Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Tatu

Two Zanzibari beauties!

Alison and I woke up on Monday morning (the 29^th) to the sun burning down on Mwanza, so we opted to work inside for as long as we could. We spent the morning at our computers, typing out blog entries and English lessons. Eventually, we couldn’t excuse ourselves from the city any longer and headed into town for yet another appointment at “Uhamiaji”… the dreaded immigration office. This time we came armed with all the documents, letters, passport photos and US dollars that we’d been told we’d need. We were advised to return “kesho, kesho” (“tomorrow, tomorrow”, a very typical Tanzanian solution to any problem), and set off on the rest of the day’s errands. We attempted to access the internet (unsuccessfully), stopped by U-Turn to pick up cake mix to celebrate our roommate’s birthday, grabbed a cheap & filling lunch at MDBI (the equivalent of 80 cents for a full plate of food), and onwards to the travel agency to attempt to firm up hotel bookings for our weekend trip… unfortunately our agent wasn’t in, so we moved on. Eventually, we found a working internet connection at a café, so we were able to catch up on some emails before heading to Mabatini to teach. The mamas’ English is progressing quite well and most of our frustration lies in our inability to properly explain the grammatical concepts to them in Swahili so that they understand the nuances of the lessons… it might not be a bad idea for future interns to consider obtaining a TEOSL designation before travelling to Africa in order to better direct the Mamas’ studies.

From Mabatini, Alison and I went to Tunza to deliver another 7 ½ litres of yogurt to our ex-pat customers. In the month of October, we sold over 60 litres of yogurt to “wazungus” at a ‘premium’ price… higher than what the yogurt is sold for in Mabatini because we know that the wazungu market can easily absorb the cost. Alison dropped off the cake mix in Tunza’s kitchen and popped the whole thing in the oven to bake during our yoga class. After class, we went into town with Claire, Major and Tini (a German woman who is here building a preschool) to meet Ruben for his birthday dinner at Isamilo Lodge. We had a lovely evening, and Ruben made his wishes for the new year ahead.

Ruben, Alison and I celebrating his 23rd birthday.

On Tuesday morning (the 30^th), we headed into town early, hoping to get online before the afternoon rush messed up the network. Unfortunately, we had no success. We walked on to the travel agency to meet our agent; however, when she tried to tell us that every hotel on the island was booked up, we decided to take the matter into our own hands. An hour later, we had a place booked on the popular north beach. Score one point for Alison and Meaghan! After further failed attempts to get online at two more internet cafés, we took a deep breath over lunch in town. We stopped by the post office to send some letters home and decided to try the internet café that we always see advertised. Luckily, they had a working connection but a 45 minute wait for a computer. In the meantime, we decided to quickly return to “Uhamiaji” to pick up our renewed volunteer visas. We were given our receipts but were told to return “kesho, kesho” to have our passports stamped. We rolled our eyes (AWA… Africa Wins Again!) and returned to the post office to spend a bit of time online. In the café, Alison met a local banker who promised to help us find a good rate to exchange Tanzanian shillings to US dollars for our trip to Zanzibar… you never have to look far to find someone in this town who is willing to help you in ways that we are unaccustomed to in North America! We rushed to our Swahili lessons on the other side of town, picking up some produce along the way. After class, we swam laps at the International School with Claire and Manuela before preparing a delicious Greek-themed meal (inspired by Manuela’s Grecian backpacking trip last year) at Claire’s place. We returned home to large piles of laundry to hand-wash, and Alison kindly prepared the English lesson for the following day as I could barely keep my eyes open!

We departed early on Wednesday morning (the 31^st) to meet Mama Paskwalina at the bottom of the hill at Mabatini. We took a dala-dala together to the SIDO office to meet with the Regional Manager, Damian Changh’a. Together, we discussed the logistics of getting Tukwamuane’s yogurt certified by TBS (the Tanzanian Bureau of Standards) and by the TFDA (the Tanzanian Food and Drug Administration). He explained to us that a lot of these organizations are quite corrupt and to approach them requires some delicate tip-toeing. We agreed that it might be a good idea to hold off on chasing after these designations until the mamas acquire a larger building where they will have space to refine their production system. Damian gave us a new contact with BRELA (the organization which registers business names in Tanzania)… this effort has been undertaken by previous WHE interns but has not yet been completed. Damian also advised us regarding packaging, labelling, distribution, and obtaining a new translator for the project (Alison and I have found it extremely challenging to not have one, and we anticipate that new interns would be lost without one!). After our discussion, we met with a couple representatives from TFS (Tools for Solidarity), a group out of Belfast which organizes the equipment required for basic trades and sends it to Africa. Currently, TFS is building a new sewing facility for local artisans.

On our way back to the dala-dala, Mama Paskwalina made a contact with some of the tradespeople who work outside of SIDO… they requested that she return in the afternoon with 20 litres of yogurt to sell to them. We hope that opportunities like this will provide the mamas with a steady increase in their sales and help them to expand their business to serve the community. As we walked back to the kitchen, we picked up a small radio as a “zawadi” (gift) for the mamas. We dropped off their English lesson, picked up yogurt for the orphanage and drove to Bwiru to deliver it. We unsuccessfully attempted the internet when we got back into town, then walked to “Uhamiaji”, where we were told to return at 3pm for our stamps. We grabbed a quick lunch, withdrew Tanzanian shillings at the bank, and waited in line to exchange currency. After 25 minutes of waiting, the teller informed us that it was ‘very complicated’ to purchase US dollars (I don’t know how complicated it could possibly be?), so we made use of our banker contact. Giovan showed up after less than 10 minutes and took us to his old place of employment, where we obtained our money within 2 minutes. We returned to “Uhamiaji” and finally (after seven trips) finalized the renewal of our visas, maintaining our legal status in Tanzania! Afterwards, we finally succeeded in getting online… later returned home for a quiet night at the apartment, packing and preparing for our trip to Zanzibar.

On Thursday morning (the 1^st of November), Alison and I flew out of Mwanza to Dar es Salaam en route to Zanzibar. In Dar, we picked up our baggage from a conveyor belt full of plastic buckets tied with twine (most likely containing fish)… nothing but the best for African travellers! After shooing away Maasai porters (I can’t imagine how I would have felt if this had been my first African airport experience… the Nairobi airport isn’t quite so showy in terms of exposing tourists to ‘traditional’ East Africa), we killed some time in the airport’s internet café, then moved on to the international departure Duty Free shops. I spent the better part of an hour perusing the bookstores (making a list of ‘to-reads’ for when I return home) and sniffing perfume (a very foreign concept to me right now). Before we left Dar, we called Missy to wish her a happy birthday… unfortunately, we must have had very bad timing because the call obstructed our ears from the announcement that our plane was boarding. Luckily, an airport attendant recognized us and advised us that our plane was about to leave… cue Meaghan and Alison sprinting across the tarmac, climbing onto the plane just in time for our 15 min flight to the island of Zanzibar. We shuttled into Stonetown, found a room at Jambo Guest House and settled in before leaving to explore the city. Stonetown has a rich historical and cultural history, with major influences from the Portuguese, British, and Arabic settlers who established themselves in the city over the years. The city used to be the main port for the African slave trade, receiving over 60,000 slaves each year from the African mainland and selling them to buyers all over the Indian Ocean. We explored the narrow cobble-stoned streets on our way to Forodhani Gardens, a busy park on the shore where vendors sell skewers of meat and seafood into the night. We ate our first Zanzibari dinner there, slightly put off by the taste of fuel on our food, but enjoying the boisterous atmosphere of the Gardens. Later, we met a pair of travellers (Canadian and British) who were on a several month long Overland-truck tour of Africa. We went to a balconied restaurant to enjoy some of their stories over cups of fragrant spiced tea before returning to our guest house for the night.

Alison bargaining hard at Forodhani Gardens.

On Friday morning (the 2^nd), we embarked on our very-touristy spice tour. Zanzibar is famous for its spices, evident from the ever-present scents wafting through the air. We walked through a spice farm, discovering various production methods of henna, jackfruit, Zanzibari apples, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa, lemongrass, vanilla, peppercorn, coffee, turmeric, coriander, ‘lipstick’ trees, ginger, etc. etc. We looked into a Persian bath built for the Sultan’s wife, and ate lunch under the leafy canopies of the fruit trees. We decided to take a dala-dala back into town to avoid a full-day tour, and spent the afternoon wandering through Stonetown’s streets, picking up gifts to bring home with us. Everyone visiting Zanzibar is a tourist and free prey for the locals, but Alison and I were able to avoid most of their attacks by surprising them with our (limited) knowledge of Swahili. We went to Freddy Mercury’s (yes, the Queen frontman was born and raised on spice island!) to watch the sunset
over dinner before tucking ourselves in at the guest house.

A cocoa tree sample - delicious!

We left for Kendwa beach early on Saturday morning (the 3^rd). We decided to avoid the expensive taxi ride by braving the dala-dala with our luggage… unfortunately, through a very heated exchange with locals and the driver, we were overcharged for our trip north (about $2.00 CDN when we should have been charged $1.00) and fumed most of the way to the beach, especially during our 20 min walk to our hotel down a rocky dirt road with our rolling suitcases (!!). Luckily, our frustration dissipated at the sight of the serene Indian Ocean lapping the white sand beach. We spent a very relaxing day on the beach, then watched the sunset silhouette handfuls of dhow boats floating in the sea. We had dinner with some Quebecers who we met in Stonetown… Marie-Yves, Frederic and Max, who are all in the army & air force. Fred (Marie-Yves’ boyfriend) and Max are currently stationed in Afghanistan, taking leave in Tanzania before heading back to the war. It certainly gave us some perspective, especially about how challenging a long-distance relationship can really be!

The idyllic beaches of Zanzibar.

On Sunday morning (the 4^th), we had breakfast on the beach before setting out for a snorkelling trip at a nearby island. On our way, we were excited to come across several pods of dolphins travelling together across the bay. We spent a couple hours gazing down at the abundant sea-life around the coral reefs… amazing! Afterwards, we wasted away the rest of the afternoon in and out of the sand and sea, before joining our Canadian friends for dinner under the stars.

We left the beach for the airport on Monday morning (the 5^th) via taxi this time (we decided that it would be a bit too risky to attempt the dala-dala again when trying to make a flight!).
We were stopped along the way at a police blockade, where our driver was almost given a fine for not being properly licensed as a taxi service. He whispered to us (in Swahili) to tell the cop that we were his friends… after a very sketchy exchange, we were off scot-free and (thankfully) made our flight with no problem. When we arrived in Dar, we found out that our connecting flight to Mwanza was delayed. Luckily, the airline provided us with a delicious lunch at an Indian buffet, allowing us to kill time before travelling back home. We spent a very quiet night at home last night… unpacking, sharing our travel stories with Ruben, and preparing to get back into project work this week.

Enjoying the sun and sand at Kendwa Rocks.

I haven’t been able to put down my latest novel (Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides), and I’ve been just as attached to many others which I’ve read during my time here. Without the “typical” entertainment sources that we have come accustomed to in the Western world (mostly associated with technology), I have fallen even more in love with the literature in my life. I came across a perfect thought in Out of Africa, one of my latest literary partners… “Books in a colony play a different part in your existence from what they do in Europe; there is a whole side of your life which there they alone take charge of; and on this account, according to their quality, you feel more grateful to them, or more indignant with them, than you will ever do in civilized countries.” (Karen Blixen)

The sun setting over the port in Stonetown.