In love with Bagamoyo

I have been spending my week with kids from Imuma which is a place for kids in the neighborhood can come and be loved.  They can only afford to board 7 of the kids to live there. I have only been there for one week because Red Cross is on vacation for the holiday, and I am completely attached to them. There is one girl named Mosik, and she is very shy and quiet. She won't leave my side when I am there.  Today, we took all 26 of them in a tiny van to the beach, and they all went crazy with excitement. It was quite a sight to see 26 kids and 4 adults in a tiny van. Mosik stayed with me all day, and she actually spoke with me today. I have become so attached, I have no idea how I can possibly leave them. They are all so beautiful, full of hope and dreams, and they are the happiest children I have ever been around. I am in love with each and every one of them. We usually spend the first part of the day on the field to run around and play games with them before class. We tried to show them how to make a bottle rocket, but it failed miserably because we had pepto instead of alki seltzer. In class, we say KAA a lot which means be quiet and sit down.  We have them come up one by one and sing a song in English. This boy Suma who is 5, will come up and sing "If you are happy and you know clap your hands." It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. So much personality.  I am so inspired, that I have decided to work with them in my free time. I just can't let them go. I have also fallen in love with my fellow volunteers. This is a bittersweet week because many of them are leaving one week before I am. I have made so many amazing friends here in the community as well as the staff and other volunteers. Ok no more gush gush because this weekend I am heading to Zanzibar for New Years, spices, Stone Town, tortoises, and more music and art. I have found my heart here in Bagamoyo. Stay tuned, I will try to add photos soon...

Meghan

Christmas Safari

We were picked up in a beat up landcruiser early Friday morning to drive the 7 hours south to Selous Game Reserve for our camping Christmas Safari. We stopped for lunch, and we ventured the rest of the journey on a very bumpy dirt road for the next 3 hours or so we thought. We were on this road for about 20 mins when there was a disturbing grinding sound coming from under the wheels. We pulled over, and our driver Peter pulled out the machete to "fix" the shocks. As we continued down the road, there were a whole new set of sounds. Amy, Jordan, Violenne, and I could not stop laughing because it reminded us of Little Miss Sunshine but much worse. It sounded like the car was about to collapse at any second, AND we were on such a bumpy dirt road. We stopped in a tiny village to repair the car before it got dark. At first, there was a large group of men just starring at us through the windows. Then all the children came to see us Mzungus and sat down in a group to stare at us. We couldn't really communicate because they were speaking a different dialect of Kiswahili. Many of the men were under the car with Peter helping him while we decided to play with the children. Jordan and Amy drew Hop Scotch in the dirt and we all demonstrated for them. Then some of the older boys would take turns. After each turn, we all laughed and clapped with each other. It was such an incredible moment because we were just hanging out, but it meant so much to all of us. Roughly 2 1/2 hours later, we headed to Sealous for camping. Of course the truck was still not fixed so we were all silent for the rest of the way as it had become dark, and Peter was extremely concerned for our safety. But then we would say things like... "Would you rather be stranded in the middle of the bush with the lions or in between villages where boys would shoot at you with there hands as you drive by?" Just before arriving at Hippo Camp, we saw a hyena. Peter also mentioned that there were many black and green mambas. We were all sure that the other truck with the rest of the group was worried because we were so far behind them. Of course cell phones don't work in the African bush:) So after a very long day of driving on Christmas Eve, we knew we wouldn't be sleeping well after seeing the hyena, staying at a place called Hippo Camp, and we were all aware of the presence of elephants, snakes, hippos, crocs, and the dinosaur like bugs that kept flying into the truck. We walked down this dark path in the bushes to greet the rest of our group. They even waited for us to eat dinner. We all shared our story, had an amazing dinner, and had as many beers as possible to get a good night sleep.  I was pleased to find that we were staying is tiny bungalows. Mine even had a large tree inside of it with a giant leafy branch directly above my pillow! I slept completely sound after hearing the hippos snort near by, thinking of mambas, and listening to the beautiful orchestra of what seemed to be 100's of 1000's piercing locusts.

We woke up at six am to get on a very small boat for the river part of our Safari on Christmas Day. We saw monkeys, crocs, hippos, and tons of colorful birds. The hippos sleep during the day and graze on land at night near our bungalows. All the females huddle up and sleep together in the water while the males stay on the outside to protect them. We were back at 8am for breakfast, then off to our Game Reserve ride in the repaired landcruiser. Peter stayed up all night fixing it for us so that we would not be stranded with the lions:) We saw tons of giraffe, elephants, water buffalo, wildebeast, baboons, impala, and crocs. We were a bit nervous when Peter pulled over in the middle of the Game Reserve to eat our lunch and have a bathroom break. We all squatted next to each other behind a bush in fear that a lion would run out of the tall grass near by and eat us for lunch, but Peter didn't seem too concerned about it. By 5pm, we were so dehydrated, sunburned, sweaty, tired, and delirious, we couldn't wait to have a few Safari beers and Christmas dinner which was pasta, eggplant, and some sort of egg/meat/pizza pie.  I thought I would get a good night sleep from exhaustion, but the noises at night were nothing I have ever experienced. I could hear the loud high pitched sound of the locusts, the group of elephants that liked to hang out, the hippos grazing, and I must not forget the man walking around with a very large gun ready to protect us at any moment. Looking back now, it was an incredible experience.

We woke up at 6am on Sunday to start the walking portion of our Safari before heading back to Bagamoyo. We meat this almost naked tracker covered in ash, carrying a hand made bow and arrow, and he was smoking what appeared to be a giant leaf wrapping a giant wad of ganja. Turns out, he was just smoking elephant dung. We had to stop twice, so he could have a lil smoke session. He said that it made him think clearly, attract elephants, and he said it was much stronger than ganja. I think we were all a bit shocked by this one. We saw elephants, yellow baboons, a giant baobob tree which he climbed, and we learned how to survive in the African Bush if you had to for some reason. He even taught us how to protect ourselves from a lion and showed us how to set a booby trap for dinner. I have videos, but those will have to wait until I get home. After a meal, we finally headed back to Bagamoyo. I have never been so excited to get back to CCS and take a trickle of a cold shower in my life. The Red Cross is on vacation this week, so I will be floating around at different placements all week which is exciting. I am also visiting the medicine man, and I will be working on a garbage clean up project in the village. Merry Christmas!!

Meghan

Pole Pole

Well I made it to Africa! I apologize for the delay. We have not had consistent electricity, so it is much harder to get to a computer than I  thought. I have been here for one week, and I am completely in love. In love with this country, in love with the community of Bagamoyo, in love with my fellow volunteers, in love with Africa. I have been through so much already, I am not even sure where to start. I guess I will start with the moment I knew I was coming back to Tanzania again. On one of my first days, I was taken to a family's community of about 40 to 50 children, adults, and elders. We arrived, and all the children just flocked to us. The children would braid our hair and sit right next to us while the rest of the family put on an amazing African dance and music performance for us. They played so many different instruments. They we so incredibly warm and inviting. They even gave us tea and peanuts while we all sat around just taking it all in. We had an interesting conversation about polygamy. Many of the men have more than one wife, and it is very common. My program director Zik, would translate as we would all share our ideas and our thoughts on the matter. They would laugh as we said the women hold the power in most marriages, and we would laugh as they said the men do.  I met a rasta named James there who is going to teach me how to batik and drum today.  I have also met a ton of rasta artists who are teaching me how to paint Tinga style this week. My fellow volunteers are amazing. I have really taken to two girls from Cleveland named Amy and Jordan. We have our own little mzungu (white person) prison across the road from the main house with a few other volunteers. The water situation is a bit spotty, but everything else has started to feel normal. We have several lizards that like to hang out with us in the house, and they are all named Fred. I have my own pet bugs,  but I never see them. I just see the love bites it gives me over and over again while I am sleeping. Good thing I have been taking my Malerone because I have been eaten alive by mosquitos. :) The town of Bagamoyo is so welcoming. Almost everyone you see on the road greets you with Mambo! The greetings last much longer than in the states, and my Swahili is vastly improving each day. Yesterday I was walking back from the Tunajali (Red Cross program), and this little girl just ran out of her hut all the way down the road and jumped all over me. She had to be only 2 or 3 years old. The children here are the happiest children I have ever seen. They have nothing, yet they always have a huge smile on there faces. They always run after us and yell "Mzungu! Mambo!"  This week I get to do some home visits and test for HIV/AIDS. We will be travelling to different villages and visiting people that have been affected. This has been so eye opening I can't discribe it. Being here has completely inspired me to make some changes when I get home and possibly do some grant writing. There are so many amazing school programs for the street kids and youth programs that are in constant need of funding. But this is also the most beautiful place I have visited. After a busy week of volunteering, Swahili lessons, guest speakers, and a full on soccer game that we were not prepared for at all, we decided to get away for the weekend.

A few of us went to a small island called Lazy Lagoon. We had a bungalow on the ocean that was absolutely beautiful. We relaxed by the beach, I read some of Shanteraum, and enjoyed the luminous African sunset. On Saturday, Amy, Jordan, and I took a boat back to Bagamoyo, and went reggae dancing Sat. night with the rastas. That too was incredible. We were the only ones there dancing under the moonlight with the rastas. On Sunday, the three of us decided to experience church here. Of course they made us introduce ourselves because it was the first time. It was about two hours, and they even had a translator in our honor. We were so tired after the long hectic week that all we wanted to do is take a big nap. But Sunday evening, we had a little stint at our compound.

Amy, Jordan, and I were sitting on the porch of our little gated house when a taxi driver walked right through the front gate. He then tried to enter the house when our adorable guard Tuma was right behind him trying to get him to leave. He was hissing at Tuma and all of a sudden there was a mob outside the gate screaming and yelling while Amy, Jordan, and I were trapped on the porch right next to this fight. We had to hop over the porch and run around the back of the house because the mob started yelling at us. Eventually we got into the house, but we had to turn off all the lights and lock all the doors because the mob was still outside yelling and screaming. Poor Tuma was just protecting us while the taxi driver was getting the crowd excited and angry. Our director came over with the rest of the staff including the cook and the rest of guards to try and calm the crowd down, but it didn't work. Tuma came inside and kept us safe while Zik entered the main gate and kept an ey on the front of the house. This all lasted about 2 hours. It was pretty scary, but it taught us all to be more careful in general. Only call taxis, pike pikes, and bdajis they reccommend, always lock the gate, and be more alert. So we all went to sleep a bit anxious last night. We thought the community would be angry with us today, but they were completey warm and welcoming this morning when we all walked to our different placements.  This community makes me want to stay here more and more every day.   I am so excited for this weekend because I will be on a camping Safari for Christmas. One day on a boat, one day in a truck, and one day on foot. I will write more and add photos as soon as I can, but I am on Bagamoyo time which means Pole Pole (Pole Pole means slowly in Swahili). I miss you all so much, but I don't think I will be ready to come home when it is time. It is flying by so fast.

Asante sana!

With less than 30 days until my departure, I find myself more anxious than ever.  My airfare is purchased, my program fee is paid, my shots are done, and my passport is on the way including my visa.  Aside from practicing Swahili and trying to mentally prepare myself for this incredible journey, the only thing left to do is pack!  I have been planning this trip for over a year, and it would not have been possible without my generous family, friends, and supporters.   

To my friends:  I can only say Thank You. You helped me continue this decision even when I thought I would give up. You pushed me forward, you helped me plan fundraisers, you understood when I was unavailable for birthdays and dinners, and you have completely supported me this entire year of stressful planning.  Thank you!

To my family:  Thank You for completely supporting my decision to travel so far away over the holidays. Not once did any of you try to talk me out of it. You all said you were proud of me, and those words I deeply cherish.  I am so lucky to have such a loving and supportive family.  And I will miss the hilarious photo of all of us wearing a crown at the table as well as "rub a dub dub."  I will be thinking of you and I will miss you all very much. 

To all of my sponsors:  This trip has been a dream of mine for many years, and this would not have been possible without your generous support.  I am truly grateful.   I am so excited to challenge myself, work with children, learn from this experience, and take all of this in completely.  Thank you so much for your generosity and words of encouragement.  I truly appreciate every single one of you:)


Asante sana!!

~Meghan~

It's Official! I am going to Africa

Well, I am finally taking the plunge! It has taken me over a year to enroll with Cross Cultural Solutions and jump in head first.  So, I am headed to volunteer in Bagamoyo which is a small town located on the east coast of Tanzania, Africa.  I will leave December 8th, and I will return January 10th.    This will be my very first Christmas away from family in 31 years, but I am fairly certain I will be celebrating in the best way possible. I have two weeks paid vacation, and it just made more sense to go over the holidays since I won't be missing too much more time with all the holidays we have off anyway.  I was extremely nervous to tell my boss I not only wanted to take four weeks off, but I wanted to take them during December and January. To my disbelief, she gave me a quiet look as if she was proud of me and told me that I was doing a wonderful thing. I am so thankful that I have such an amazing boss who would allow me to take an entire month off in these hard economical times.  I am so excited, nervous, and anxious beyond belief.

It is a bit daunting to think I only have 6 weeks until my program fee of $3500 is due, but I know in my heart it will all work out.  I have saved and saved for many months and I have also received generous donations to help make this possible. I only have $2000 to go!  Thank you to all of my friends and family who have given me wonderful words of encouragement and unconditional love and support.  This would not have been possible without you!

I will be staying at the Cross Cultural Solutions home base in town. There, I will have Swahili lessons, cultural lessons, training, feedback, and most meals with other volunteers  and staff members.  I will also get the opportunity to do what I love which is make art of any sort. Bagamoyo is rich with local artists, dance, and music.  Of course, this is the main reason I chose Bagamoyo.  I want to learn as much as possible while exploring new areas of my own creativity.