batteries, cellphones, and lights. it's an awesome project and the people building it are friendly and knowledgeable and can understand my swahili, so that's awesome.
so we're settling in here, there are some struggles with getting everything worked out, and whatnot, but overall it's nice. we have to talk to the woman who's the head of the project when she gets back next week to see if we will be working long-term or just kind of floating through and learning what we can.
the harrowing journey was quite ridiculous involving a small commuter plane from zanzibar to dar, a taxi-driver who literally didn't know how to drive, a 8-hour bus ride through the mountains and a ridiculous sun-down trek around iringa with our full bags looking for a non-existant hostel. but we're here.
i'll keep everyone updated, and you all do the same for me.
love. annie
Oct 16, 2007
Eid Njema!
Today is the second day of the post-Ramadan holiday of Eid. Yesterday
was an eventful and exciting day for pretty much everyone on the
island. For a couple of weeks now, people have been buying new clothes
and tons of food in preparation for the three day holiday. When we
woke-up yesterday, zayneb had a tray of sweet breads and cakes for
breakfast, (which we took a picture of, but alas! Our memory card is
kaput so I don't think we can post it). She then proclaimed my outfit
unsuitable for the occasion, in fact I believe she announced that I
couldn't wear rags on Eid. So she dressed me and slathered me in
perfume, which has become a habit of hers, much to both Chris and my
chagrin. So as is my habit, I packed a change of clothes in my bag and
went off to visit our friends Claudia and Saidi's family in the middle
of the island.
We went first to Saidi's aunt's house. They (his two aunts live there)
are both transplants from Pemba and struggle with life here in
Zanzibar. They live in a traditional mud and stick house with a
thatched roof, no running water etc. but they met us with holiday
greetings and food.
[There's a phenomenon here where people own plots of land but don't
live there. Instead they allow other people to live there and look
after the land but the people who live there cannot build permanent
structures in case the owners want to return. That means that they
can't build houses with actual walls. It's a strange system to me, but
it tends to mean that even if you can't afford land, you can still
build a home, unlike in America.]
Anyway, saidi's aunts speak a Pemban Swahili which is so similar to
singing it's incredible, I couldn't understand a fair amount, but it
sounded beautiful. They were lovely and sweet and invited us to visit
again before we returned to America.
Then we went to Saidi's brother's house, where we were also welcomed,
fed tea and sweets (so many sweets!) and treated to the tradition that
I liken to caroling. A group of young men (followed by a swarm of
young excited children) go door to door and play drums and sing for
the family in exchange for tea, sweets and/or money.
The afternoon was taken up with resting from the eating and then going
into town for the festival and celebrations. It was essentially a
county fair feeling without the rides but with the different games
(ring toss etc.) and an incredible amount of plastic crappy toys from
china. One of the traditions is that you give children money on the
first morning of Eid, so if a kid is lucky they can get enough money
to buy a ton of plastic toys that will break the next day. It was a
bit overwhelming, but i do love the atmosphere at fairs and everyone
is dressed up in their fanciest so it was fun.
A quick note on dressing fancy:
When people decide to dress up here, they do not, put on a clean
blouse and a pair of ironed pants. They wear gowns. Serious gowns that
I would never have an occasion to wear. Even in everyday life, we
Americans dress like slobs in comparison, a thing I think people don't
understand because we don't have to dress like that, we can afford
better. This has caused me some considerable amount of discomfort as
Zayneb insists on me dressing up to the point that I, as I mentioned
have taken to carrying a change of clothes and, like some mzungu
superhero, change in ATMs and cars.
We went out at night, to a club called Mercury's as in Freddy Mercury,
yes of Queen. Apparently he was born in Zanzibar and it's the club.
We've finished at the school and are going to spend this week figuring
out our next step and renting a motorcycle to tour the island! Much
love, annie
was an eventful and exciting day for pretty much everyone on the
island. For a couple of weeks now, people have been buying new clothes
and tons of food in preparation for the three day holiday. When we
woke-up yesterday, zayneb had a tray of sweet breads and cakes for
breakfast, (which we took a picture of, but alas! Our memory card is
kaput so I don't think we can post it). She then proclaimed my outfit
unsuitable for the occasion, in fact I believe she announced that I
couldn't wear rags on Eid. So she dressed me and slathered me in
perfume, which has become a habit of hers, much to both Chris and my
chagrin. So as is my habit, I packed a change of clothes in my bag and
went off to visit our friends Claudia and Saidi's family in the middle
of the island.
We went first to Saidi's aunt's house. They (his two aunts live there)
are both transplants from Pemba and struggle with life here in
Zanzibar. They live in a traditional mud and stick house with a
thatched roof, no running water etc. but they met us with holiday
greetings and food.
[There's a phenomenon here where people own plots of land but don't
live there. Instead they allow other people to live there and look
after the land but the people who live there cannot build permanent
structures in case the owners want to return. That means that they
can't build houses with actual walls. It's a strange system to me, but
it tends to mean that even if you can't afford land, you can still
build a home, unlike in America.]
Anyway, saidi's aunts speak a Pemban Swahili which is so similar to
singing it's incredible, I couldn't understand a fair amount, but it
sounded beautiful. They were lovely and sweet and invited us to visit
again before we returned to America.
Then we went to Saidi's brother's house, where we were also welcomed,
fed tea and sweets (so many sweets!) and treated to the tradition that
I liken to caroling. A group of young men (followed by a swarm of
young excited children) go door to door and play drums and sing for
the family in exchange for tea, sweets and/or money.
The afternoon was taken up with resting from the eating and then going
into town for the festival and celebrations. It was essentially a
county fair feeling without the rides but with the different games
(ring toss etc.) and an incredible amount of plastic crappy toys from
china. One of the traditions is that you give children money on the
first morning of Eid, so if a kid is lucky they can get enough money
to buy a ton of plastic toys that will break the next day. It was a
bit overwhelming, but i do love the atmosphere at fairs and everyone
is dressed up in their fanciest so it was fun.
A quick note on dressing fancy:
When people decide to dress up here, they do not, put on a clean
blouse and a pair of ironed pants. They wear gowns. Serious gowns that
I would never have an occasion to wear. Even in everyday life, we
Americans dress like slobs in comparison, a thing I think people don't
understand because we don't have to dress like that, we can afford
better. This has caused me some considerable amount of discomfort as
Zayneb insists on me dressing up to the point that I, as I mentioned
have taken to carrying a change of clothes and, like some mzungu
superhero, change in ATMs and cars.
We went out at night, to a club called Mercury's as in Freddy Mercury,
yes of Queen. Apparently he was born in Zanzibar and it's the club.
We've finished at the school and are going to spend this week figuring
out our next step and renting a motorcycle to tour the island! Much
love, annie
Oct 11, 2007
Another sound clip
Wednesday was our last day at the school, so I recorded several things. Every morning the students gather for an assembly which includes the school prayer, stretches and the Tanzanian National Song. You can listen to the students singing the song here. The lyrics are here.
The Zoom H2 recorder I'm using is really very pleasant and makes high quality recordings a synch. Much, much better than the minidisc recorder I used before and cheaper to boot! Check out O'Reilly's review.
The Zoom H2 recorder I'm using is really very pleasant and makes high quality recordings a synch. Much, much better than the minidisc recorder I used before and cheaper to boot! Check out O'Reilly's review.
bushbabies et all
one of the most thrilling discoveries thus far about my stay in zanzibar is the abundance of bushbabies. this may not seem like such a thrilling discovery but i’ve always been somewhat fascinated with them and to find out that that bump and screech in the night is not a chicken, spirit, or small child but indeed a primate that i always believed to be quite exotic is quite exciting. granted, if i would have read the small blurb about them in my lonely planet guide, i would not have made a “discovery” but would have already known. actually it was one of those times while travelling where the people from here think you’re out of your mind for a. asking what that sound is when it’s obviously a bush baby and b. for being excited at all that it’s a bush baby. think someone coming to the states and being elated at the site and sound of squirrels. except that at least you can see squirrels, bush babies are strictly nocturnal so you can’t actually see them. people just shake their heads thinking wazungu.
Oct 1, 2007
no one said this would be comfortable
so i'm a bit unsure as to blogging, i'm going to have to just pretend this is an email to all of my friends, rather than topical.
the title of this post comes from a rather ridiculous situation chris and i encountered at our friend glory's house yesterday. glory is a teacher at the school we're volunteering at, and she's really wonderful. she's from moshi, which means to some extent she's an outsider in
Anyway, chris and I are pretty much continuing our life here in
Sep 22, 2007
Medicine without empathy
Yesterday a neighborhood kid threw a rock at our host brother of sorts, Adam. He was hit on the side of the head and it drew blood. In Zanzibar you can not receive treatment for assault injuries or other crime related conditions until you file a police report and receive permission from the police. Zaineb apparently once tried to take someone who has very badly beaten to the hospital only to be turned away and told to go to the police station first for a permission slip.
So Zaineb and Adam had to go the police station and file a report before getting a permission slip to go to the hospital. Luckily it did not seem like Adam was in much pain and there was not very much blood at all. After dinner we all went to the private hospital in town where after a brief wait Adam was treated.
The nurse used a scalpel blade to shave away the hair around the punctures while chatting away about how Zaineb was teaching us to cook and other sundry topics. Meanwhile Adam is crying from the rough job and because he has a huge fear of needles. After the wounds were exposed there was some discussion of stitches as Adam grew more and more hysterical. The nurses never really looked at him or tried to reassure him that needles don't really hurt badly or to try and calm him down. Annie and I held his hand and told him stories of when we'd been afraid of needles and how they really aren't that bad (Annie has may stories in the genre), but we were alone in our efforts.
In the end he did not receive stitches and I don't think he needs them, the wounds are deep but only about the diameter of a no. 2 pencil or smaller. They should close by themselves and be fine if they stay clean.
So much goes into providing high quality medical care and empathy is one facact of high quality care. Probably there is a hierarchy of needs in medical care with technical technique, clean facilities and new needles being more basic then empathy. They had everything but empathy.
So Zaineb and Adam had to go the police station and file a report before getting a permission slip to go to the hospital. Luckily it did not seem like Adam was in much pain and there was not very much blood at all. After dinner we all went to the private hospital in town where after a brief wait Adam was treated.
The nurse used a scalpel blade to shave away the hair around the punctures while chatting away about how Zaineb was teaching us to cook and other sundry topics. Meanwhile Adam is crying from the rough job and because he has a huge fear of needles. After the wounds were exposed there was some discussion of stitches as Adam grew more and more hysterical. The nurses never really looked at him or tried to reassure him that needles don't really hurt badly or to try and calm him down. Annie and I held his hand and told him stories of when we'd been afraid of needles and how they really aren't that bad (Annie has may stories in the genre), but we were alone in our efforts.
In the end he did not receive stitches and I don't think he needs them, the wounds are deep but only about the diameter of a no. 2 pencil or smaller. They should close by themselves and be fine if they stay clean.
So much goes into providing high quality medical care and empathy is one facact of high quality care. Probably there is a hierarchy of needs in medical care with technical technique, clean facilities and new needles being more basic then empathy. They had everything but empathy.
Sep 19, 2007
Catching a Dalla Dalla in Stone Town
Before we left Indiana I bought a digital audio recorder, a Zoom H2. It has four built-in mikes and makes fairly high quality stereo recordings. We made a recording of the ambient noises in the market while we were waiting for a dalla-dalla ride home to Mbweni from Stone Town. The 509 Dalla-dalla to Chukwani goes through Mbweni, you can here the caller soliciting riders for Chukwani as well as music from the tape seller and other sounds of the lively outdoor market:
http://www.archive.org/details/CatchingADallaDallaInStoneTown
We'll be making more recordings as time passes.
http://www.archive.org/details/CatchingADallaDallaInStoneTown
We'll be making more recordings as time passes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)