While I was in Tanzania... Part C

Part 4 of my commemorative mini-series about Tanzania.

Much of my time in Tanzania was filled with just usual daily-life activities. But once in a while something exciting and/or out-of-the-ordinary happened. And usually when something like that took place I was so busy enjoying it that I neglected to take the time - then or later - to document it on my TZ blog. So it's high time I actually share some of those events and pictures with people. :)

(Note: Although there are tons of pictures of these events that I could post here, I'll try to choose just one or two of the best ones to showcase. I might consider doing an actual post about some of these events in the future, as there are some great pictures and stories I do want to share and have recorded for posterity. If you're interested, let me know in the comments!)

While I was in Tanzania...

- I went on safari, twice. The first time was with three other volunteers over a long weekend. We had an absolute blast, and saw so many amazing animals during our three-day trip to three different national parks: Tarangire NP, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and Lake Manyara NP. (I'll share about the second safari later on in this post.) ~ 10.15-17.2010

Kezia, Anika, me, and Danielle in our safari Land Rover in the Ngorongoro Crater

- I learned about the plight of the albino people in Eastern Africa. (Throughout my time in TZ, ADRA was working on programs to help them, so I had the privilege to meet quite a few albinos and learn more about their stories.) ~ Mukidoma School Presentation ~ 10.23.2010

Primary students from Mukidoma School singing a song with their teachers.
The school's primary and secondary students presented their albino
awareness campaign to the ADRA staff one Saturday afternoon.

- I randomly got a roommate for two weeks. Ann-Marie was traveling throughout various parts of Africa, and spent two weeks at our ADRA campus to do some volunteer video work for us, concentrating on the albino people in our area of Tanzania. I was sad when she left to continue on with her travels. (Sadly, I don't have a single picture of or with Ann-Marie - how did that happen?! If any other volunteer has a picture of her, please do send it to me so I can add it to this post...) ~ 10.13-27.2010

- I, along with Ruth and Jordan, two other volunteers from Southern Adventist University who worked at nearby Havilah Children's Village, Skyped with our school's chaplain and missions director for a Friday night vespers program. Although the internet wasn't the best that night, we were able to talk for a few minutes. Seeing some familiar faces and being able to talk to a few friends after vespers was so nice! ~ 11.05.2010

Ruth, Jordan, and me Skyping with Pastor Kirstein for SAU vespers

- my little sister Bryn, who was spending that year working as a preschool teacher in Cairo, Egypt, came to visit during an Egyptian national holiday. It was so great to see her again since she had left for Egypt at the end of June that year. This was the first time we had seen each other in five months! We made the most of our time together as I showed her around the Usa River/Arusha area. ~ 11.15-18.2010

Sisters in Arusha NP with our safari driver

Sisters hanging out at Mt. Meru Game Lodge
(Outfits in both pictures courtesy of each other's wardrobes...what are sisters for, eh?)

- Shae, one of the CoL volunteers, headed up a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving Dinner for US Thanksgiving (being the only Canadian on campus, I didn't have my own Thanksgiving, so I was happy to join the resident Americans in celebrating with them). ~ 11.21.2010

Our group of volunteers gathered around the Thanksgiving table

12 volunteers from 3 organizations (ADRA, CoL, & Havilah Children's Village),
and from 6 countries (USA, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark)

- my Christmas present from my parents was financial help to travel to Egypt to spend Christmas there with my sister Bryn and her new friends!

Bryn & me being tourists at the Pyramids of Giza.
(We were ambivalent about riding a camel, but that actually
got us a great deal on the ride, so we jumped at the chance.)

Me playing Santa Claus for Bryn's preschool students (just the boys pictured)

Bryn & I planned to see The Nutcracker in Cairo, but decided it would be fun
to invite some of Bryn's friends and pay for their tickets as Christmas gifts.
Those tickets were absolutely the most fun Christmas presents we've ever given.
They were so thrilled and enthralled with the whole evening and thanked
us over and over. It was simply a pleasure to spend that special time with them!
L-R: Anita, Manal, me, Mervat, and Bryn outside the Cairo Opera House

One of Bryn's friends, Mervat, took us to Alexandria for a day. It was a whirlwind
tour, but we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here Bryn and me are
at the Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria near a ancient seaside castle.

- my then-boyfriend Jonathan surprised me with a visit, just a few weeks after I got back from Egypt. I had known he was going to be coming to visit sometime during my time in TZ, but he kept the date a total surprise! He then whisked me away for a two-day safari trip, then a trip to the coast and to Pemba Island off the northern coast. It was quite a spectacular trip, for a few reasons. :) ~ 1.11-27.2011

Jonathan and me on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater on our safari

Cheetah on the prowl in the Crater. Just after this picture was taken
we got to see it burst into high speed to chase a small gazelle. It was
thrilling to see, but I was secretly glad the gazelle managed to get away.

On our first evening on Pemba Island, Jonathan surprised
me further by asking a certain question. :D I said, "Yes!"

Twirling from happiness (the day after our engagement).
We did a self mini photo shoot for Save the Date pictures.

Traveling by wooden boat from Pemba Island
to small Masali Island for a snorkeling day trip

- the other volunteers and I went on a day adventure, driving up the slopes of Mt. Meru, then hiking to a freshwater pool at the base of a tall waterfall where we spent the afternoon swimming. ~ 1.30.2011

Waterfall and pool on Mt. Meru

Darren, me, Danielle, and Kirsten enjoying the cool water

- a group of volunteers from another organization invited some of the CoL volunteers and me to a beautiful back-country freshwater spring where we spent the day swimming, swinging from rope swings into the spring, eating yummy food, and enjoying each other's company. We took another trip out to this spring a few weeks before I left Tanzania as well. Both were delightful! ~ 2.6.2011 & 4.16.2011

Majimoto spring - kinda, sorta near Moshi

Danielle, Kezia, Darren, and Liz relaxing after a swim and lunch

Stopping for a picture during the drive on our second trip out to Majimoto
L-R: Natasha, Amina, Danielle, Simon, Kezia, and me

Friends watching Kili come out for the evening

- I traveled with Jordan, a volunteer friend from Havilah Children's Village, to Nairobi, Kenya for a long weekend to meet up with two of her friends from our university who were in the process of traveling around the world, from cape to cape. (I blogged about this trip - read more about it here.) ~ 3.4-6.2011

Feeding a giraffe at the Nairobi Giraffe Center

Bjorn, me, and Jeremy eating a delicious breakfast
at a little shack restaurant we found behind our hostel

- the volunteers and I went to Arusha for an evening of fun to watch the Mama Africa circus. One person in our group had seen them perform before and told us that they often grabbed people from the audience to help out with various acts, so throughout the entire performance I was trying to make myself as invisible as possible, and thankfully, I was never pulled onto the stage. All in all, though, the acrobats were amazing, and it was a very memorable evening! ~ 3.26.2011

Acrobat and his trusty sidekicks

Final circus number

- I traveled with ADRA for some albino support programs. Our travels took us to Tanga, a city on the northern coast of Tanzania, and Moshi, a city an hour and a half-ish south of Arusha that is right on the edge of Kilimanjaro National Park, as well as to Arusha for a day. ~ Tanga - 4.1-3.2011 | Moshi - 4.9-10.2011 | Arusha - 4.17.2011

Crowd listening to speeches at the Albino Registration Day in Tanga

School children singing at the Albino Registration Day in Moshi

Volunteers at the Albino Registration Day in Arusha

- I took a weekend trip with another volunteer, Kezia, to the gorgeous town of Babati, a few hours east of Arusha and met a friend there who showed us around the area, and let us see the progress of some ADRA wells and latrines being built in various surrounding villages and schools. (I blogged about this trip - read more about it here.) ~ 4.18-19.2011

Gorgeous Babati countryside

Trying out one of ADRA's wells in a village near Babati

So those are the special events that happened during my SM year. Tune in again soon to read my final post in this series with my take-away from my time in Tanzania.

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Read Part 1 here - Before I left for Tanzania...
Read Part 2 here - While I was in Tanzania... Part A
Read Part 3 here - While I was in Tanzania... Part B
Read Part 5 here - Since I've come home from Tanzania...

While I was in Tanzania... Part B

Part 3 of my commemorative mini-series about Tanzania. This is just a glimpse of my day-to-day life.

While I was in Tanzania...

- I would hurry from my office to my thatched hut, change from my work clothes into can-get-dirty clothes, rush over the cobblestone pathway from my hut to the playroom at Cradle of Love Baby Home next door, sit on the cool, tiled floor, and watch a passel of babies and toddlers crawl, scoot, toddle, or scamper in my direction for some pre-bedtime hugs and kisses.

Mobbed by babies (L-R: Patrick, Nancy, Witness, Eric, & Amani)

Bibi Helen (the night supervisor) and me hanging out with the triplets,
Anya (L), Nina (R, playing with my hair), and Tessa (in my lap)

^ The toddler's pre-bedtime version of "London Bridge is Falling Down"
(For any of you who are friends with Danielle on FB, here's a link to my
all-time favourite pre-bedtime toddler video! I so wish I had my own copy of it...)

- I spent most Friday afternoons in the preschool room with some of the other volunteers and the older toddlers who lived at Cradle, singing songs, putting together puzzles, building with blocks, playing "Ring-Around-the-Rosie," "Duck, Duck, Goose," and "London Bridge's," just learning and growing together.

Being a train as we went from singing time to play time

^Singing time at darasa (preschool class)

 - I walked to the post office at least once a week during lunch break or on Friday afternoon to check the mail (many times by myself! - oops, sorry travel doctor who didn't know one thing about living in a rural Tanzanian village). If I didn't have a package or a letter waiting for me, I'd ask if any of the other volunteers did, and finding out they had mail was almost as exciting as getting some myself. I'd stick the packages in my handmade cloth bag made of Tanzanian material by Tanzanian ladies and quickly walk back to the campus where I'd deliver the packages for others, or tear into my own to find the treasures waiting inside.

The place where dreams come true (or hopes are dashed)...

Opening a box from Southern

(Note - If you are ever inclined to send a package to someone living in Africa, remember this advice: please, please, please only ever use padded envelops, never boxes. Otherwise that person will have to choose between paying a high sum to actually get the box (which is probably filled with melted chocolates...) or letting the post office sell off the now-discarded box to a local who will then sell the items at the market. Be smart, use envelopes!)

- I hung my laundry on a clothesline to dry (luckily we had a washer so I didn't have to try to learn how to wash all my clothes by hand). I'm pretty sure I've never had such good-smelling clothes in my entire life - before or since - as I did those eight months living in TZ. As soon as Jonathan and I have a house of our own, we're putting up a clothesline! Some days, though, when my co-worker Simon and I felt the breeze pick up through our office windows, we had to dash up to the clothesline, pull all our clothes from the line, and rehang them throughout our rooms to dry inside so the coming rain wouldn't drench the nearly-dry items.

See those Canada-flag pj pants? Yep, it really did get
cold enough at night during African winter to wear those.

Laundry hanging in my room on a rainy day

- I often relaxed before bed to the soothing sounds of Irish melodies drifting from Simon's room next door as he played his mandolin. Since all the other volunteers on campus worked at the baby home and lived in the apartment above it, it was nice to have at least one other person living nearby.

ADRA huts (Simon and I occupied the two halves of the leftmost hut)

My half of hut 1

The kitchen hut, where my paltry meals of rice and lentils,
or toast, or grilled cheese sandwiches were made

- I lived right below a beautiful mountain, Mt. Meru, and within sight distance of Mt. Kilimanjaro (on the rare occasion that it came out of its cloud cover). So inspiring to live near both of those gorgeous, stately mountains.

Mt. Meru from a nearby lodge

Distant clouds hiding Mt. Kilimanjaro...

The two peaks of Kili coming out in the evening (taken in Moshi)

- we occasionally hiked into the jungle on the lower slopes of Mt. Meru, for walks or sometimes for weekend picnics.

Picnic at the river behind our campus

Fording a stream on the way to a picnic spot

Picnic lunch on my last afternoon in Tanzania
L-R: Bekki, Jacki, Danielle, me, Natasha, and Kezia

- I saw quite a lot of interesting animals on our campus.

Monkeys came from the jungle surrounding our campus to
investigate the mulberry tree and the other fruit trees.

Storks routinely patrolled the air above our campus,
screeching their raspy caws as they soared overhead.

Who can spot the iguana?

Resident lizards that scampered around the walls and ceilings of the buildings

Teensy, omnipresent ants found their way into the CoL
volunteer's apartment and into Danielle's Bible...

Kezia and Danielle with a baby non-poisonous snake a friend brought over to scare me...

...and me staying on the opposite side of the room!

- my fellow volunteers and I made frequent trips to Tanz-Hands, a nearby cafe on the campus of an organization that helped people with physical handicaps learn trades. The food, made by the students and staff of the organization, was so yummy and the atmosphere so relaxing - a perfect way to spend a lunch break or a day off!

Tanz-Hands cafe

L-R: Rahim, Rahmann, and Joshua accompany Danielle,
Kezia (taking the picture), and me to Tanz-Hands one Sunday

- we also made trips to Rotterdam, the small grocery store in Usa River and its attached restaurant.

Cradle toddlers sitting outside Rotterdam, waiting for some chips (fries) and Fanta

Packed Land Rover on another trip to Rotterdam with the CoL toddlers

Shae helping the kids get settled before lunch

- if we ever needed something (like margarine, eggs, soda (Stoney Tangawizi!!), air time for our SIM-card phones, etc.) and wanted to get it quickly, all we had to do was leave our walled-in campus, walk a few minutes down the dusty lane, and visit the small shack. The few small shops there carried a surprising array of items. For fresh bananas, though, we walked down the lane in the opposite direction, and rain or shine, would find the Banana Lady (never knew her name) sitting by the side of the lane near the main road with her bright yellow bananas spread out on a blanket. My friend Danielle made it her mission to make the Banana Lady smile before she left TZ. I think she did eventually accomplish her goal!

The Shack, complete with satellite dish. :)

Buying my last Stoney Tangawizi at the shack before leaving TZ that evening

The Banana Lady and her fruit for sale

- I rode the dala-dala (mini bus) down the road to the village of Usa River where I bargained for my produce and sometimes bought a beautiful piece of Tanzanian cloth to add to my growing collection (even though I don't sew and had no idea what I would do with that fabric when I got home).

Dala-dala conductor (in maroon) encouraging passengers to cram inside

Bekki shopping for tomatoes at the Usa River market

Tanzanian fabric in one store at the Usa River market

- some of the other volunteers and I rode the dala-dala into Arusha Town every once in a while to go shopping at the bigger market, at the better-stocked grocery stores, at the clothes market, or at the Maasai market (for souvenirs to bring home or to give as gifts to friends and family).

Jacki and me riding a crowded dala-dala home from Arusha to Usa River

Entrance to the Maasai Market

One aisle of the Maasai Market

A unique stall

Jordan in front of Kase Bookstore in Arusha
(I spent a good chunk of money here buying kids books written by African authors)

- I routinely went to the SDA church on the nearby college campus. That particular church had the sermon translated from Swahili-to-English or vice-versa depending on the preacher. I spent much of the service people-watching the kids from an SDA children's village who sat in front of us. Once in a while some of the other volunteers and I would venture in to Arusha on Sunday mornings to attend the Vineyard church and spend some much-needed time with other foreigners living in the area.

Volunteers with their special babies just before church
L-R: Shae with Happy, Danielle with Amani, Kezia with Rahim, Anika with James

Babies' outing to Vineyard church
(I never felt comfortable taking pictures at the SDA church, so there aren't any from there...)

- when we needed a break from our campus or the hustle and bustle of life, we took a taxi (or one time tried to walk...but then decided to hop on a dala-dala in the end) to a nearby hotel to use their swimming pool. Almost every time we went there, it was completely empty except for the staff walking around. Such beautiful grounds and a perfect place to relax!

Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge swimming pool and grounds

Kezia and Jordan relaxing on the lounge chairs by the pool

- I, along with the other ADRA TZ staff, ate rice and beans for lunch at least two or three times a week. It was delicious and I never once got tired of it. (In fact, I often took twice as much as I would be able to eat and kept the extras in the kitchen fridge to eat for lunch on the other days when the cook made ugali (a bland-to-me traditional Eastern African cornmeal dish eaten with meat or cooked greens)).

My co-worker, Simon, another volunteer, Bekki,
and some of the other ADRA staff eating lunch.

- my co-worker Simon and I had the privilege of watching the CoL toddlers and their nannies and some of the volunteers through our office windows most days of the week. They often took a walk during the late morning or early afternoon, and many times it was down to our end of the campus. We always enjoyed that time of day! And once they even came into our office for a little visiting time! :)

Jacki and the CoL toddlers taking a walk to ADRA

My girls Nina & Anya visiting and trying to help me with my work :)

^a surprise visit to our ADRA office by the Cradle toddlers!

And on that adorable note, I shall end this post. Visit again tomorrow for some of my biggest and most favourite highlights of my time in Tanzania (aka, part 4 of a now five-part series...seriously, though, I'll keep it to five.) :)

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Read Part 1 here - Before I left for Tanzania...
Read Part 2 here - While I was in Tanzania... Part A
Read Part 4 here - While I was in Tanzania... Part C
Read Part 5 here - Since I've come home from Tanzania...