The unpublished entry
15/5/2008
So called because I cant possibly let my family hear this before I'm safely back - my mum, in particular, would probably have forty fits.
But it turns out that this living in Africa lark is a little tricky. One of the Mili girls I still owe an introduction is Roseanna, who came to Tanzania having spent 3 months working with primates in Cameroon. Unfortunately she came complete with malaria, and was hit pretty hard - she'd almost died the week before I met her. She hasn't really recovered properly either, and over the weekend in Tanga she took what's probably the hardest decision of all, to go home. So she caught the bus back to Dar, with John Shekuamba keeping an eye on her, on Tuesday. She was still teaching on Monday. I think we've lost someone special - though I should say that there are a number of exceptional people here.
This week Miranda and Vic have been in the doldrums with malaria, as well. Vic seems (touch wood) to be fighting it off successfully, but Miranda really hasn't been getting any better. So today, just as John Shekuamba got out of the car, returning from seeing Ro to her plane, Miranda got in to go to Tanga hospital. We've just received news from Mili that Flo was hit very suddenly by it, and is already in hospital, so Miranda can go and keep her company.
It's a very odd feeling, since when I came I thought of malaria as something pretty rare, but that would probably kill you. Now I'm thinking in terms of when, rather than if, I get it. Caroline gets malaria more often than I catch a cold. And we wazungu are all on the best anti-malarials, DEETed up to the eyeballs, sleeping under mosquito nets - in short, doing all those things which we ought to do. It'll come as no suprise that 99.9% of Africans cant afford to do most or any of this. And you know what? People die in their tens or hundreds of thousands every year. Of an insect bite.
I know you've heard all this before. I have too, but I never really knew it until I came. I'm not sure I can sign off in the usual way tonight, so I'll just end with goodbye, and good luck.
Abacus
14/5/2008
Now I really feel like I've Worked - with a capitol W. The time on site was again pretty enjoyable, though of course physically draining, and we also met Freddy's beautiful son. But it's after that that things started to get frustrating: since building volunteers only work mornings, Caroline has found us other jobs to fill the afternoons. I blithely said I'd do whatever was most needed, which turned out to be... the accounts :-S. But, although there probably would be too much empty time without a second job, there isn't quite enough time to do as much of this as I'm supposed to comfortably.
The routine goes something like this - work finishes, then I race up the hill (which is something in itself), wolf down lunch, rush a shower (or rather a scoop-and-bucket, but it doesn't roll of the tongue so well), then race off to Caroline's for accounts. Of course I then arrive hot and bothered, ruining the point of the shower. I then leave Caroline's house with just not enough time to get to the next stage, pretty much regardless of what the next stage is, and it's not unreasonable to say that my first free time of the day (having woken up at 6:15) is about now. My watch says 22:30.
I don't mean to whine, though - for instance, how many people have a 45 minute commute as rewarding (even if demmanding) as ours? Will described it well when he said that, no matter where you look, you feel like you're in a National Geographic photo. And things should get a little easier tomorrow, since I've taken the accounts home to save the half-hour's walk to and from the boss' house. That probably means I'll end up doing them all weekend, but so what if I do - I'll still be looking out at the top of the world as I do. I promise you your accounts cant look anything like this good :-P
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Rocks
13/5/2008
Today involved quite a lot of them. The first hour-ish of work we were simply moving lots of large rocks from one pile to another. We also learnt the difference between good rocks and bad rocks (the bad ones are kindof quartzy. The really bad ones look like rocks, but when I've carefully placed them into the wall Freddy picks them up and they crumble into earth. I felt quite the fool.) Then we discovered the different uses for big, dry rocks and little, wet rocks (also known as concrete). So we feel like Real Men ;-)
I also felt like we got somewhere today - the foundations were filled with appropriate rocks by the time we left, and one of the walls was up to about a foot (using flat-edged rocks). Tomorrow, I suspect, more rocks :-D
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Faces
12/5/2008
Ok, I promised that I'd try to introduce my main players, so here goes. I'll start with those living at the highest altitude, and work down :-) Up at Mzizma live Tom and Vic. Both are post-uni (both took law degrees) and about to go into legal practice. There's a theme of lawyers throughout, for reasons we've struggled to get to the bottom of. Vic, now I come to think of it, gives little of herself away, though she doesn't come across as shy or aloof. It may simply be that I haven't had the right conversations - when we arrived the teachers had been together for 2 weeks, and were probably sick of making introductions.
Tom is the only bloke teaching, and is a big hit with the kids (most of whom are failing to learn Go Fish from him). He also has an uncanny knack for bullshitting, so his pronouncements have to be taken with a little caution.
Next stop down you reach Carol. Carol's parents took the £10 ticket to Australia when she was 7, so she's more or less an Aussie. She's also bringing a good deal of experience and skill with her, since she's been teaching primary school in Oz for many years - although admittedly the kids there are supposed to be speaking the same language. She's known to many of the kids as Mama Carlo, which has a delicious Mafiosi ring to it.
Next stop is Miranda and Sybil. Miranda is, I think, quite a lot like me: it was she who tried to organise us all into meeting before we came here, which show's a need to feel prepared that I definately share (as anyone who's seen my travel plans every time I do more than catch 1 bus will attest). She's also pretty nervous around new people, to the extent that it was almost a running joke when we arrived, though I think I hide it better than she does ;-) Sybil, or Sybubu, is probably my closest rival for baby of the group (age-wise, I mean. I dont want to cast aspersions on anyone's emotional layout, least of all mine). She's also the best of us for Kiswahili.
Then we have the new arrivals - newer even than I. Fi came today, so is something of an unknown quantity - she's an RAF medic, only not in Afghanistan on account of some broken ribs. So she's neither teaching nor building, but working in the health post for a few weeks before she's sent off to the sandpit. Will turned up over the weekend, and (since for a long time we were the only 2 signed up to build, and exchanged a couple of emails) he was the one I knew most about before I came - though even that was very little. Now though I almost feel that I know less. He's another fresh out of law school, and (having been travelling for 7 months already) is full of stories. Perhaps we'll exhaust his supply in a while ;-)
The lowest of the Yamba volunteers live at the Dr's house - myself and Tahmour. I refuse to describe myself, but T (he went for that after discovering that the villagers had all sorts of trouble with his name, a decision I perhaps should have made myself) was a last-minute addition to the building team. I first heard about him the day before I left, when Pod told me I'd be coming off the same plane as him at Dar. I worry a little that he may be struggling to fit in - certainly I havent found it easy to chat with him, and he seems to be on the phone home at most opportunities. I hope I'm wrong.
At this level I should also introduce Clemencia, our housegirl (VA tried calling them housekeepers, but I'm told they preferred housegirl). She's great fun, and will tease you mercilessly if you give her a chance, but she looks after us really well. No idea how we'd manage without her - I mean that sincerely.
I told you these people were owed space - perhaps I'd better stop now, and introduce everyone else another time. Now I'd best get some sleep to recover from today - which, he says in passing, went really well. I actually felt like I was getting properly into the swing of building today, a stage I didn't quite reach last week. Tough going, but ever so rewarding.
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Back
11/5/2008
I never quite explained where I was going. Our first weekend away was to Tanga these last couple of days, which perhaps explains the adrenaline/alcohol fueled scrawl which was Friday's entry. But it seems perhaps that trips away wont be very conducive to writing. I have the excuse of being a little differently chemically aligned on Friday, but Saturday I just didn't think of it.
I'd always expected that the weekends away wouldn't leave me with such a sense that I needed to tell the world everything that was going on, so I had planned to do a quick pen portrait of the main figures in my little adventure. I realise that I've already referred to people without introducing them, but I trust that you're a smart enough audience to pick things up as you go along. However, I still intend to introduce people properly at some stage, for the simple reason that they're good and I think interesting people. But not tonight. Bright and early tomorrow, to get to work for 8, so now is sleep time.
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
TIA
9/5/2008
Public health warning: the following post was written when I was a little drunk and very over-excited...
No sane person would ever have done what the 6 of us did tonight, but T!I!A! If you dont know what it means then you weren't there, and therefore you wouldnt understand even if I explained it. And if nothing else, I can add to the list of things I've done "get kissed by an arab man you met in a toilet".
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Sourcerer's Apprentice
8/5/2008
Dunno whether you kow the reference - I think it predates the disney Fantasia, but perhaps not. Anyway, I found myself in a pretty similar situation to the autonomous mops - I'm sure that after a while I was whitewashing over bits that were already as whitewashed as they'd ever be, simply because none of the builders knew the magic words to tell me to stop.
Eventually someone decided we'd finished the room, with some time to spare. For once T & I weren't the only ones taking the rest of the day off :-) Apparently the work down at the garage was on the groundbreaking stage when they paused to come up here, and they've just hit the bedrock. So on monday morning I shall be breaking rocks in the hot, hot sun, despite having been very good and never fought the law once. And this is a man who contrived, this afternoon, to achieve 3 blisters in the course of an hour's rubbish-pit digging. Hey-ho: I never said I was coming here to be comfortable.
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Whitewash man
7/5/2008
Not just another white man anymore... We met Freddy (who's the head builder) and Richard (site manager), and were introduced to the rest of the team. There were even a couple of local volunteers as well, which is great but for the fact that I've got even less chance of remembering names. Of course, very little English is spoken, and my Kiswahili isn't up to much either, so there wont be awkward conversational moments when my ignorance is revealed, but still...
I felt a bit of a fraud today, though. Our 'normal' hours are supposed to be 8 - 12, whereas the professionals work 8-4. Which seems very fair... :-S But for some reason today we were told to start at 10. 2 hours' work... hmm... It doesn't just mean that I've only done a full coat on a couple of walls, but also that I don't have much idea what progress has happened overall - I feel pretty disconnected. Caroline doesn't want us to do more than 4 hours for a week or so, but from the way she said it I expect she realises we'll be itching to. Hopefully we'll finish the room at Mama Sauda's tomorrow, so we've got somewhere to put Will & Fi (the last 2 wazungu) when they arrive next week. Then down to the end of the road to build a store for the garage.
Now that might make me feel less of a fraud: I walked down there this afternoon, largely to see if I could avoid getting lost - and miraculously managed, in something of an historic first. But, discounting "Shickamoo" stops*, it takes at least half an hour to go down and (unsuprisingly, given the gradient) most of an hour to get back. I strongly suspect it'll take more effort to commute than to actually work. I guess I may want to work longer, just so I don't have to climb the hill at the peak of the sun...
I said I went to see if I got lost, but in truth it's impossible to go far wrong. If you loser track completely (and I do) you just turn to one of the half-dozen children following you and say "School" or "Doctor's house" and they'll guide you back. The Pied Piper has nothing on a mzungu in Yamba.
A position I took to its natural conclusion this evening, when I got my flute out. Up at Mzizma there are always a few dozen kids of an evening, playing cards with Tom or football just below the garden. So when I started playing I instantly had a sizeable audience, as I should really have expected. After a chunk of Gluck I put my baby to bed, and straight away, having heard it only once, various small folk were singing phrases back to me. I'm trying so hard to avoid using all the clichés of every European in Africa, but that's definately something we've lost.
I'm getting more and more verbose, and probably saying little... I'll stop for the night ;-)
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
*Greetings, all in Kisambaa, are VERY important.
I like...
6/5/2008
Today was mostly spent learning how not to fall victim to malaria, AIDS, or any of the other topics in the risk assessment pack - yes, just cos we're in Tanzania doesnt mean we don't get to do the same fun things as you back home. I can also more or less find my way between a couple of the key chunks of village, though on the way back from Caroline's house (she's the boss of Village Africa, in case you were wondering) we were thoroughly lost within a few minutes and had to pick up a 12-year-old guide. Unfortunately he took us to Mzizma, where most of the teachers live, but I hadn't the heart to tell him that we wanted to be at the doctor's house.
As an aside, the doctor's house is rather sadly named. It's right next to the school, and used to be the teacher's house, but the villagers decided that what they really needed was a doctor. The teachers I think all had other places to go in the village, so the house was made available to try to attract a doctor. VA have renovated it, too, but thus far - no doctor. And that is, in a way, fair enough: a doctor working in Lushoto or Korogwe could probably see 70-80 people a day, whereas the 2 nurses at Yamba health post see 10 or 12. But any doctor's reading this... even a couple of weeks'd be great. PoD.
I've also learnt that I'm allowed to like butter but I don't like jam. I also like mummy, but I don't like dad. And I like villages, but I don't like towns. It's somewhat easier to understand when written, so I wonder if any commenters can tell me things which, on this basis, they like and dislike. Tho please don't say why, as that would just rob everyone else of the satisfaction. I particularly like good food, but not bad wine.
Tomorrow, we'll actually start working!
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
If I were to die
5/5/2008
If I were to die right now, I'd be able to say "God, what a ride. What a ride"
Mike Yaconelli
And that was just the car trip to get here... First bit of the day wouldn't make riveting reading - woke up, caught bus, bus broke down, bus broke down, got off bus, met John and Edmond. Then we found out what off-road driving is really about - and, I suspect, why Toyota Landcruisers have such a reputation for indestructibility. Despite the fact that John was doing 110kmph (c. 70 mph), I still managed to fall asleep on that journey... My body clock is fucked....
Met 4 of the teachers in Milingano, which they're finding hard to get used to (the 9 of them spent the last 2 weeks together, in Yamba). Had just long enough chatting with them to realise that it's a shame I wont see them all that regularly - it's a good couple of hours drive and walk from Mili to Yamba, and of course to cover the full sylabus for the kids there, the Mili girls have to stay there for the duration. Then home I went. And I think I really will call Yamba home soon.
Still don't really know what the next 24 hours will bring, but that's been true of any point since friday - which feels, rightly enough, half a world away. Good Night from Yamba.
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Welcome to Africa
4/5/2008
I guess I've been here for 5 hours, so it's time for first impressions. So far, pretty much what I think I'd have expected of 5 hours in Tanzania ;-) Hot, unquestionably - I was particularly struck by the annoucement the pilot made when I arrived for a brief stopover before getting to Tanzania itself: "Welcome to Doha, Ladies and Gentlemen. The local time is 5:40am, and the outside air temperature is 27°C". It wasn't actually that much hotter when I reached Dar - 29, I think the man said - at 2 ish. But then this is apparently the rainy season.
So far my great expedition seems to be a strange mix of Luci's (to Thailand) and a certain vicar's (to India). I checked in at Heathrow amid a sea of Thai students, apparently returning after some great studying extravaganza. Opposite (which I noticed first, with little more than a wry smile) were the desks for Air India, with a charming young chap trying to explain a delayed flight. but it's in Tanzania itself where the real Indian connection comes - after all, we're on the Indian Ocean coast here, and there's been trade beteen the two for more or less as long as there's been trade. And every so often you see a face which gives you a momentary double-take, until you remember that black African is not the only local gene pool.
At the moment, though, I'm annoying myself by being far too sensible - this is the view from my beach hut (oh yes, I gotta beach hut)
But what was the first thing I did when I got here? Did I go for a swim, or even a paddle? No, I started sewing up the hole in my mosquito net. And now I'm writing about it. Good God I'm dull...
But heh - you know what? I'm fucking well In AFRICA!
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
Honestly
23/5/2008
I leave england for a few weeks and everything goes to pot. Turns out there was a power cut, and when the power came back the comments werent working. I dont really get why, unless the num_comments.js file has been deleted :-( But anyhow, if it doesnt come back, please just email me. And once I get a few minutes, I'll start putting up my ramblings, since that seems to be the majority opinion. After all, it's not as if it'll be any less cogent than most of the content of the site ;-)
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder
A quick hellooooo
9/5/2008
This is me at my first internets in AFRICA. I'm f***ing well IN AFRICA... Anyway, you knew that, but it doesn't stop me being very excited about it :-). At the moment all I'm doing is saying "Hi, I'm alive", but I have been writing quite a lot of a diary. Some of it is probably worth reading (at least to anyone who thinks the rest of this site is), but some of it almost certainly isn't. So the question is this - would you like me to put it all here, and let you look through, edit it (which may take longer) or post none of it? Answers onna postcard (or, preferably, in comments/emails).
NeverLoseYourSenseOfWonder