Eyes of Tanzania

The first night I was in Tanzania, I had not really slept for 40 hours. I had set up a bed and was very excited to try it out. Hours after dark it sound like a troop of dogs were fighting outside the house. It felt like hours later I finally fell asleep.

The next morning I found out that someone had cleaned out the kitchen and threw some old food in the trash. The trash is one of the hardest things to understand from a westerner. It is a whole in the ground next to the house. Dogs and other animals find there way through and after a few weeks they light the pit and let it burn.

Almost all the nights that I stayed at the Nkoarang Hospital, I would end the night with beans and rice and a coke at the canteen. The volunteers all gathered down there at the end of the day, put in there dinner order and come back 2 hours later for it.
Towards the end of the trip, there was a need for something other than beens and rice and somebody ordered “something with potatoes”. Hours later, came for each person at the table a large bowl of mashed potatoes. It was like tasting a new food, they were mashed and full of butter. I don’t remember eating anything that quickly.

One of the hardest things about helping out in Tanzania is getting what is needed to the location. My case and point is in my backseat on my car (bound for my trunk by tomorrow) is a box of kids books that I collected. It is not a huge box, but a box of 40 or so kids book for the new school that BCB has set up for there kids. My issue is that it would take $80 dollars to send the books. $80! the books are not even worth that much,  there must be a cheeper way, but yet I have not found it and till then I fear the box will sit in my car.

This is frustration trying to help, and  sometimes it feel like I am being blocked at every corner.

On Wednesday’s and Friday’s there are these amazing markets around Arusha.
These markets are a major place to get food for the next few days. They are filled with people with fresh vegetables (coconuts too), meat and often house wears and clothing. Children would follow around me in packs, in the hopes to be able to bag something that I might buy or be available to me if I was looking for something.

One of the more surprising visions for me was the shoe salesman tables. These where tables and table of shoes with no visible marches to be found. Some of the shoes look used, others new, but I was hard pressed to find two that look alike.

I love music. It is around me at all times. So, as I started plaining my trip I started downloading some music from different regions of Africa. For years I have enjoyed Hukwe Zawose music and it was a great reason to look for more. I found some great stuff, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal, Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, The Sacred Drums Of Burundi and Ayub Ogada.

With this sound going threw my head, I was exited to hear what people were listening to in Tanzania.

It should have not surprise me, but I guess it disappointed me that most of the people were listening to European and American Hip-hop. The big radio station is Kiss FM and it was playing everywhere.

I did find a music store, if you could call it that, it was more like a bank teller window, with bars. To get the music you would scream your desired music from a little hole in the window and they would bring it to you. Regretfully, they did not have anything that I was looking for.

My music luck changed on the third of forth day there. James picked me up at the Hospital and we off. Bob Marley was play on the tape deck and it all seem to fit.

Oh, ya the volunteers were listening to Purple Rain…

There are times when words fail me, English escapes me and leaves and I am left with images in my head. I work for a Japanese company and there has always been a desire for me to communicate at some level with my friends from Japan in their own tongue. So, over the last few years I have been learning little bits a pieces of the Japanese language that I use from time to time.

When I was traveling in Tanzania, I had the same motivation to learn a little Swahili to be able to thank the people I photographed and to greet people during the day.

The funny thing was, when I went to speak in Swahili, often Japanese came out. I got some very funny looks from people and at some points during the trip it froze me completely from speaking at all, because I was unsure what was going to come out.

Here are some words to look at, there tone and rhythm are very similar in my mind.

Asante sana = Thank you very Much (Swahili)
Arigatou gozaimasu = Thank you very much (Japanese)

Samahani = Excuse me / pardon me (swahili)
Sumimasen = Excuse me / pardon me (Japanese)

I think I will stick with English for now.

I did such a great job packing before I left, I only forgot one thing that was semi-critical, a towel. After traveling for 40 hours the one thing I wanted to do is take a shower and I was a lucky one, I had one, It didn’t have a shower curtain, but it had hot water.

No towel.

Hitting myself, forgetting something so simple. I tried to find something to use, and so became my Luna Form t-shirt towel. I used that shirt and another t-shirt I had brought for my towels the whole trip.

The day I left, I was talking to one of my house mates about it and she started to laugh, “you should have ask, I have extra towels”.

To my surprise I found myself at dinner last night with some friends that flew in from the left coast for work. I spoke of my adventures in Tanzania, and they spoke of me no longer writing anything in the blog and the desire to see more.

The photo essay book that I am creating from the trip is about 3/4 done and I am trying to put the final touches on the postscript.

As I move my way through the book I have realized that there are many stories that will not be include in the book. So, I have decided that I need to document them here. I will be listing them under the stories categories.