Shamba Shamba

The rainy season has officially begun! This is both good and bad news. The bad news first; a) mosquitoes b) lots and lots of mud c) roads at times become impassible and d) a wide variety of insects, critters (including snakes) have decided to come out of ‘hiding’… However, on a more positive note, everything is green! Before the rain, you could count on one hand the number of green trees you saw on the drive out to the village, now all you see is green! Another bonus is the abundance of water that we are able to collect! We are very fortunate to have a water harvesting “system” –basically eavestroughing that collects the rainwater that comes off our the roof and deposits it into a very large tank that sits in our courtyard! We no longer have to ‘order’ our water (from the guy who goes to the river with jerry cans, fills them up with murky river water, then, transports them back using a donkey cart!) EI is currently working on a project to build large holding tanks for more water harvesting systems in the village. I can tell you first hand what a difference there is to having clear drinking water as opposed to the sickly yellowish brown water from the river! One of the best things about the rainy season (besides being able to shower in the rain!) is that people can now start working in their shambas! A shamba is what we would call a very large garden (ranging anywhere between 1-5 acres!) In Usolonga, the majority of people’s shambas are located near the river, about 5km from the centre of the village. The most popular thing to plant is rice, although some also grow maize and ground nuts. The rice that is harvested is sold and ‘ugali’ (thick porridge made from maize flour), which is cheaper, is bought instead. This is their only source of income, so getting enough rain is vital! Last year, a survey, conducted by previous interns during the dry season, showed that over 80% of households had absolutely no food in the house. None. Whatsoever. As soon as I read that, I immediately thought of all the times I’ve said, “there’s nothing to eat in this house!” when in reality the cupboards were filled with tons of different foods. I’ve since visited various houses (i.e. mud huts) and have witnessed for myself the effects that a bad harvest has on a family! The last house I visited had only a sack of ‘ugali flour’ in terms of food (which makes up their two to three meals a day)! This sack of flour, a woven grass mat and a kerosene lamp –that’s all! It was unreal.
Work in the shamba starts before the sun rises and ends whenever enough work has been done! This past Friday I had a small taste of just how much work goes into these shambas! At 5:45am, I set out with Esau (a family member of the head nurse) to their shamba. It took us just over an hour by foot, traipsing through mud, manure and lots of water! Esau chose to inform me that we didn’t need to worry about the crocodiles just as we were in the middle of crossing a small ravine –apparently the water levels weren’t high enough yet! As I stopped, somewhat in fear, he enlightened me further, explaining that when the water level gets to a certain point, they have to go the “long way around” for fear of being attacked by crocodiles! Last year he saw a man being attacked and killed by one! It really is a serious problem; six to eight people die annually from these attacks. I just didn’t think it was really necessary to inform me of this while still in the water! We arrived just after seven and set to work right away. Our task that day was to build mud ridges to contain water in the little rice fields. I watched for a bit while Esau started digging–then made the mistake of asking if I could ‘try’. He was a bit reluctant at first, saying that he didn’t think I’d be able to do it…at least not for long, as it was hard work. Well. That didn’t sit so well with me. I smiled, grabbed the hoe and went to work! After about five minutes my arms were killing me! Never mind-I had a point to prove! I didn’t want people to think that a mzungu girl couldn’t handle a bit of work, especially a ‘country’ girl who was raised in northern Ontario! This attitude kept me going for about an hour. Just as I was about to pass out, Esau suggested we rest for a bit. While I was hoeing, he had been putting dry grass on the little shelter, so we had a shaded area to rest. We started making our way back to the village around 9:30 –not exactly the longest workday, but definitely strenuous! By this time the sun was blazing hot, it was already over 30 degrees, and it felt like my arms were going to fall off! As we were leaving, others were just arriving –they were staying for the whole day! I don’t know how they do it. Some are lucky and have cattle pull equipment to dig up the soil, while the majority do it all by hand! Acres and acres of land, upturned, planted, harvested . . . all with one hoe!
Although it took the better part of the day to recuperate and re-energize, I am very glad that I was able to go and witness for myself what this shamba business was all about!

Christmas in Zanzibar

We left Iringa on Wednesday, December 19th and spent two and a half uneventful days in Dar es Salaam. The high-rise buildings and city smog didn't really appeal to us -we were excited to leave mainland and board the ferry to Zanzibar on Saturday morning! Two days were spent exploring Stone Town, Zanzibar's capitol - among the touristy things to do were the 'House of Wonders', one of the city's historical museums, the Anglican cathedral that was built on the former slave trading grounds, the local market and the never ending little shops that are set up within the narrow alleyways that make up Stone Town's streets.

On Christmas eve morning, we made our way to the dala dala station, found the one that would take us to Bwejuu and waited for it to fill up with passengers before taking off! And this is when we found out how small our world is. Approaching the dala dala were three girls, around our age, who I had never seen before, but Jen kept insisting that we had met them somewhere. Turns out one of them went to University with Jen and they had a few classes together! They were fellow CIDA interns working in Dar, making their way to the eastern side of the island.

After two hours of bumpy roads and about fifty stops later, we were dropped off on the side of the road in Bwejuu. It was a great relief to be able to stretch our legs -we had crammed 32 people in that dala dala (wich could comfortably sit 15)! The top had been piled high with various supplies that were picked up along the way (tin roofing, three bed frames, about ten wooden chairs, three bicycles, sacks of grain, baskets of fruit, a few live animals, etc.) One of the remaining passengers pointed in the direction of our destination: Mustapha's Nest.

The adventures begin.

They had lost our booking. There was no room. Jackie, another guest reassured us that this had also happened to their group when they first arrived. . .and to every other guest staying at Mustapha's Nest. Hotel management and book keeping are not their forte.

After a few hours of waiting (we weren't exactly sure what we were waiting for) we were told that there was a one bed room available, never mind that it was one of the staff's bedroom! By this time we had fallen in love with the place, it's chilled out atmosphere and friendly guests, so we decided to stay! Our room was located high up in the trees. . .very rustic. (You'll have to check out the pictures I posted!)
We put our bags in the room, locked up, and hit the beach! Later that night when we returned the door wouldn't open. "Hamna shida" we were told (no worries), our 'carpenter' will fix it. The carpenter took a hammer and a crow bar and started pounding on the lock (now, I'm not an expert, but somehow that didn't seem like the first thing I'd try). His method sort of worked -the lock was no longer in the door (it had fallen out and was now inside the room) but the door was still locked shut. His next plan? Kick down the door. literally. This took a good ten minutes, he even let me have a few kicks (again, you'll have to check out the pictures!) finally the door opened, but now there was the problem of not having a functional door for our room! We were told not to worry, it'd be fixed after dinner. 10:30 rolled around and we still had no door. They tried convincing us that it would be ok to sleep in there with no door, it was a safe place -they had 'guard' dogs and a fenced in yard...I told them that I was usually up for an adventure but there was no way we were sleeping in a room with no door! We ended up sleeping in a large circular cabin (one that was being reserved for a party of four that hadn't showed up yet) The door was fixed the following morning -we slept in the tree house for the following two nights.
Christmas day was pretty laid back, went swimming (got stung by a jelly fish), read on the beach, and hung out with our new friends we had met. We enjoyed a very yummy Christmas buffet (not your typical turkey dinner -but just as good!) followed by traditional drumming and local dance. A very humorous evening!
After three days at Mustapha's Nest we moved up the beach to a new place called "Shells" and kept ourselves busy reading, relaxing and swimming. Watched the sunrise one morning, rented bikes and visited other beaches, read, relaxed. . .we had a very full schedule!
We left Zanzibar on the 30th, and made our way to Kipepeo, which is in southern Dar. It's a very nice beach, but unfortunately did not compare to Zanzibar! We met a girl who was just there for the day on the 31rst and ended up spending the whole day with her! She's working with a Christian organization in northern Tanzania and we were able to exchange stories and experiences! Truly a God send!
New Years Eve was very exciting. . .I went to bed at 8:30! (pm). We had planned to ring in the new year with the other guests but were both so tired (due to a lack of sleep the night before) that we didn't manage to stay up! We also had to get up at 6:30 the next morning to head back to Dar in order to catch the bus home. I figured we'd do the count down at 8:00am Jan. 1 (that way -given the time difference- we'd be ringing in the new year along with friends and family in Ontario!)
We arrived safely in Iringa on Jan. 1 in the late afternoon.
I had a wonderful holiday, with just the right amount of leisure and adventure! We had prayed for a safe trip -and as always, God went above and beyond in answering our prayers! It was exciting to see how everything fit together so smoothly and how numerous "coincidences" kept happening (always to our benefit!)
I didn't mean to write a novel, but I knew if I didn't force myself to write this today, it would probably never happen! We've had one day in Iringa and are heading back to the village tomorrow morning sometime before 6:00am! I hope you've had a refreshing holiday and are ready to start this new year on the right track!