A sports competition between the local schools was arranged here in Kitengela. When the kids were throwing the javelin, one of the kids happened to be standing at the wrong place and the javelin hit his side. He had - naturally - started to bleed. What did the teachers do? Did they take him to the hospital? No. They had just said that "He'll be fine" and did nothing to help him. The poor boy died later the same day.
I don't even bother to write about how this made me feel as you probably feel the same.
Thursday 28 May 2009
Monday 25 May 2009
Safari in Tanzania
I went on a four day safari in Tanzania, which took me to a Maasai village, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater and Lake Manyara. It was an amazing experience, which I cannot describe exhaustively; that was something everyone has to see themselves to be able to understand the overwhelming greatness of African Nature. Have a look at the pictures! (I really hope that they are not too dark; they were just fine on my laptop, but look awfully dark here at the cyber cafe.)
The safari car: Land Rover
A view on the way. If you look at the picture carefully, you might be able to see some Maasai huts.
Maasai Village
We visited the little Maasai Village that Art in Tanzania has taken under its wings: they have for example built a simple school for the people living in the village in order to make it possible for them to go to school. The village's chief is a 101 year old traditional doctor, who has 31 wives. Within Maasai, it is okay to have as many wives as you afford to keep; the more goats and cows you own, the more viwes you'll probably get! Women are seen as property in Maasai culture, and they basically do everything in the village from taking care of the kids to building the huts. Here are some pictures from the village.
Jackson, the man who showed us the village with our guide. He is sitting in the classroom. The alphabet on the wall was painted by some of the previous volunteers.
One of the women. Isn't she just beautiful!
Some of the kids. Most of the kids had at least 10 flies all over their faces - I am not kidding you!
Some of their huts.
This picture was taken by the husband of the Maasai woman in the picture.
Some of their goats. Maasai people, they love their livestock.
The tree, under which they had lessons before the school was built.
View from the village.
Serengeti
The next day we drove to Serengeti and were driving around the park the whole day. We were lucky to see all the "Big Five" (lion, buffalo, leopard, elephant and rhino) and even the migration of the wildebeest. The most amazing thing to see was lions mating only about 10 meters from us! (I'll try to remember to add the video later.) We spent the night in the middle of Serengeti in a tent. Was the camping area fenced? No. Unfortunately I slept like a baby and hence have no wild stories to tell about lions roaring outside the tent. Here are some pictures from Serengeti.
Myself at the gates of Serengeti.
Serengeti seemed to be endless.
Cheetah. It had its 5 cubs with, but I was - of course - playing with my video camera, and hence have no pictures of those.
Wildebeest.
Hyena. What an ugly creature!
Blue monkey. They actually have blue balls. I saw them!
Putting up the tent.
We had some guests as we were having breakfast.
Sunrise in Serengeti.
A giraffe and I in the morning.
A hippo taking his morning mud bath.
Buffalos enjoyed mub bathing as well.
Look at the highest and biggest rock. There is something on top of it. It's the Lion King!
I just love the way trees look in Africa.
Sometimes it is really worth staring at the trees: you might spot a leopard!
Ngorongoro crater
The next pictures are taken in Ngorongoro crater, to where we drove on the third day.
The crater.
We drove into the crater. This is what the view was like there. There are some buffalos in the distance in the picture too.
This elephant had decided to give his penis an airing. :)
Zebras cuddling.
Rhino.
Lake Manyara
Lastly, pictures taken on the fourth safari day from Lake Manyara National Park. There we saw a lot of monkeys and birds to name but a few.
Antelopes.
Monkeys.
A big bird, which species I have forgotten.
No matter how excited you are about all the animals and the great views, you shouldn't forget to watch out for the branches, especially when they have big and sharp thorns. Luckily it is my scarf hanging from the tree and not my scalp!
End of story :)
The safari car: Land Rover
A view on the way. If you look at the picture carefully, you might be able to see some Maasai huts.
Maasai Village
We visited the little Maasai Village that Art in Tanzania has taken under its wings: they have for example built a simple school for the people living in the village in order to make it possible for them to go to school. The village's chief is a 101 year old traditional doctor, who has 31 wives. Within Maasai, it is okay to have as many wives as you afford to keep; the more goats and cows you own, the more viwes you'll probably get! Women are seen as property in Maasai culture, and they basically do everything in the village from taking care of the kids to building the huts. Here are some pictures from the village.
Jackson, the man who showed us the village with our guide. He is sitting in the classroom. The alphabet on the wall was painted by some of the previous volunteers.
One of the women. Isn't she just beautiful!
Some of the kids. Most of the kids had at least 10 flies all over their faces - I am not kidding you!
Some of their huts.
This picture was taken by the husband of the Maasai woman in the picture.
Some of their goats. Maasai people, they love their livestock.
The tree, under which they had lessons before the school was built.
View from the village.
Serengeti
The next day we drove to Serengeti and were driving around the park the whole day. We were lucky to see all the "Big Five" (lion, buffalo, leopard, elephant and rhino) and even the migration of the wildebeest. The most amazing thing to see was lions mating only about 10 meters from us! (I'll try to remember to add the video later.) We spent the night in the middle of Serengeti in a tent. Was the camping area fenced? No. Unfortunately I slept like a baby and hence have no wild stories to tell about lions roaring outside the tent. Here are some pictures from Serengeti.
Myself at the gates of Serengeti.
Serengeti seemed to be endless.
Cheetah. It had its 5 cubs with, but I was - of course - playing with my video camera, and hence have no pictures of those.
Wildebeest.
Hyena. What an ugly creature!
Blue monkey. They actually have blue balls. I saw them!
Putting up the tent.
We had some guests as we were having breakfast.
Sunrise in Serengeti.
A giraffe and I in the morning.
A hippo taking his morning mud bath.
Buffalos enjoyed mub bathing as well.
Look at the highest and biggest rock. There is something on top of it. It's the Lion King!
I just love the way trees look in Africa.
Sometimes it is really worth staring at the trees: you might spot a leopard!
Ngorongoro crater
The next pictures are taken in Ngorongoro crater, to where we drove on the third day.
The crater.
We drove into the crater. This is what the view was like there. There are some buffalos in the distance in the picture too.
This elephant had decided to give his penis an airing. :)
Zebras cuddling.
Rhino.
Lake Manyara
Lastly, pictures taken on the fourth safari day from Lake Manyara National Park. There we saw a lot of monkeys and birds to name but a few.
Antelopes.
Monkeys.
A big bird, which species I have forgotten.
No matter how excited you are about all the animals and the great views, you shouldn't forget to watch out for the branches, especially when they have big and sharp thorns. Luckily it is my scarf hanging from the tree and not my scalp!
End of story :)
Nine giraffe kisses
It doesn't make any difference whether you are in Finland or in Africa, you have to have a bit fun in the middle of all the hard work. Have a look at the pictures to get an idea how I've been entertaining myself in Kenya.
I went to Karen Blixen Museum:
Me holding a baby crocodile in the crocodile farm:
The big crocs:
We also visited an ostrich farm, where I rode an ostrich. I've got really good video about that, but unfortunately have no means uploading it here for now. I decided to make it up to you by showing an even more exciting picture of me holding an ostrich egg. ;)
But what about the giraffe kisses?
We went to the Giraffe Center and got to feed the giraffes there. The guide showed us a special way of feeding the giraffes: put the food in between your lips and the giraffe will eat it from there. Did I do it? Would you believe, if I said "No"? Well, of course I did it! Did I do it nine times? Yes, because getting a decent picture took many tries. (What I wouldn't do to entertain you...)
Before:
After: (try to imagine the amount of slime on my face after nine giraffe kisses!)
I went to Karen Blixen Museum:
Me holding a baby crocodile in the crocodile farm:
The big crocs:
We also visited an ostrich farm, where I rode an ostrich. I've got really good video about that, but unfortunately have no means uploading it here for now. I decided to make it up to you by showing an even more exciting picture of me holding an ostrich egg. ;)
But what about the giraffe kisses?
We went to the Giraffe Center and got to feed the giraffes there. The guide showed us a special way of feeding the giraffes: put the food in between your lips and the giraffe will eat it from there. Did I do it? Would you believe, if I said "No"? Well, of course I did it! Did I do it nine times? Yes, because getting a decent picture took many tries. (What I wouldn't do to entertain you...)
Before:
After: (try to imagine the amount of slime on my face after nine giraffe kisses!)
Thursday 21 May 2009
I am sorry I'm late, I had matatu problems
I only need to walk a short distance to get to work here, but I need to take a matatu to cover the 10 km between Kitengela and the cross roads leading to Enkasity school. What is a matatu? A matatu is the local minibus (in Tanzania they were called "daladala"), which basically is a van, in which they have stuffed twelve seats. They are generally in very bad condition, and often overloaded with too many passangers. If you want to get in one, you just have to wave your hand. the matatu will then pull over and pick you up. There is one guy in the passangers' side, who collects the money and informs the driver when someone wants to get out by banging the roof of the van.
Matatus don't have a timetable, which they follow. Instead, they leave whenever they are full. An average waiting time in the matatu before it leaves from the station is about 30 minutes. Usually the drivers don't hurry starting the van; they stand outside talking to other people for as long as they feel like doing so.
Because of the incredibly unreliable matatus we have to leave at about 7 am to make sure we'll get to the school by 8.20. Sometimes we arrive late anyway, regardless of all the effort we made to be in time. Luckily the teachers know what it is like with the matatus. They totally understand us when we come late and say "We are sorry we are late, we had matatu problems".
Here's the most unbelievable matatu-morning story.
I had (intentionally - and luckily) slept longer than usually because my first lesson was only at 9.50. At 8 o'clock I walked to the matatu station and stepped into a matatu to wait for it to start. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the two other volunteers stepping into the same matatu as they had left home one hour before me. This is what had happened:
At first they had sat in the previous matatu for 45 minutes waiting for it to leave. Finally it had started, but had driven firts to a petrol station to put some air into its tires and to fill up the tank. Then the matatu headed for its normal route. Shortly the door of the matatu had fallen off, and of course they had to stop to repair it. After repairing it they continued driving, but then noticed a spot check on the way. They did a u-turn and drove back to the station - assumingly there was something wrong with the matatu and they didn't want to pay the bribe for the police. This was when my co-volunteers and the other passangers were told to take the matatu which I was in instead.
After a while the matatu in which I got into in the first place left the station. On the way we stopped to let some passangers out. The door of the matatu didn't have a handle inside so the driver had to get up to let the people out. Apparently, the matatu was missing a hand break as well, because we were sliding backwards while the driver was out. Then, after a couple of meters driving, the police stopped us. He was complaining about the lights on the front. The driver dug the missing part from under his bench and showed it to the police, which was enough for the police to let us continue. Finally I and the volunteer who works at the same school, got off the matatu. The other volunteer told us later that when he got to his stop, the door of that matatu had fallen off too!
Matatus don't have a timetable, which they follow. Instead, they leave whenever they are full. An average waiting time in the matatu before it leaves from the station is about 30 minutes. Usually the drivers don't hurry starting the van; they stand outside talking to other people for as long as they feel like doing so.
Because of the incredibly unreliable matatus we have to leave at about 7 am to make sure we'll get to the school by 8.20. Sometimes we arrive late anyway, regardless of all the effort we made to be in time. Luckily the teachers know what it is like with the matatus. They totally understand us when we come late and say "We are sorry we are late, we had matatu problems".
Here's the most unbelievable matatu-morning story.
I had (intentionally - and luckily) slept longer than usually because my first lesson was only at 9.50. At 8 o'clock I walked to the matatu station and stepped into a matatu to wait for it to start. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the two other volunteers stepping into the same matatu as they had left home one hour before me. This is what had happened:
At first they had sat in the previous matatu for 45 minutes waiting for it to leave. Finally it had started, but had driven firts to a petrol station to put some air into its tires and to fill up the tank. Then the matatu headed for its normal route. Shortly the door of the matatu had fallen off, and of course they had to stop to repair it. After repairing it they continued driving, but then noticed a spot check on the way. They did a u-turn and drove back to the station - assumingly there was something wrong with the matatu and they didn't want to pay the bribe for the police. This was when my co-volunteers and the other passangers were told to take the matatu which I was in instead.
After a while the matatu in which I got into in the first place left the station. On the way we stopped to let some passangers out. The door of the matatu didn't have a handle inside so the driver had to get up to let the people out. Apparently, the matatu was missing a hand break as well, because we were sliding backwards while the driver was out. Then, after a couple of meters driving, the police stopped us. He was complaining about the lights on the front. The driver dug the missing part from under his bench and showed it to the police, which was enough for the police to let us continue. Finally I and the volunteer who works at the same school, got off the matatu. The other volunteer told us later that when he got to his stop, the door of that matatu had fallen off too!
Sunday 17 May 2009
Transition from Tanzania to Kenya
I thought it might be time to update you about my location as I've been in Kenya for one week. Below you can read about my current thoughts and feelings.
How did I feel about leaving Tanzania? It was sad, but at the same time I thought that it was good to move on. The worst thing was to leave my students, especially because I felt that so many things were left undone and untaught, and I had only recently started to feel that I was settling down there and knew what I was doing, what worked and what didn't. But the most heart breaking thing ever was to see one of the students crying miserably when I left.
The things that I'm going to tell you about Tanzania next are somewhat irrelevant, but want to share them with you anyway.
Although I hadn't been looking forward to the cold showers, they turned out to be my everyday luxury there. It was the only way to refresh oneself after a sweaty day or night. Believe me, it felt so good. Who needs hot water: there's no shower like cold shower!
The dogs kept on fighting at nights. The noise was terrible and scary and it woke up half of the house at night. At one night I and one of my roommates had a nightmare about a tiger. I wonder why... We also had a puppy there, but it was eaten by the big dogs the other night. Horrifying, isn't it?
As you might understand, there really weren't much goods or resources. When I brought dice or an egg timer to be used during the lesson, the (adult!) students got amazingly enthusiastic about such fine objects. I got used to using the smallest pieces of chalk because there just wasn't anything else to use. One day a student came in and gave me a long and thick, pink chalk. What did I do? I grabbed the chalk, stared at it for probably a whole minute repeating "Wow! Where did you get this from?", and could barely breathe because I felt I had been given a valuable treasure. See: surprisingly it is possible for a rich European to get excited about the smallest things given!
A rich European? Yes. I have to admit (reluctantly) that even though in Finland I am just an average person earning an average amount of money, globally seen I am rich. And so are you! Actually, I see myself so rich that I feel guilty for having all the things that I have.
Power cuts seemed to have a perfect timing. Just to tell you an example: on four nights on a row, the electricity went off just when everyone had their dinner on plate, ready to be eaten. You can only imagine the chaotic atmosphere, when 16 people were sitting on the floor holding their plates in total darkness and having to get up and wander around the house looking for torches and candles.
Nothing really shocked me Tanzania, except the following: many times I saw a woman who's both legs were amputated from knees down. She had thick gloves on her hands and some kind of thick socks protecting her knees. She didn't have a wheel chair, so she walked like a dog along the street. It wasn't the fact that she was missing legs that shocked me, but the thing that she had to nearly crawl along the street to get where she needed to go. Looking at her made me feel so sad. But when I later saw a person having a wheel chair , I felt so happy for him.
I live with a Kenyan family and two other volunteers here: a 22 year old English guy and a 18 year old Irish guy. I have my own room - and a 120 cm bed - here, which is so luxurious after having slept in a bunk bed and sharing the room with 1-3 other people. We even have warm water here, but we seem to run out of water every second day. I really like living like this here: the family, the maid and the two other volunteers are very nice and easy-going people.
I am teaching here in a school called Enkasity primary school. The building is just a brown building with some of the windows broken. They don't have any fancy things to use as teaching aids. The students are mainly Maasai children who have been raised up fairly unaware of the surrounding world. And to be honest with you, even some of the teachers have curious ideas about the world: did you know that when a black and a white person have a baby, it always becomes some kind of a super person, like Obama. Yep. I had to disagree with that.
Surpringly I am not teaching English here. I am a mathematics and a science teacher now! Teaching and lesson planning has taken a lot of my energy as I have had to remind myself about many things I was taught years ago. What has made preparing lessons even more challenging is that I have had to (and will have to) English vocabulary that I haven't been familiar with previously. Anyway, for now I have enjoyed teaching here, and I believe that I will enjoy the following three weeks as well.
How did I feel about leaving Tanzania? It was sad, but at the same time I thought that it was good to move on. The worst thing was to leave my students, especially because I felt that so many things were left undone and untaught, and I had only recently started to feel that I was settling down there and knew what I was doing, what worked and what didn't. But the most heart breaking thing ever was to see one of the students crying miserably when I left.
The things that I'm going to tell you about Tanzania next are somewhat irrelevant, but want to share them with you anyway.
Although I hadn't been looking forward to the cold showers, they turned out to be my everyday luxury there. It was the only way to refresh oneself after a sweaty day or night. Believe me, it felt so good. Who needs hot water: there's no shower like cold shower!
The dogs kept on fighting at nights. The noise was terrible and scary and it woke up half of the house at night. At one night I and one of my roommates had a nightmare about a tiger. I wonder why... We also had a puppy there, but it was eaten by the big dogs the other night. Horrifying, isn't it?
As you might understand, there really weren't much goods or resources. When I brought dice or an egg timer to be used during the lesson, the (adult!) students got amazingly enthusiastic about such fine objects. I got used to using the smallest pieces of chalk because there just wasn't anything else to use. One day a student came in and gave me a long and thick, pink chalk. What did I do? I grabbed the chalk, stared at it for probably a whole minute repeating "Wow! Where did you get this from?", and could barely breathe because I felt I had been given a valuable treasure. See: surprisingly it is possible for a rich European to get excited about the smallest things given!
A rich European? Yes. I have to admit (reluctantly) that even though in Finland I am just an average person earning an average amount of money, globally seen I am rich. And so are you! Actually, I see myself so rich that I feel guilty for having all the things that I have.
Power cuts seemed to have a perfect timing. Just to tell you an example: on four nights on a row, the electricity went off just when everyone had their dinner on plate, ready to be eaten. You can only imagine the chaotic atmosphere, when 16 people were sitting on the floor holding their plates in total darkness and having to get up and wander around the house looking for torches and candles.
Nothing really shocked me Tanzania, except the following: many times I saw a woman who's both legs were amputated from knees down. She had thick gloves on her hands and some kind of thick socks protecting her knees. She didn't have a wheel chair, so she walked like a dog along the street. It wasn't the fact that she was missing legs that shocked me, but the thing that she had to nearly crawl along the street to get where she needed to go. Looking at her made me feel so sad. But when I later saw a person having a wheel chair , I felt so happy for him.
Now that I'm in Kenya, I can already tell you what I miss about Tanzania:
- I miss the heat, even though I quite often felt like I was trapped in a sauna. On the other hand it is nice to be able to wear the same shirt more that one day as it isn't nearly as hot here as it was in Tanzania.
- I miss the scenery: although the nature seems to be the same as it is in Tanzania, but the way it looks like in Kitengela compared to Moshi, is ugly. This is a poor neighborhood with almost crashed down buildings, there is litter everywhere, and it stinks like landfill.
- I miss the feeling of familiarity: when I came here the process of me settling down started all over again. Knowing (based on the experience in Tanzania) that 4 weeks is going to be just about long enough to get used to living here, didn't make it any easier to motivate myself.
Last but not least, a little information about my "life" in Kenya
I live with a Kenyan family and two other volunteers here: a 22 year old English guy and a 18 year old Irish guy. I have my own room - and a 120 cm bed - here, which is so luxurious after having slept in a bunk bed and sharing the room with 1-3 other people. We even have warm water here, but we seem to run out of water every second day. I really like living like this here: the family, the maid and the two other volunteers are very nice and easy-going people.
I am teaching here in a school called Enkasity primary school. The building is just a brown building with some of the windows broken. They don't have any fancy things to use as teaching aids. The students are mainly Maasai children who have been raised up fairly unaware of the surrounding world. And to be honest with you, even some of the teachers have curious ideas about the world: did you know that when a black and a white person have a baby, it always becomes some kind of a super person, like Obama. Yep. I had to disagree with that.
Surpringly I am not teaching English here. I am a mathematics and a science teacher now! Teaching and lesson planning has taken a lot of my energy as I have had to remind myself about many things I was taught years ago. What has made preparing lessons even more challenging is that I have had to (and will have to) English vocabulary that I haven't been familiar with previously. Anyway, for now I have enjoyed teaching here, and I believe that I will enjoy the following three weeks as well.
Friday 15 May 2009
Part of the donations given used for Boma Orphanage
On one sunday we paid a visit to an orphanage in Boma. (Boma is a very small town one hour drive away from Moshi.) There are approximately 150 children living in the orphanage. The head of the orphanage has been taking care of the orphans for 24 years - and is actually living in the orphanage as well. As you could guess, it was a very poor looking place. You can see pictures below.
The entrance.
This is what it looks like inside:
This is some sort of an outside kitchen room:
This room is the older boy's bedroom. As you can see, some of the beds are lacking mosquito nets, which is not good in an area where malaria kills a lot of people all the time.
Here you can see their little field where they grow vegetables and stuff for food:
And here are their pigs. Sometimes the head of the orphanage has had to sell some of their livestock in order to be able to pay the kid's school fees.
Here you can see a poor little boy having a nap:
And below you can see the sweetest girl in the worl, who walked straight to me and was just happy to sit on my lap for foreverand didn't even want any of the toys that some of us brought with us. I would've been so happy to take her home with me!
After the visit I knew that this is the place, where I wanted to use 50 % of the money (413 e) I was given from friends and colleagues to be used in Africa for some beneficial purpose. I asked for advice from one of the people working for the organization in Tanzania. We decided to go to the orphanage again to find out what they needed the most at the moment. We got a long list of different things they were lacking, and decided to buy them food and some excercise books for school work.
Here is the list of the things I was able to buy for them:
The orphanage thanks all the people who gave money!
The entrance.
This is what it looks like inside:
This is some sort of an outside kitchen room:
This room is the older boy's bedroom. As you can see, some of the beds are lacking mosquito nets, which is not good in an area where malaria kills a lot of people all the time.
Here you can see their little field where they grow vegetables and stuff for food:
And here are their pigs. Sometimes the head of the orphanage has had to sell some of their livestock in order to be able to pay the kid's school fees.
Here you can see a poor little boy having a nap:
And below you can see the sweetest girl in the worl, who walked straight to me and was just happy to sit on my lap for foreverand didn't even want any of the toys that some of us brought with us. I would've been so happy to take her home with me!
After the visit I knew that this is the place, where I wanted to use 50 % of the money (413 e) I was given from friends and colleagues to be used in Africa for some beneficial purpose. I asked for advice from one of the people working for the organization in Tanzania. We decided to go to the orphanage again to find out what they needed the most at the moment. We got a long list of different things they were lacking, and decided to buy them food and some excercise books for school work.
Here is the list of the things I was able to buy for them:
- 105 kg maize
- 50 kg beans
- 50 kg sugar
- 50 kg rice
- 20 l cooking oil
- 1 cartoon of salt
- 1 cartoon of soap
- a big box of excercise books.
The orphanage thanks all the people who gave money!
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