Saturday, March 31, 2012

No McDonald's

 Nyani or Baboons hanging out in the middle of the highway.
 I hiked to the top of Uluguru Mountain with Father Hugo and his friend from Columbia. It took about 4 hours and I think it is about 8,500ft at the top. There is a big radio tower that covers all of Morogoro county. It was a nice hike because we were hiking in the clouds. It really helps when the sun is being blocked. However it was still partly cloudy at the top and one could see only part of the city. Two men were up there who each work for a different radio stations. They take turns spending a week up there. Not many people do the hike and I don't understand why.
 Uluguru people Farming on the side of the mountain.
 We went on thursday to the Catherdal where the Bishop annointed the holy oil for all the sacraments. The place was packed. I guess about 88 priests showed up. You can see most of them on the altar. I was glad that there was fans blowing in the church. You can tell there is a lot of commaraderie here. All the deacons wore the same thing and so did the priests. The people love these events and show up in huge numbers and wonderful music. You can tell the religious love dressing up. It has to be so hot. I don't understand. It was fun to be apart of and they had a good feast afterwards. 
 The city of Morogoro down below and the power lines going up to the top of the mountain to the radio towers.

Ngombe - cows walking on the side of the road. I was so glad when I was talking with some of the students here and talked about how America has become a fast food nation. They didn't understand. I said, "You know like McDonald's". They have never heard of McDonald's I couldn't believe it. There is no McDonald's in all of Tanzania. I was very glad to hear that. They didn't understand how people can eat and drive in there car at the same time. I said people in America do it all the time. Time is money in America. In Tanzania there really is no concept of time. It stands still. They tell me the soccer game starts at 4:30pm. Maybe but that never happens mayb 5:15 or 5:30pm. It will start once everyone shows up including the ref.  For the most part people are thin here. The heavier people of course are the ones who have money. Actually half the bishops look over weight. I'm guessing 75% of the people here are normal size. It is definitely because of there diet and they do a fair amount of walking. I was affraid of becoming a stick figure here so I ate a ton a couple weeks before I got here. I was 90 Kg when I got here I'm down to 82 Kg. I think my body weight has finally stablized though. That's all for now.

Usiko Mwema - Good night

Friday, March 30, 2012

Bananas


The Bananas here are so good. They taste fruitier than the bananas in America. There not as big and they grow everywhere around here. There is a lady who comes to the clinic every afternoon. She carries her child with a cloth that she uses as a sling to hold the child on her back. I'm guessing the child is about 2-3 years old. He definitely looks old enough to walk. That is how all the woman carry there children, that is with a sling and tie them to there back. Then this lady carries a huge basket of bananas on her head. No hands of course are used. One can get about 12 bananas for 1USD.
On Sunday I hiked with Father Hugo to the top of Uluguru Mountain. It took about 4 hours to hike to the top. I really enjoyed it. The trail had a lot of switch backs. We had to walk through a lot of peoples properties even though it isn't marked in any way and you can't tell. If the people living there weren't around I took pictures. If you do take pictures and they see you they immediately ask for money because you are taking a picture on there property. The Uluguru people live on the bottom third of the mountain. They are shorter than normal and I'm wondering if the elevation has something to do with it. They have slashed and burned a lot of the land which is sad. They do that to chase out the animals and hunt them. They also do it to plant and grow what ever they want. They grow corn, spinach, carrots, lettuce, bananas and more. Hiking up I saw numerous cows and goats tied to tried with about 10 feet of rope so they could graze and not run away. There is also a lot of natural springs on the mountain which makes good drinking water. Some of the houses or shacks collect the water off the roof into a big container.
It was a great day for hiking. It was cloudy and we hiked into the cloud. This helped block the hot sun. Very damp and rainforest like. It is very green up there. Lots of moss on trees. The temperature at the top was very nice. At the top there is a big wooden  gate with a sign in English saying that each person must pay 3,000 shilling for entering. That is basically 2 USD. I was greeted by two short individuals at the top. They had a little shack and were boiling Tea. At the top there is a big radio tower. I guess all the radio stations take turns spending a week on top of the mountain. There is electricity wires that run to the top of the mountain. They also have  aback up generator which lasts for a 2hours if the power goes out. This tower covers all the radio stations for the Morogoro county. It started to ran so we went into this concrete building which had two beds, two computer screens and what looked like two big CPU units. Also at the top I ran into a Kalungu Yeye or a baby porcupine. It was about the size of a hamster. I gave the two individuals a banana and crackers and they inhaled them instantly. They have to carry all there food up there for the week. To be honest I don't think they carry much with them. Unfortunately the clouds didn't totally break up. I did get to see some views of the city. On a clear day I would think that is would be quit spectacular. It was a great hike on a great day either way.
 The next day I visited one of the seminarians in Morogoro hospital. He is from congo and went down really quit. He has Malaria and it is his first time. It took about 48 hours until he was finally able to eat something and keep it down. The main hospital here is loaded with patients.
Well the power here is about to go out I just heard the warning beep. We didn't have electricity yesterday. Luckily when the power goes off the computers are hooked up to a mini power supply which gives you about 2 minutes before it shuts off and it beeps at you to warn you. So I'll finish later

Friday, March 23, 2012

Rough Day

Yesterday was a rough day. We had a 6 yr old girl come in who had a nasty cut under her eye. I had to hold her legs down. Brother Adalid held her head and brother philip injected lidocaine into her face and then gave her stitches. The screaming was horrible. I felt terrible for her. Then later on we had a another screamer. An elderly woman with stomach pain. I started and IV on her and hooked her up to a saline bag. Then Brother Adalid injected medicine into the back. We eventually sent her to the hospital in town. Lots of sick patients. It was continuous all day. To top it off I think I picked up something. I had the runs all day yesterday. I'm feeling better today though.
Yesterday my stress was playing basketball next door which they are the precious blood of jesus community. We played against a team from Morogoro. The hoops here are not ten feet tall. My guess is that there nine and a half feet because I can dunk. I made a nice block and a steal with 4 points in the half. At the end of the game one guy asked me if he was good enough to play college. I said, "to be honest probably not. You have to practice a lot more." He is about 6'5" and can jump but I don't think he has the skills or quick enough. I said, "Americans are really good. It's probably our best sport ".
I love cold showers. Well you don't get hot showers here but I wouldn't want a hot shower anyways.
Ifakara was the ordination of the new dioceses. The Arch bishop of Dar es Salaam became the bishop of the new dioceses. It was a huge celebration. The 2nd president was there along with the former prime minister and 30 out of 34 bishops were there. I was sweating like crazy. Just dripping. I could only imagine all those bishops up there with all there garments on as hats and caps and everything else. I was so glad I wasn't them. They had to be miserable. It had to be about 88 and humid. It was 3.5 hours long. I swear everyone up there gave a speech. It was neat to see but it got long. The ladies infront of me were really rowdy. They were the highlight to watch. They would get up and make this high pitch yiyiyiyiyiyiyi call. It was entertaining. The Cardinal of Tanzania was there and gave the bishop a brand new car. The diocese of Dar Es Salamm gave the bishop $10,000. I really hope he helps the people out and deserves all these gifts. I met a few of the bishops. I didn't realize I was suppose to bow and kiss there hand as a sign of respect. I was the American that just smiled said Hello in Kiswahili and shook there hands. Oh well. I can't imagine a foriegner offending them. The food afterwards was quit good. Even though all I cared about was cold water and there was none. Pop, Beer and water were all outside at daily temperature so it wasn't too refreshing.
The poeple here HIGHLY respect the religous clergy. People are constanly shouting praises to them when they walk by cheering them on. I'm sure a lot of them have done a lot of good things for the community. I hope it is not just a status thing.
There little kids love to come up to me and talk to me. They are speaking pretty good english at a young age here. These church communties and done a lot of educating for the people. Lots of the schools are becoming english only speaking classes. Well I know that is true at the college level.
I read about African ethics which I found very profound. I'll have to get a copy or post some of the highlights sometime. Another book that I am reading now is about Sangowa or African Shaman healers. It is definitely a calling to become one. It is interesting the tests they have to go through on there graduation day to prove they have done there training correctly and to prove that the ancestors really talk to them. Life never ends in Africa. When you die you are still apart of the community. The ancestors are there to talk to you and guide you in life. If bad things are happening to you in your life it is because you upset your ancestors and they are punishing you.
Community is very strong here. I think I said this before but the saying here is, "I am because WE ARE". The community comes first before any individual. Each person is willing to sacrifice him/herself for the great good of the community. It is not how can I improve my life. It is how can I improve the communities life.
As far as the water project I'm not sure what is going to happen with that. There is some sort of conflict going on. I think part of it might be waiting for more funding. I think part of it is some disagreement going on in the personnel. I shouldn't jump to any conclusions until I get the real story. I am anxious about it but I will have to just take a seat for now. I need to get a lot better with my Kiswahili anyways. I feel I have a long ways to go.






Usiku Mwema - Good night   

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Animals

 Brother Philip I burning all the medical trash
 My friend Leonard from Nigeria
 Swala or Impalas
 Crocidile at the snake park
 Twiga or Giraff
 Punda Milea or Zebra

More Impalas, I try and put pictures of other animals later.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

St.Patty's day.

This weekend I went with my friend Leonard to Mikumi. He is from Nigeria. We rode on a bus for 3 hours and went about 80 miles from Morogoro. We stayed with his friend Morris who is a manager at Kilembeo which is one of the biggest companies in Tanzania. They make sugar. Kilembemo is surrounded by sugar cane. It is everywhere. The are alot of South Africans there because I think they bought out the company. During the day we rode to Mikumi which is a National Park here. It was neat to be riding on the bus there and seeing giraff walking around. We saw lots of animals. Impalas everywhere, giraffs, elephants, wlid boar, wilda beast, water buffalo, hippos, baboons and Zebra. We did not see any simba though which is lion in kiswahili. The animals here for the most part just stare at you as you stare at them. The Wilda beasts however take off running. They don't like cars too much, i guess it is rare to see lion or lepord. I just blew me away to see these animals in there everyday habitat hanging out doing there thing. The giraffs were my favorite to watch. There just so odd looking. They get really close to the car to. They are huge beautiful creatures. Some elephants got very close to the car as well. The water buffalo spent there time hanging out in the mud. The hippos where in the water and occasionally poke there head out to get some air and see what was going on. I saw one baboon chase another one who had a banana.
Afterwards we went to the snake park. They have about 6 different cobras here in Africa. The black cobra got wild in his cage because the snake guy tapped on the window up and down very fast and the cobra eventually struck the window. The egyptian cobra did the same thing. They also have a red spitting cobra. Most cobras if they bite you, you only have 45 minutes to live. The black mamba is the most dangerous snake here. It can grow to 14ft in length. One bite and you have only 5 minutes left to live. THey typically strike the head or chest. I am going to start carrying around a black stone. Supposedly if a snake bites you, you should then make two veritcal cuts where the snake bit you and lay the black stone on it. The black stone will stick to your skin and draw the poison out of you.
St.Pattys night we hung out with the south africans and wacthed there rugby team which they won. Everyone celebrated and started drinking a lot. I made sure to have a guiness and a shot of baileys to celebrate St.Patty's day. It was a fun night with them. We also made a stop at Udyzungu Falls lodge. I wanted to hike the falls but there wasn't enough day light that day.
On Monday I rode with Fr Michael and others to Ifakara for the Ordination of a new dioceases. It is scarey riding with him. i thought we were going to die at least 6 times. His foot is always on the accelerator or brake. Never constant speed or coasting. I can't tell you how many cars we passed when it is always double solid line. That is the way here. On the way back I rode the very back or trunk with the fold down seat in a Toyota Land Cruiser. It was like riding on Excalibur for two hours. Which is a very rough riding roller coaster in Minnesota. Imagine driving on the bumpiest dirt road. Sometimes pot holes are a foot deep and always washboard ridges. We were going about 40 mph on the straight aways and 20 mph on the turns. I couldn't watch . My paretns would have had a heart attack. The rode is suppose to be for two cars but really only one can fit. The bigger car always has the right away because they can run you over. So it goes Semi trucks, buses, Suvs, cars, bikes and people are last. I would not bike or walk on the rode and everyone does here. It is incredibly dangerous and there is no thing as slowing down. They will run you over if you don't move out of the way. I thought Fr Michael was going to kill at least 3 people on the rode because I didn't think they were going to get out of the way and there is no slowing down. I also cant believe all the stuff these poeple can fit on there bicycles. All the bicycles here I think are fromt he 60's and 70's. Cruiser bikes. It is also fun to see all the stuff that people can carry on there head. Incredible balance. I don't know how they do it.
Cell phones are everywhere here. I fact most students here have 2-3 phones with different companies because it is cheapest to call fromt he same company and they buy minutes. The poeple here are constantly buyimng these tickets htat have minutes. They need minutes on there phone they buy more.
Gas is the same price as it is in the states. But poeple don't make as much here. I think the average income is about $2,000 a year. So gas is expessive for them.Diesel and Regular are the same price as well. So everyone for the most part drives diesel.
We had dinner at a place called the Arc hotel. I had "American Steak with Fries" I was curious to see what it was. It was a flank or flat steak cooked medium well with swiss cheese on top. It was good but I have never seen an Amrican steak like this. It cost about 6 USD.
I asked someone about crime and they siaid punishment here is very serious. Poeple take matters into there own hands. So if you some steals from you and you catch them. Everyone beats them until the police shows up. Not everyone survives in time for the police. I guess it is like that for all crimes. I thinkn crime is actually pretty low here. I haven't seeen anything so far.

Siku Enjema

Good day

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Thank you everyone for all your comments. I appreciate it. I thought this type of palm tree is very interesting Looking
 Brother Philips desk where he talks to patients aka Mgonjwa
 Mgonjwa or a sick patient
 A picture of Jesus in the Church here
 Can you find me? This was taken before the semifinal match. We lost.
Inside the church.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

MZUNGU- Is what most people call me. My team which is the staff is playing in the semifinals  tomorrow. Soccer is a big deal here. People show up and totally surround the field. The most fans I have ever played infront of. When ever I touch the ball they shout MZUNGU which "The White Guy". I feel as if everyone knows me here at the college. Lots of people come up to me just to talk to an American. I'm the only white guy here except one teacher from Colombia -Father Hugo and two priests from Poland and one of them is the president of the college. I will say I feel thirty when I play soccer against these college kids. Most are in the early twenties and they are fast. The field is always muddy and a lot of the time I wish I had cleats.
I went into town with Brother Philip and we rode on the Dollar Dollar. That is what they call all the buses here. And all the buses are privately owned so there is thousands of them. They all go to the stations downtown and that is it. Dollar Dollar they are called because when they first started up that is how much they cost and the bus drivers would yell ,"dollar dollar" out the window to get peoples attention and it has stuck ever since.

Well I get on the dollar dollar. It is the size of an old school VW Van. Now imagine 23 seats in there. The seats are about 8 inches wide. I get in and I get a seat and there is only one seat left. They make another stop and I kid you not 8 more people got in. I don't know how but they did. Two people half there body is hanging out the window. Four children are sitting on top of parents laps. One adult is sitting on anothers lap. Its incredible. I wanted to buy an mpira which is a soccer ball. However if you are white here you are considered rich and the prices go up. Even though I was with other Tanzanians who were doing the talking for me. The fact I was there the price is 50% more to double. The guy wanted about $30.00 dollars for a soccer ball that wasn't very good. I guess there normally $20.00 or less for the Tanzanians. I guess now matter what I buy there will be a white man's tax. Except if I give someone the money and not go into town with them. Even if they see me outside the store they know who I am with. The are no such things as commercial stores. Every single store is privately owned. Most stores are about 10ft by 20 ft.

I went into the Motor Vehicle Registration building. There DMV or MVD is just like ours. You wait in a hug line. I'm surprised because cars are very expensive here and only the rich can afford them. It was the fist building I had been in  that had Air Conditioning so I didn't mind being in there.

I also went to the Agriculture college here. I guess it is the largest in Africa with a total of 10,000 students at three different campuses. Someone from the college showed me around. It looked like a college that was built in the 60's. We then traveled to the other campus. They even have a successful laboratory that have trained mice to find land minds. How I have no idea. But they have used them in many countries here. I got to see the doctors house that was on campus. It was probably 1,000 square feet with 5 rooms. The wife stays at home with the 4 kids. The house itself  was probably from the 80's but looked like the 60's as well as the equipment and furniture in it. That was a middle class home. That night we went out for dinner and had boiled chicken with vegetables. It was good.
The best meal I have had so far was the next day I attended a meeting at Morogoro hotel. It was grilled pork , vegetables and french fries. It was nice to eat something unhealthy for once and I still think it was healthy. The meeting was about starting a Masters Business program and going through the classes and the curriculum that should be taught. The hotel was the nicest place I have been so far. It is basically just foreigners there. It was also the first pool I have seen since I had been there. I wish I had brought an extra pair of shorts or a swim suit. The fee was about $4.00 usd to go swimming.

So far I have stayed Malaria free from what I know. It is impossible not to get bitten though. It is like living in Minnesota during the summer. You are going to get bitten.

Well I hope all is well in the States. That reminds me everyone wants to talk to me about Obama. He is on just about everyone's notebook here.

Mungu Akulindi _ May God's peace be with you.
 Leaving the house in Dar Es Salaam to go to Morogoro
 This is my room in Morogoro
 Three children that I was playing soccer with Etla, Zidane and Joseph
 I let them play with my digital camera and take a movie and they thought it was the coolest thing in the world
Putting on the windshield

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Market in Dar Es Salaam

Hakuna Matata - Is a very fitting phrase here. Life is busy here but the attitude is very laid back. My Typical day is I wake up at 6 am from the Church bells ringing. I live in Block B which is where the Teachers, priests, and brothers live. I will post a picture of what my room looks like. From there I head to church where we meet for morning prayer. After morning prayer is mass. They 4 days of the week the mass is in Kiswahili and the other three it is in English. I actually prefer mass in Kiswahili for the simple fact of the singing. I don't know if they are natural born singers or if they have been singing all there life. But in Kiswahili they sound incredible with the harmony they make. After mass they have meditation for about 15 minutes. Then everyone heads to the cafeteria for breakfast. I eat everyday with the Seminarians here. Breakfast is always the same. It is bread, butter and Jam. Somedays they also have porridge.  Yesterday I went in to town just to get peanut butter. I feel I need to eat at least something different.
After breakfast I head to the clinic here. They found out I'm in the medical field and instantly got lots of jobs in the clinic.  Brother Philip runs the clinic. He is about 5,8 ", he has a budha belly and shaves his head. He also has the craziest wondering eye I have ever seen. He is my walemu or teacher. He is kinda like me Yoda here. He has a low voice but when he laughs it is high pitched and he sounds just like Yoda. He is really pushing me to learn the language by constantly talking to me and asking questions in Swahili. He is very patient with me. In the clinic when a patient comes I find there medical information card. It would be nice they had a computer system where you could type the name into a computer and pull up there medical record. Instead I have to flip through papers. At least it is alphabatized. This first part really gives me a chance to talk to the patient in Swahili and practice. I then will take the patients weight and blood pressure. I then send them to Brother Philip who listens to what there problem is. They will then come out with there medical chart and hand it too me and then I will go to the room full of medications. There pharmacy which Brother Adalid is there most of the time doing. But he gets busy so I will help[ be the pharmcist and fill a prescription of Tylenol or what ever it is. Then I give the patient there medication and explain what they need to do. I usually always do this in English.
Lunch is usually rice or Ugali which looks like mash potatoes but it is flour and corn mashed together. It is very flavor less and tasteless. I bought chili sauce to spice it up a bit. Then there is a soupy sauce that you pour on top which sometimes has a little bit of beef in it. Then there is either shredded up ,cooked up cabbage or spinach. Sometimes there is beans too with lunch. Dinner is usually the same with sometimes bigger chunks of meat on the side. We have had corn on the cob twice which is never cooked all the way through. So the corn is still semi hard. We had a cooked bananas with fish once. It is very popular dish in the Kilamanjaro region. Food isn't bad here it is just the same thing everyday.
After lunch I usually go back to the clinic to help out. The average patient is in there for Malaria. It is a common as the flu. Everyone gets in and everyone knows there own symptoms. I can't believe how many different malaria medications there are. Many people here have had malaria at least 3-4 times in there life already. Every one gets it here so it is no big deal too them.
One thing I learned right away is when you introduce yourself you shake the persons hand but you don't let go until the conversation is over. It basically means, "Hey I have your total attention". It was weird for me at first because I would be talking to someone for a couple minutes and were holding hands the entire time. You see people everywhere walking around holding hands and talking. Tanzanians love to talk. Lots of time is spent just talking to other people. Everyone says hello to everyone. Everyone here is extremely friendly. Everyone wants to talk to you so you can't help but learn the language.
After the clinic around 4:30pm-5pm everyone plays either soccer or basketball for an hour. It is always the hottest I think at this point in the day. It rains everyday for at least a little bit which is nice because it cools the temperature down. They have about 10 cows that walk around eating grass. They have a few pigs and they have a good size garden as well. All the food we eat comes from here on the university except for just a few things come from town. That is why we eat the same thing everyday. They have gutters on all there roofs and leads to pipes that go into a big drainage system. They could easily collect the water here with the system they already have set up. The electricity doesn't always work everyday and same with the internet. I'm guessing the computer I am typing on now is ten years old. It is fun to see all the old American shirts. Like the Make 7 and UP YOURS on the back. I actually got a picture with a guy wearing a Northwest Uniform. I could not believe it when I saw it. I have seen old Randy moss jerseys and John Randle Jerseys. You will see everything here.
At 6:10 they have prayer then dinner. After dinner the Salvatorians will have a separate prayer service and the Benedicts will have a separate one and so on and so forth. I can't believe how westernized it is here. The university has about 1,500 students. I think I mentioned before that 3/4 of the students are on loans from the government. The majors here are business, education, philosophy, sociology and theology. They want to start a science program here. Education is definitely the key thing here in Morogoro I guess there is 5 other universities. Everyone speaks English here incredibly well. They are trying to educate as many people as possible but in the country of Tanzania you have to pay for education. So a child only goes to school if the family can afford it. Community is very important here. Infact I think it is the most important thing to Tanzanians. So this is an over view of the week. I'll try to give a better detailed story later.

Kwa Heri from Morogoro

Tuesday, March 6, 2012



In downtown Dar Es Salaam. Scraping the old rubber off, putting a new one on then the window.
In Dar es Salaam. They drive on the other side of the road. Just testing how to load pictures .