Arusha!

Bus Trip to Arusha

On Tuesday morning Chris and I awoke bright and early at 3:30am to complete darkness, as the power was out yet again! Luckily we had done most of our packing in the daylight and only had a few last minute items to pack up! Stanley arrived to pick us up at 4:00am (on time!) and kindly drove us to the bus station.

                Our bus departed Mwanza at 6:00am and we arrived in Arusha at 7:00pm! Yes, it was a very long 13 hours! We had one stop at the side of the road and one stop at an African café for a total of about 10 minutes. Other than that, there were only a few short stops at random bus stations where there was virtually no time to leave your seat! The ride was not exactly the most comfortable either, for the majority of the time we weren’t even driving on paved roads – they were all dirt roads with huge pot holes that jostled me around my seat and there was virtually no space between Chris and I. But, all in all in wasn’t as bad as some of the horror bus ride stories I’ve heard, and I can now say that I survived a 13 hour bus ride in Africa!

                Arriving at the Arusha Bus station is another story! It was probably the most stressful experience I’ve had since arriving in Tanzania. It was dark when we arrived so Chris and I knew we had to be quick and efficient in collecting our bags and finding a taxi! As soon as I stepped off the bus I was surrounded by about 5 different men asking me if a I needed a taxi, grabbing my arm, trying to take my bags, etc. Then a young British man asked me if I was from Western Heads East and I quickly said YES!! It was Tom, a man who works with the Mondo Foundation and had arranged to meet us at the bus station! Wow, I was so relived!

Side note: What is the Mondo Foundation?

The MondoChallenge Foundation was registered by the Charity Commissioners in October 2004 and has already raised more than £550,000 to support education and business development in countries across the developing world. The donors include UK and international companies, grant giving trusts, individuals and mondochallenge volunteers, who have long been supportive of the Foundation.

What are their Aims?

They believe in community based programmes, providing education and business support projects to those who are most in need. The local managers guide and monitor donations. This enables them to act quickly, with the support and help of local people, on grassroots projects that make a huge difference to people’s lives.

Their efforts are focused towards providing support for education at all levels, as well as working towards the relief of sickness and financial hardship through for example:

Making grants of money to enable those suffering from HIV and related illnesses to set up small businesses, as well as providing local support to maximize the success of these businesses.
In Tanzania, they have already helped 300 HIV affected widows to create a livelihood and to provide their families with better food and housing.

The Mondo Foundation is the organization that is helping the Yoghurt Mamas here with the startup capital for their business.

Chris managed to get our bags from beneath the bus, but not without having to pay money because apparently they were too big. I was relieved to finally be in a taxi with all our belongings and heading to Sakina Campsite, my new home for the next month and a half. We were kindly greeted by Robert (a worker here) and Regina (the cook). I was absolutely exhausted, and basically dropped by suitcases into my room ate some dinner and went to bed!

I was feeling much better when I awoke on Wednesday morning to the beautiful sunshine! I had finally caught my breath and ready to take in my new surroundings. I walked around the campsite a little bit and there is an amazing view of Mount Meru from the backyard. Mount Meru, is a dormant volcanic cone that, at 4566m, is Tanzania’s second-highest mountain.

Mount Meru View from Campsite

 Sakina camp is a very nice bed and breakfast type hostel located between Arusha town and Ngaramtoni (which is where the yoghurt project is). Currently, Chris and I are the only people staying here so it feels like we have so much space and attention, especially coming from Mwanza where we shared a room and were living with 3 other people in a small apartment.  Everything is so new and different and feels like we are living a completely different lifestyle than Mwanza. However, we were informed that there are 14 missionaries arriving on Monday for 2 days, so the peace and quiet we’ve enjoyed sounds like it may come to an end for a couple days, but it will be nice to meet some new people! We were spoiled in Mwanza where we lived with two previous interns who showed us all around and introduced us to lots of people. Here, Chris and I are little bit more on our own to find places and meet people!

Front View of Sakina Campsite

Front lawn of Sakina Campsite (great for tanning)

                On Wednesday Regina (the cook here) took Chris and I into Arusha town to the Market. Arusha is a lot different from Mwanza, it is much more developed and there are many more tourists as Arusha is essentially the gateway to many tourist destinations including, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater, Mount Meru, Mount Kilimanjaro, etc. Walking around town for the first time, I found I didn’t get as many stares or “mzungu” comments which was kind of nice! Coming from Mwanza to Arusha town is somewhat like going from London Ontario to New York City. Chris and I continued to explore the town for a couple hours to try and figure out where things were and get oriented. We realized this it will definitely take a few days, especially for me and my poor direction sense! As we were walking, we came across a store called “Shoprite” which is essentially the Superstore of Africa. It sells a wide selection of American foods and when I walked in I felt like I was in a grocery store in Canada, but to be honest I don’t miss the American feel. I was expecting the products to be outrageously priced, but I didn’t find this, in fact it is the cheapest place to buy water I’ve seen yet and is now the go to place to stalk up!

Other Opportunities

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I love to be busy…ALL the time! Since the mamas have vocalized that they really want to lead the project and their business, my involvement with them won’t be everyday especially for the time being while we are waiting for them to receive the funds. This means I need something else to keep me occupied!

I expressed this to Robert who works at Sakina Camp and he kindly got me in touch with a man named Herry who is the director of an organization called Home of Hope, which is a small non-profit organization that provides support in a variety of ways for families who are victims of extreme poverty. They have a new centre which just opened in 2010 that is used as a nursery school and also holds awareness classes for adults in the village. The classes teach about HIV/AIDS and educate people on how they can try to improve their lives and bring themselves out of poverty.

I met with Herry on Friday and he basically told me his life story. He came from a very poor family and I think this is where is motivation to start this school comes from. The school located in Ngaramtoni as well.  It is very tiny with only two small classrooms and two teachers. There is a morning program from 8:30-11:30 for 3-7 year olds then older children come at 3:00-5:30pm. He said they always need volunteers to play with the kids, teach, etc. I got a good vibe from the school and the kids when I visited so I told him I will be back on Monday to see where I can help! 

Home of Hope School

Classroom

Chris and I with some of the kids

New Sahara Café

This café is also located in Ngaramtoni and as mentioned earlier David owns the Café. David is a member of the Mondo Foundation and is involved with helping out the Naserian Yoghurt Mamas. He is such a kind man and is constantly welcoming me and asking me if I am ok. He has hosted many volunteers at his home and said he loves introducing foreigners to Ngaramotni. I decided to ask him if I can help him out at all with his café. He said he would love my help! So, on Friday he introduced me to the staff and he taught me the basic Swahili words to say as a waitress (i.e, Karibu = welcome, una taka nini: what do you want? Una ongeza = do you want more? Etc) and I began serving the customers! It was an awesome experience! The Café is really popular serving authentic African dishes including Uglai, Wali, Mboga, Nyama, Beans, Mchicha, chapatti, chai, doughnuts, etc.

There are about 3-4 waitresses, 2 cooks, 1 dish lady, and 1 cashier who work every day of the week from 7:00am-9:00pm!!! Talk about a long day! 

Other interesting observations

1.       Dust town!

-          I thought Mwanza was extremely dusty/dirty, but to my surprise, I find Arusha to be  a lot dustier, and Ngaramtoni even more so! There are times when Chris and I will be walking through town and all of a sudden a huge dust storm blows in and we can’t see one step in front of us! At the end of the day I pretty look another shade darker than I actually am because I have a film of dirt covering me!

Street in Ngaramtoni

2. -          Sakina Camp is located on an unfinished highway, so when we walk out it is basically just   rocks that are very hard to navigate through. The other day, a taxi that came to pick us up got stuck and the boys had to push it free!

Pushing the stuck taxi!