Letter 23, July 19th, 2004 - Three Weeks Of Traveling! : see pics

Dear Fam,

So classes started up again today after a month and a half long break. I must say that I am really glad to be back and excited to get back to teaching, even if I don't have any period today. I had a great break - three weeks of traveling sandwiched in between roughly two weeks of office work in Dar. I'm going to be helping out with a week of training the new volunteers in November, so I spent sometime in June in Dar preparing for that. Training is going to be moved from Arusha to Morogoro this year, mostly for safety and security reasons and is totally being reworked with volunteers spending a heck of a lot more time in the internship schools, learning about the Tanzanian education system. It should be good and a lot of fun to see the new volunteers.

Zambia was awesome! Victoria Falls is so much bigger than I imagined and I could only see about a third of it from the Zambian side. We went twice, once in the evening to watch the sun set over the falls and the Zambezi Bridge. We also went on a walking Safari in a small park next to the Zambezi River above the falls, although we didn't see much, it was really nice to just walk around and not have any barriers between us and the few animals we did see (giraffe, monkeys, warthogs, birds). A couple of days before we left, we spent the day doing something called the Gorge Swing, which consists of jumping off a cliff, free falling 58 meters before being caught by the rope pendulum I was harnessed into, swinging back and forth and then being lowered to the ground. It was awesome!!! I still don't think that I ever want to bungi jump as the thought of only being tied into something by my ankles is not appealing, although this was pretty close. We also spent part of the day doing something called the High Wire, where you run off a cliff attached to a type of zip line and rappel down the gorge is tons of fun.

After Zambia, I hightailed it back to Dar and then onto Zanzibar on a safi(nice) Scandi bus. It amazes me these days how easy it really is becoming to travel between the major East African cities these days. There is a tarmac road now that goes from Kampala, Uganda to Nairobi, Kenya to Dar, Tanzania to Lusaka and then Livingstone, Zambia. So much has changed even in just the two years I've been here. Zanzibar was one of the most culturally interesting and physically relaxing places I've been since coming to Tanzania. Our purpose of being there (there were about 15 of us) was to help with Habitat for Humanity, build. I actually think that we got in the way more than anything else, but it was fun. They were putting stucco on the walls during one week. (For those, you know how much stucco I seem to have done working with Fin, you're probably smiling at the irony of this). It was interesting for me as they used a method different from what I've ever used of literally throwing the stucco on the wall and then smoothing it out. The cultural exchange was tons of fun that week as well as working side by side with the Tanzanians. The village is a Habitat for Humanity village where the whole village works together to build all the houses (They've finished 10 and want closer to 30), with different groups like our coming through to help out. The ZIFF - Zanzibar International Film Festival was going on in Stone Town the week we were there too, so in the evening after working we all went into town to watch movies and various documentaries, listen to music and eat food from vendors down by the water. Very Cool! We spent our last two days on the North Beaches, which were absolutely beautiful and relaxing. Overall, I really can't wait to go back to Z'bar! Z'bar is extremely muslim, (the volunteer we stayed with in the North of the island had to cover her head for a long time), yet Stone Town and the beaches are extremely touristy. Despite all the current Islamic-Christian conflict, I felt the people there handle the mesh of tourists pretty well. Once in awhile, there will be a bomb or a protest but rarely does someone get hurt. I personally found everything about the Island fascinating.

Colleen and I went to Arusha for a few days after Zanzibar to climb Mt. Meru (15,000ft). It was awesome to actually get up on that mountain after staring at it for weeks during training. We were trying to do the climb for as little money as possible and ended up being able to organize everything ourselves (except for transport, which we did through a safari company) and carry most of our own gear. It was a bit strange as all the other groups we met on the trail were fully catered and here we were, one guide, one porter, backpacks fully loaded. We also did the trek in just three days whereas most seem to do it in four these days. We also found out that guides/porters from the other groups were taking bets as to whether or not we'd make it, especially with the way we were " roughing it". That being said, it felt especially good when we kicked that mountain's butt! - Arriving 1st to all of the camps and the summit, an hour ahead of any of the other groups (granted, we were the youngest ones on the mountain and usually left earlier than the other groups - but it still felt great!). This climb felt both much harder and easier than Kili. Overall, it was much steeper, which wrecked havoc on my feet on the way down,( BIG BLISTERS)... but the summit climb was much easier. Although, since we went from camp to summit all the way down to the park gate in one day, I'd say the summit/final day was tougher than Kili. It was certainly a much more beautiful climb, and we got to do a bit of a walking safari on the way down. The views of the sunrise from behind Mt. Kilimanjaro were absolutely amazing!!!! Overall, I really think I enjoyed this climb more than Kili. Mt. Kilimanjaro was a greater challenge to my body physically, yet I got more overall satisfaction from Mt Meru........It was beautiful !!!!! (see pics).

After all of this excitement I spent another four days in Dar. This time I was working for the PC office on a book that integrates HIV/AIDS into lesson plans for Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. I'm really excited about it as it should end up being a really valuable tool for both volunteers and Tanzanians teachers alike. So after all of that I am back at Ndwika Girls, looking at the calendar and thinking how is it possible I only have four months of teaching left here? I truly mean to make the most of it. The girls seem to be just as excited about it and motivated as I am. I have so many ideas of things I want to do with my Peer Leader Group, as well at the primary schools - I don't know if I'll manage t get half of it done. I just got a grant approved from PC as well to install mosquito netting on all the dormitory windows, which will take up a bit of my time.

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED!!!!!!!

So, I guess that's it for now. I'll let you know when I get the final word from PC about PCVL. Lots of love to you all!!.

Jessica.

P. S. I'm planning on staying at my site even more this term as I'll be missing a whole week in November. The next time I'll be in Masasi for a whole weekend, and hence phone service is the weekend of August 27th - 29th 2004.