Nai-ROB-i

So I finally got to experience what most long-term travelers do- a border run! Somehow it always worked out that I never needed to do a border run in Thailand, so I was a bit excited to finally experience hopping over the border to get a silly little stamp, allowing me to stay longer in Tanzania. Since I only have a 90 day visa for Tanzania, I only have to do one border run, but it also sucks cause I’m only in Tanzania for like 105 days or something around there, so it not like I’m overstaying my visa that long. But whatever, it’s said and done now! So Laura and I caught the 8 am shuttle to the safari capital of Africa, the urban and bustling city of Nairobi, Kenya.

After being on the bus for about an hour, we are going through a list of things we needed to have for our eminent border crossing. Passport? Check. Debit card? Yellow Fever card? Oh shit. Yes, in typical Briana fashion, I forget my Yellow fever card that is needed to get me into Kenya and then back into Tanzania. Obviously I pissed off Laura in the first hour of our trip because I spaced on grabbing this important little yellow card. So fingers crossed, can’t do anything about it now. Laura and I had it all worked out, she would pass me hers if we just had to flash them, but if someone actually checks then I’m SOL. I figured that if they wouldn’t let me cross, then I would just go back to Arusha and figure it out from there. Thankfully getting into Kenya was a breeze and I didn’t need to show it at all! First hurdle down!

Nairobi is the capital and largest city in Kenya and is known for its Safaris, despite having a bad rap for robberies, but we never had any issues and really enjoyed the exploring the city center! It is also a cultural melting pot with three main groups- Bantu, Cushitic, and Nilotic, in addition to many sub groups, languages, and traditions. I was pleasantly surprised to discover how developed Nairobi was, and it was so cool to see urban development right next to historical landmarks.

(The Sarova Stanley Hotel Courtyard)

The hotel Laura had found for us, the Sarova Stanley Hotel was the first hotel in Nairobi and many important events occurred here. During our stay, we were able to take a Heritage Tour of the hotel and it was so cool! We learned all about the founders and development of the hotel. It was home to the Exchange Bar and the Kenyan stock exchange for a while, many historical figures stayed here while in Africa, including; Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Hemmingway, Robert Baden-Powell (Chief Scout of the World), and Princess Elizabeth before and right when she was crowned Queen! We were also lucky enough to get to see the suits! These rooms are so nice it’s ridiculous! But they were all themed and beautifully decorated, and if I had all the money in the world, I’d totally stay in one of these rooms just for kicks!

http://www.sarovahotels.com/stanley-nairobi/

(A photo showing one and possibly the most famous person to have visited- Princess, now Queen Elizabeth!)

Besides exploring the hotel, Laura and I used the gym, relaxed at the pool for hours, and had a fantastic dinner at Thai Chi, an amazing Thai restaurant in the hotel. The chefs are Thai, so it was authentic and the best food I’ve had since returning from Thailand. The concierge was wonderful and helped us set up a few excursions.  We wanted to go see the Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Center and having a taxi driver taking us and waiting was the way to go!

We started our Saturday by going to the elephant orphanage operated by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This is the #1 thing to do in Nairobi, and for good reason! They are home to 26 baby elephants and 2 baby rhinos. All of the orphans were rescued from human abuse, environmental disasters, accidents, and abandonment, and all of them are on the mend and hopeful to return to the wild some day! After rescuing the baby elephants, the organization cares for them, feeding, bathing, playing with, and even sleeping with the orphans during their recovery and growth. The youngest elephant they have is 6 months, and the oldest is about 3 years old. And oh my gosh, they are the cutest things I have ever seen! So all the tourists just gather around this roped off area and BAM! Here come baby elephants running down the hill to get their bottles! If your heart doesn’t melt then and there, you are told about each of their history and as they walk around, you are allowed to feed and touch them! Just saying, baby elephants playing are the best things I’ve ever seen! They are so funny and ornery! And it gets better. YOU CAN ADOPT AN ELEPHANT! You’re allowed to choose which baby you want to adopt and for $50 a year, you are sent a monthly update on your elephant. And if you go to the orphanage, a foster parent is allowed to have one on one feeding and play time, and you can put your elephant to bed! My heart just exploded. How cute is that?!

https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

(Just look at how cute they are!)

Oh man, how could the day get any better? Well it’s about to! After the elephants, we went to the Giraffe Center: African Fund for Endangered Wildlife. After exiting the car, we turn around and see the giraffes right there! Just hanging out by the fence! After a brief informational talk about the Fund and about giraffe anatomy and lifestyles, we are given pellets to feed these magnificent creatures. It was really fun to kiss the giraffes- you put a pellet in your mouth and then give it to the giraffe, which usually means you get your face licked and end up all sorts of slobbery! But it was really neat to feed and pet these beautiful animals. I know I made my brother super jealous since his favorite animal is the giraffe, but I guess that means I’ll just have to come back with him some day! On the down side, I might be allergic to giraffes… I ended up breaking out in horrible hives right after hanging out with them and they lasted for like 2 days! It might’ve been a plant they rubbed up against, but man that was a downer on my experience!

http://giraffecenter.org/

(Getting kisses!)

(Feeding Giraffes is so fun!)

After a wonderful weekend, it was time to go home, back to Arusha and work. The whole bus ride to the border, Laura and I were very nervous (remember because I forgot my yellow fever card). Going over different scenarios and what-ifs. We hoped that just flashing it would suffice but when we got there, we discovered that to get your immigration entry form into Tanzania, you HAD to show your card with your passport for verification. Oh man was I screwed. So it’s my turn, I hand him my passport and start blubbering about how silly I was to forget my yellow fever card. I’m then directed to a guy in an office and once again express my sincerest apologies and regrets at having forgotten my card and say it’ll NEVER happen again. He very kindly just nods and hands me my papers. So before anyone else can stop or question me, Laura and I book it out of there and get through immigration without another hitch! Not until we were on the bus again did we breath a sigh of relief! Thank god!

(A mini-vaca is always a good idea!)

So overall, Nairobi was so much fun and a much-needed get away from everything! I’d love to go back to do some more exploring, and this time I will be extra careful to make sure I have everything I need!

Neema Forahee

I feel happy.

One month already?! Holy cow, so I’ve been in Africa for 2 months and in Tanzania working at my placement for a month! Cape Town, and even Kilimanjaro seem so long ago and it’s hard to believe that all that stuff happened! I’ve been pretty bad at blogging on this adventure but it’s hard to think of new things to say. Every week, Positive Love is about the same- make some bracelets, teach English, clean some stuff, water the garden. I’m not saying its monotonous by any means, everyday is different and what happens is usually unique to that day, but the basic stuff we do is all the same.

(Me and Mama Welu, our senior most designer, sporting our positive love skirts and scarves!)

 

But I want to talk a bit about my adventures outside of placement this time around! Laura and I have been busy the past two weeks and have done some neat things! Two weekends ago, we took the bus back to Moshi, where we started our trek and met up with one of our amazing guides, Baraka! It was so fun to hang out with him! We went to lunch, walked through some markets, visited his house and met some of his friends. It was cool to be able to see him again and I think he was pretty happy to see us too! We were also able to see our lead guide, Richard here in Arusha! We met up with him expecting to go grab some lunch but instead he took us to his house and we met his wife and his 3-month-old baby! This kid was too cute! It was fun to chat with Richard and his family! The Powers, our guides, and I really formed a little family on the mountain and being able to keep in touch with them is really specials for all of us!

(Another hidden gem- The Arusha Peace Park, commemorating the completion of the UN Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.)

Then on Monday of last week, Laura had her first Compassion International sponsor visit. This was such a special experience to be able to share with my friend. After meeting our host, who is also the Director for the Tanzania office, we headed out to the outskirts of Moshi to meet Emmanuel, a 13 year old boy who Laura has been sponsoring since he was 5 years old. So for them to meet, it was wonderful! We arrive at the Compassion Center, which is also a school, and were greeted by the school band and handed flowers! It felt like we were royalty! After the initial meet up, we met with the school directors and pastor and learned all about Emmanuel and how he was doing in school and life. We then left and headed to meet his family at his grandmother’s home.

(Emmanuel, his mother, grandma, and Laura- hanging out at his house and exchanging gifts)

Being welcomed into their home was so cool and when Laura brought out the gifts for the family and for her sponsor kid, everyone’s eyes lit up! Being able to see how Laura has impacted this family was such a blessing and a treat! Compassion is a fantastic program that is making real changes in the lives of the families who benefit from the organization, and to be a part of it, not only for one kid, but for 6?! Laura is a real humanitarian. We have more Compassion visits coming up for her other sponsor kids and I am so excited to see how these ones go!

(Laura with Emmanuel and the very first picture she sent him when she started sponsoring him 7 years ago!)

Back at Positive Love for the week. The building is looking good! We just need to get it painted (which is happening this week) and then add the final things like windows and doors, and furnish the inside! A huge shout out to Sloanes General Store and the Inn at Alcova for their generous donation towards completing this building project! (Be sure to check out Sloanes website below!) Without their help, this would be a half assed project, so being able to have a welcoming shop for the women of Positive Love will be amazing!

http://www.sloanesinalcova.com/

(Building stage 1: Finish cementing the frames and walls)

(Building stage 2: Prepping the walls to be painted)

(Stage 3: Applying protectants to the walls and adding glass in the windows and door!)

In other news, we are ready to launch our Positive Love website and start selling the products the ladies make to all of you wonderful people back home! I will have the link on my Facebook, so you can check it out there!

Too much Mandazi

Hello from Arusha! Sorry it has been a few weeks since I posted last, but I have been pretty busy learning the ropes of living and volunteering in Africa. Let’s rewind to two weeks ago…

Welcome to Arusha, Tanzania! Laura and I get picked up at the airport by our volunteer organization, Tanzania Volunteer Experience (TVE) and embark on the nighttime journey to our volunteer house. I was a little nervous- the ride was crazy and bumpy and I was actually really sketched out when we arrived at the house. Simba House is in a back alley in an alley off the main road and I was not comfortable with it. I told myself countless times to just give it a few days before making any hasty decisions (such as buying a plane ticket home). So the weekend came and went and I hadn’t left the house resulting in me still being pretty uncomfortable with the whole volunteer living experience. Not good. But thanks to orientation, I learned more about the TVE organization and all the placements and a little bit about Tanzanian culture. After all the paperwork and logistics, a few of the staffers took us out to the main market area to get SIM cards, groceries, cash, and to help us get around on the local transportation.

("We are strong women, we can do it" is the motto the women live by!)

And on Monday, it began! I officially became a long-term volunteer at Positive Love! I really encourage you to check out the website since it explains the purpose and mission of this organization much better than I can!

http://www.positivelovetz.org/

I originally wanted to volunteer at an HIV/AIDS organization because that’s what I had studied and researched most heavily in university, and felt that by actually participating in a program alongside people with an HIV positive diagnosis, I would gain a more in depth knowledge of the disease and how people live with it. Because of the negative stigma toward HIV infected individuals in Eastern Africa, it can be hard to gain employment and provide for one’s household. So through organizations like Positive Love, women are taught useful business skills as well as learning to love who they are and appreciate their gifts. I have really loved working with the six women at Positive Love and feel that this experience will be one I will cherish for the rest of my life!

(Photo credit: Laura Powers- It's not all beads and bracelets, we also help cook and clean! Here I am washing dishes!)

During our time with the women, we are taught to make all sorts of odds and ends! I’ve made so many different kinds of bracelets it’s ridiculous! I feel that I could open my own friendship bracelet business after learning about all these different styles! My inner 12-year-old girl is really loving this! But the women also make necklaces, earrings, skirts, shirts, bags, scarves and shoes, and some household items like serving spoons and glasses! It’s really a never-ending array of goodies and it is SO HARD not to buy out the whole store!

(Laura teaching some of the women English grammar rules)

So we go to placement for 4 hours a day and then have the rest of the day to ourselves. If we don’t just come home and chill, we head out to town to hang out, check out the markets, or get food. There’s a small shopping complex near where we live and what the volunteers call Mzungu Square (mzungu means white person/ foreigner). This is a hub for the white people to go and get coffee, or groceries, and the best part… WIFI! The wifi at our house can be pretty unreliable, so having a place to access the Internet is always nice. There’s this really delicious gelato shop that is practically impossible to avoid, and there’s some nice Western restaurants. It’s also the main stop for public transportation. The dalla dallas are little busses that get crammed full of people! Probably the most uncomfortable I’ve ever felt here in Tanzania has been while riding the dallas. They really suck and the drivers are crazy! But whatever, you’ve got to deal with them if you ever want to leave the confines of our neighborhood.

So we head to Mzungu Square regularly after placement. We’ve also ventured farther into eastern Arusha and visited a really cool market area called the Masaai Market. Here you can get all sorts of Tanzanian goodies and souvenirs. The shop owners will heckle you and try to pull you into their shops, so it’s kind of annoying to deal with. I was able to get some pretty great deals on some things and it was fun to barter and chat with the shop owners. There’s also this cool coffee shop/bakery nearby the market called Fifi’s, that serves great frappes and delicious bacon pancakes! And Wraps is another place that you need to visit when here! It’s a food truck and walking by you’d never think to stop, but they have great burgers and chips for only $6! Score! Walking around town is helpful because we learn more about the area each time we venture outside our gated house and always find new places to go and hang out.

(The group with the tribe)

Last weekend, one of the volunteers here organized an outing to a Masaai village. The Masaai people are the largest tribal group in Tanzania and are recognized by their intricate beadwork and their jumping. Yes, jumping. In many of their songs and dances, men and women alike will jump up and down as part of the dance. Also, the Masaai warriors have their own form of jumping and use it to scare of animals like lions and hyenas. It was so amazing to see their village and how they live without any modern comforts. They’ve stuck with their traditional ways and have resisted development even as the world around them grows. We were allowed to put on their necklaces and blankets and were taught a few songs, how they herd their animals, how to make fires with only sticks and manure, and learned about the day to day life of the Masaai. This was such an amazing cultural experience and I loved getting to witness firsthand the traditions and heritage of the tribal peoples.

(Photo credit: Laura Powers- Me with the women and kids of the tribe)

I’m feeling much more comfortable with the area and with volunteer life, so I think I’ll stick with my 3 month commitment, especially since Laura and I have hit the ground running at our volunteer placement and have some big plans to share with you all!

There is an unfinished building on the lot and I asked the directors what they wanted to do with it or what it was for. They said that they wanted to open a shop for the Positive Love products. A shop would be really helpful to keep the workshop un-cluttered and would provide the ladies with business management skills by run their own shop. So after discussing amongst ourselves, we decided that since we are here for 3 months, we should really try and finish this building so the director’s and ladies dream of having a shop could be realized. After proposing our ideas to the Directors, we were able to get price estimates and fundraise the money to get the project started! We now have a finished foundation and 4 walls, a ceiling, and glass in the windows! We, as volunteers are providing our labor, instead of paying someone to do it, and will start prepping the building to be painted within a few weeks! Hopefully we can get it all painted and furnished before we leave, but if not, we’ve started this project and whoever comes after us to volunteer can continue working on it!

(The building we hope to make into a shop!)

We have some other ideas for Positive Love, including selling in the States and marketing to tourists here in Arusha. So we’ve got lots to do in 3 months, and we are already two weeks in! My how time flies! And it’s not all just work! We’ve got vacations planned, outings and adventures galore, and Compassion visits to do! So it’ll be lots of busy days from here on out, and I can’t wait to share all my experiences with you!

P.S. Mandazi is a fried ball of deliciousness and is addicting. If I come home fat, it’s because I’m eating too much mandazi!

When Nature Calls

When in Africa, you have to go on a safari. No question about it. That’s also conveniently the first thing people think of when you say you’re going to Africa. They think of the vast savannah, lions roaming next to elephants, zebras, and giraffes like in the Disney movie, The Lion King. Well in reality, it’s pretty much just like that!

(The lion that almost ate us!)

We went on a 5 day Safari to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, the Ngorogoro Conservation area and Crater, and Tarangire National Park. It was all I could’ve hoped for an so much more! We had the amazing opportunity to watch animals in their natural habitat, eating, running, loving, and just going about their lives despite the obnoxious 4x4 Jeeps driving everywhere.

We started Day 1 of our safari at Lake Manyara: Home of the tree climbing lions. This was my least favorite park, but a good one to start at. We were weaned into Jeep life with this park and realized just what kind of things we would be experiencing while on safari. Right away monkeys and baboons, and birds of all sorts surrounded us! The monkeys are brave creatures and one even jumped in our jeep in attempt to steal our lunches! Thankfully someone came and banged on the windows to make it leave, but we were all flabbergasted! There’s really no other word to describe it! After that encounter we set off and the diversity of wildlife began to unfold! Looking back, this would be the one park I wouldn’t mind skipping because it kinda feels like you’re in a zoo. The animals are practically enclosed because it’s such a small park and feels like you’re enclosed, stuck between the mountains and a lake. Despite this, it was still cool and it a very nice park.

(Thanks Kandoo)

Day 2 and 3 were my favorites because we were in none other than the Serengeti! I feel like I walked right into a movie! First thing we see- three huge male lions! Just lounging in the shade of a tree, they seemed very relaxed and didn’t seem to mind our presence. I thought that if this is how our day begins, then what wonders await us?! After that, we saw 40+ more lions, lionesses, cubs, lions eating, lions growling, lions doing it on a rock, and even a near lion hunt! If you haven’t figured, I love lions, so I was thrilled to see so many! Along the way we also saw 2 separate leopards lounging in trees. The first one was a bit nervous at our being there under his tree so he climbed high to hide, but the second was so relaxed and just continued to sprawl on his perch. We also lucked out and saw 4 cheetahs! Two of them were eating something recently killed and the others were just peacefully lying in the grass. We also saw some Servals (smaller cats but similar to cheetahs) catching prey and carrying it off. You’d think that because some cats have spots, that they would be easy to pick out, but that is not so! They camouflage themselves so well since their fur matches their surrounding so perfectly. I count myself lucky that we saw all the big cats in one day, as many people miss one or the other.

(Cheetahs digging in)

In addition to cats, we saw antelope of every kind, elephants galore and giraffes walking in front of our jeep, zebras a plenty, and buffalo and wildebeest roaming free. We also went to a hippo pond and watched these lumbering creatures for the better part of an hour! They are disgusting and smelly creatures, but also really fascinating! At one point this huge hippo stood up and pooped right on his neighbor! But he didn’t just poop- as he released his bowels he swished his stubby tail from side to side, flinging his poop in all directions! It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen and so we all are cracking up laughing in the jeep when all of a sudden the hippos join in our laughter with their own! It was hilariously fantastic! After 2 long days in the Serengeti, soaking up sun, getting coated in dust, and sleeping in “luxury tents” surrounded by hyenas at night with Masai warriors protecting us, we felt we had really experienced all the wonders of the savannah.

Our 4^th day on the safari, we went to the Ngorogoro Crater. This is a huge conservation area were the Masai people are free to lives their traditional lives, raising families and livestock on the outskirts of the crater. They are not allowed to live in the crater but can graze their cattle there. The crater itself is a snow globe filled with forests, lakes, marshes, animals, and jeeps. There are so many habitats and all are occupied by different animals- all coexisting within. We saw a lioness hauling a zebra back to her cubs, hyenas fighting over scraps, birds of all sorts picking out food from the lakes, and hippos and elephants relaxing in the wet and tall grass.  The most elusive and impressive animal to see on the Ngorogoro Crater is the Black Rhino. There are only a handful of these guys left in the world and the crater boasts a population of about 15- the highest concentration anywhere! As we were leaving the crater, looking down from above, we spotted 2 rhinos on the hillside below. After a long day of seeing everything else but the Black Rhino, we lucked out and rounded off the day by seeing these endangered animals.

(The view from the top of the crater. Those 2 black dots are rhinos... Good luck finding them!)

(To the tune of 12 Days of Christmas) On the fifth day of the safari, our great guide Felix gave to us, a lot of elephants! Haha Tarangire National Park is home to the highest population of elephants in Africa supposedly, and I’d believe it! They were everywhere we went! As were the huge Boabab trees that Rafiki made famous in the Lion King as the Tree of Life. This whole park was pretty lush despite the dryness of the season. When the rains come, it transforms into marshes, swamps, and green forests where life thrives. This a really nice park to end with as we saw every animal we’d seen previously and it was much more interesting than Manyara. We only spent a few hours here because the Powers had to get to the airport and Laura and I were being picked up to go to our placement house in Arusha. But it was time well spent and overall, I wouldn’t change a single thing about the safari!

Africa is not only the cradle of civilization but also the home to such a massive diversity of creatures of all shapes and sizes. It was so neat to be able to experience these animals in their natural habitats, not stressed out by small enclosures or worried about being hunted. It is an experience I’ll cherish forever as an animal lover and one worth sharing to bring awareness to poaching and harm some of these animals endure. This giant continent is a mystery to most travelers and it isn’t until you go there that you really start to appreciate its splendor in all of its forms. I’m excited to live and work in such a diverse place and to learn about the many cultures, traditions, and peoples that occupy Tanzania.

(Wildebeest left, right, and all around!)