Ten passengers, one motorbike, one land cruiser and a goat named Hubert

We had a day off from Kiswahili class yesterday in order to visit Usolonga, a remote village north west of Iringa where Jen and I will be working. Our 8:30am departure only got delayed an hour as we had a few things to pick up in town to bring to the village. After collecting the medicine, cement, kerosene and a boy who wanted a ride, we were on our way! The drive there went smoothly, it was very humbling to see how people lived – the mud huts, miles of barren land and the countless children were a lot to absorb. I was in for another reality check upon arriving in Usolonga. (They weren’t kidding when they said ‘remote’). Usolonga is separated from the surrounding villages by a river that is unfortunately not passable by car as the bridge was destroyed by flash floods during the rainy season. We got to meet the doctor and two nurses that work at the dispensary (essentially the entire staff, minus Simon, the administrator who is currently on holidays). Andrew took us for a walk through the village to meet the preacher’s wife and to see the local church and school. As we were walking, the children would run out to meet us and would continue to follow us around – so by the end of our little ‘tour’ we had a faithful posy of at least 25 children! I’ll have to take some pictures of the church! It is essentially a very long, narrow mud hut, with little rows of clay humps along the inside walls for seating. Looking at the ‘building’ I would guess that it would hold approximately 50 people comfortably, but I am told that at least 150 people show up on Sunday mornings!! We ended up staying for three hours, meeting new people and seeing the ‘sights’ (which at the moment resemble a desert but during the rainy season should be beautiful and green!) Our ride home was VERY interesting – a true Tanzanian experience that I’m sure we’ll see a lot! We had five additional passengers on the way home; a carpenter (who was working on the house we will be living in), a couple and their 8-year old son (who were attending a wedding in the city) and a goat named Hubert (the wedding gift). Aside from the occasional wail from the goat, who was tied up and laying in a very large basket, the ride wasn’t too hectic. . . until we drove by two men and a motorbike. One of the men happened to be the village’s ‘mayor’/chief so of course we had to stop. The bike they were riding had a busted rear tire. After much deliberation and attempts to fix the tire, it was decided that the best thing to do was cram the motorbike into the back of the land cruiser and bring it to the nearest village to get fixed. That was the original plan, but after fitting the fairly large bike into the vehicle, they decided that there would also be room for everyone (ten people in total) and the goat! Needless to say, the ride back was not very quiet! The African concept of “there’s always room for one more” will take some getting used to!

In Iringa at last!

After two days of travelling and four hours of sleep I finally arrived in Iringa! The trip was long and tiring, apparently I don't sleep well on planes! The most interesting part of the journey was the drive from Dar Es Saalam (Tanzania's capitol) to Iringa. We took a bus (something similar to the Greyhound) for the eight hour trip -what an experience! I thought driving in Mexico was hectic. . .but it turns out it is nothing compared to the driving here! I don't think there are any rules, at least none are enforced. I quickly had to remind myself that God was in charge and we'd survive the craziness that is traffic! Along the way we passed through a natural game reserve where we saw zebras, elephants, monkeys and giraffes! AMAZING! We arrived in Iringa on Tuesday night (Sept. 18) and where shown our living quarters for the month while we are in language school. Wednesday and Thursday were spent touring around Iringa, exchanging dollars into shillings, purchasing cell phones :) [my number is, from Canada: 011 255 76344 9750] meeting some of the people we will be working with and general orientation. Today, (friday) was our first day of language school -talk about overwhelming! We have lots of studying and practicing to do over the weekend! Training school runs from 8:00am to 12:30pm with a half hour break in between. The afternoons will be spent practicing what we've learned and completing the homework assigned. Although Kiswahili will be challenging, I am thankful that I have the pronounciation down pat! (It is very similar to french and spanish:)
So, the first three days have come and gone and were quite enjoyable. The weekend will be full of trying out our newly learned kiswahili words and familiarizing ourselves with the city.
Until next time,
Take care,
Sacha