LEARNING AND DISCOVERY IN ARUSHA-PART 3

A Dala Dala Ride to Remember

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious 

and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. --Walt Disney

After a morning of serious learning and discovery, Lenny decided it was time for us to rub elbows with the locals. So for all of us who wanted to, he gave us each a shilling piece along with instructions to take a ride in a dala dala.

As described in Wikipedia, "Dala dala are minibus share taxis in Tanzania. Often overcrowded and operated at unsafe speeds, these minibuses developed as a response to an insufficient public transport system in the country." 

Oh my! Had I read this description before my trip to Tanzania, I might not have taken Lenny up on his offer. But since I only read this as part of my post-trip research for this blog, I was game for a new experience. Clearly there is something to be said for 'ignorance is bliss' when traveling.

Lenny explains how to ride a dala dala

Dala dalas get their name from the slang term for five Tanzanian shillings ("dala" for dollar), the bus fare in the 1970s and 1980s when these vehicles started operating.

Now a standard trip costs 400 shillings (25 cents), although the fare can be more if you're going a long distance.

Typically, dala dalas are bigger than a tuk tuk but smaller than a standard passenger bus. We saw them in sizes ranging from an extended 18-passenger van to mini bus size. Regardless, they are generally crammed with as many people as possible and then some with children seated on laps and people standing, albeit crouched. 

All dala dalas are brightly painted with designs that apparently indicate the route along with seemingly random English words taken from the movies, TV, or pop-culture. I am not sure if they have meaning other than being 'hip,' but Lenny said the owner/drivers loved to one-up each other with the latest colorful signage.

This dala dala even has room on the roof to carry a large sofa. Hopefully,
it's a purchase by a passenger, not extra seating for overflow passengers.

The game plan was this: because there were nine of us, we divided into three-person teams; Lenny would tell each dala dala driver where we were to get off; and then we would exit the dala dala and wait for our tour bus to come along and pick us up. While on the dala dala, Lenny asked us to start a conversation with the people around us. That sounded easy enough, except I speak no Swahili, and I imagined most of the locals riding in a dala dala spoke little or no English. 

The first dala dala stopped in front of us with only one person exiting and three of us wanting to get on. But having experience getting on the Paris Metro when full, I wasn't going to let a visibly packed dala dala scare me off. Clutching the coin in my hand, I squeezed myself on board, eyeing a potential empty seat in the back row. Doug followed me and sat on a jump seat in the row in front of me while a man, woman, and child entered and squeezed in between Doug and the left window. Our third traveler found a space toward the front as seen by the shock of blond hair visible at the shoulder of the standing woman. Then we were off. 

The little boy appeared to be mesmerized by Doug. And I was mesmerized by his big, brown eyes. . .

. . . and his cute orange A-B-C cap.

As per Lenny's instructions, I tried talking to the people around me. To my left was a mother and daughter, both dressed in black burkas. The young girl's face was showing; however, I could only see her mother's eyes. While her daughter giggled with her hand covering her mouth, I couldn't tell what the mother was thinking as I tried in vain to explain my presence. 

However, to my right sat a young man dressed in a dapper shirt, tie and jacket who did speak English. I found out that he was an Information Technology consultant on his way home from work. I spoke with him until I realized we had been on the dala dala for quite awhile and became concerned about when we were supposed to get off. A few stops later, our third traveler shouted back to us, "Now!" and we squeezed past the other riders and exited handing our shillings to the conductor.

Then we stood for what seemed like a very long time watching more dala dalas stopping to unload and take on new passengers, until eventually three more OAT travelers disembarked and then three more. Within minutes, our tour bus stopped and picked us all up. 

Chalk up another exciting and successful learning and discovery adventure!

I especially liked this man with his color-coordinated yellow shirt with the yellow lemons he was selling. I asked if I could take his picture, and he willingly flashed me the peace sign.

Each dala dala is owned by the driver. The routes are regulated and fees are pre-set. Typically, dala dalas pick up passengers at central locations; however, they will also stop anywhere along their route to drop someone off or allow a prospective passenger to board 

But the dala dala is not a one-man operation. In addition to the driver, there is a conductor called a mpigadebe.  The conductor gets out at every stop and tries to convince passers-by that they want to ride the bus. He hits the roof of the bus when it's time to move on. And he collects the fare as each rider disembarks.

LEARNING & DISCOVERY IN ARUSHA: PART 2

Safe Water Ceramics of East Africa

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust

As much as I have written about impromptu adventures so far on this trip, this is the one activity actually written about for this day in our "Day-By-Day Itinerary" found in the Final Document Booklet. Since I had no preconceived ideas what it would entail, I was open to much learning.

*  *  *  *  *

Unlike the Albino Peacemakers location that is not readily visible from the street, the site of Safe Water Ceramics is clearly marked. 

Our visit began with a demonstration how the ceramic water filter works.

Dirty water is poured into the ceramic filter which has been inserted into a plastic bucket
 which has been fitted with a spigot. While the process is not instantaneous,
basically it's this: unsafe, dirty water in and clean, drinkable water out.

The "magic" which makes this all possible are the ingredients and the construction. In addition to using a special kind of clay, colloidal silver is added as a bacterial filter, and pine sawdust burns out to leave a layer of charcoal that also acts as a filter. 

Notice the before and after glasses of water.

The history of SWCEA is much like that of the Albino Peacemakers sewing cooperative which began with a chance encounter with an American tourist. In 2005 on a trip to Tanzania,Tracy Hawkins observed a man selling clay flower pots along side the road and thought this would be a good idea to make handcrafted pots to sell to tourists. Her research into this venture eventually had her cross paths with Potters for Peace, a U.S.-based nonprofit that produces ceramic pot filters in Central America. After learning how to make clay filter pots from them in the Dominican Republic, she returned to Tanzania and presented her idea to her partner Mesiaki Yonas Kimirei (aka Kim), who agreed. 

And the rest is, as they say, history. 

*  *  *  *  *

After the initial orientation and demonstration, we were taken to the production room where we watched one of the workers make a clay pot. After his demonstration, our OAT group was asked if anyone wanted to make a pot. My hand shot up immediately. So the photos below are a side-by-side comparison of the master filter builder and of me. 

A special press was designed and built to produce each clay pot. The first step is to take a large ball of pre-weighed clay and form it over the plastic-wrapped cone shape.

The next step was to move the clay cone under the cone press and then lower the press onto the clay cone using an attached ratchet which is a re-purposed a tire jack. To remove the clay cone, the ratchet process is reversed. The result is a hollow cone.

Next the sides of the cone are smoothed with a bit of water and a straight-edged smoothing tool. Finally, the date is stamped on the bottom. It is important that each cone has a date because they only are good to use as a water filter for five years. And VOILA!

Seen below (top left) are a few of the tools used by the ceramic filter makers and other potters who also make traditional clay pots on big kick wheels. The beige clay cones seen in the foreground (top right) are drying and waiting to be fired; whereas, the red pots in the rear have already been fired. The cones are fired in a large kiln (bottom left). Corn cobs are used in the beginning to bring the temperature up quickly, and then wood with a blower is used to maintain the temperature. Near the end they use propane to reach a final temperature of 960 degrees. A correct balance of heat and timing is what produces the correct layer of charcoal as the sawdust is burned. The bottom right photo is of two temperature cones that are designed to melt once a certain temperature inside the kiln is reached. They can be viewed through a peephole in the kiln door.

After the demonstration we were able to purchase water filter kits that we would later distribute to local people who have no source of clean drinking water. Each filter kit costs $40 and lasts five years for a family of eight. One ceramic filter can clean 36 liters per day or one glass of water an hour.

This is the first water filter distribution we made along our drive the following day from Arusha to Tanganire Park. The distributions are totally at random as our drivers see a group of women or people who appear to have no access to safe, clean water.

In addition to the verbal instructions given to the women recipients (as women are in charge of getting water each day), the kit comes with laminated picture instructions that show how to use and clean the clay filter with the brush that is also provided in the kit.

In follow up studies, the cases of typhoid and cholera have dramatically decreased among people who regularly use these filters for their water. 

In one study, infant mortality actually dropped to 0%.

For more information about Safe Water Ceramics of East Africa, click on this link:

https://www.isye.gatech.edu/featured-stories/tracy-hawkins-and-safe-drinking-water-tanzania

As a final comment, the printed booklet I referenced at the beginning is a wonderful tool provided by OAT and was handy to have on the trip. However, it has become an invaluable resource after the trip as I write this blog and reconstruct our 21 days in Tanzania. That's because my memory doesn't begin to keep all the names and places straight nor in any kind of chronological order, much less know how to spell some of the local words.

LEARNING & DISCOVERY IN ARUSHA: PART 1

Albino Peacemakers

Our first full day in Arusha signaled the beginning of the base trip--Serengeti Safari. It was filled with many opportunities, only one of which, was actually mentioned in our itinerary. But experience had already told me not to worry. Lenny would make sure we had many chances for learning and discovery.

After winding through the back roads of Arusha occasionally sighting views of Mount Muru, we made our first stop. Behind this foreboding albeit interesting wall was the home of the Albino Peacemakers. 

For the past 50+ years Martha Mganga has lived with her albinism. As the first-born of three siblings with albinism out of seven brothers and sisters, she was psychologically abused by her father, bullied and discriminated against by her teachers and classmates, and attacked and accused of being a curse by her neighbors for causing everything from bad harvests to seasonal weather changes. Yet, she was lucky as many albino children are killed shortly after birth. Others are gruesomely murdered or dug up from their graves for their body parts which are used in witchcraft rituals.

Mganga admits being driven to suicide several times in her teens, but remarkably was spared and instead became Tanzania's foremost advocate for children and adults with albinism. For 40+ years she has been educating the community, counseling people with albinism and their families, and helping them access health care and education. In 2006 Sister Martha Mganga registered Albino Peacemakers. Since then donations from other non-profit groups and individuals have allowed her work to grow.

It is impossible to tell from the street what life-changing and educational work
goes on behind this wall.

Today Albino Peacemakers is a fully functioning non-profit organization and includes a women's sewing cooperative. The sewing group began after a chance encounter with Sandy Andersen, a woman traveler from Oregon. After three annual week-long visits to Arusha as well as long distance communication via e-mail and YouTube videos, she taught the initial group of albino women how to sew and design fabric items which they sell on location or in stores around Arusha. This work provides jobs for this otherwise under-served and discriminated group of Tanzanian citizens.

These are just some of the many functional fabric items made by the women in the Albino Peacemakers sewing cooperative.

Without the melanin in the skin, people with albinism suffer from
peeling skin, chapped lips, and poor eyesight. In addition,
nearly all albinos in Tanzania develop dangerous precancerous
lesions by age 20 and many die before age 40. 

By working here, the women can work outside but in the shade
wearing long sleeves to protect themselves from the
life-threatening effects of the sun.

As part of my own learning and discovery, I tried my hand at sewing on this old-fashioned treadle
sewing machine. I remember learning to sew as a 7th grader but not on a machine quite like this.

These beautiful vintage sewing machines were donated by Rotary Club which also focuses on cancer prevention 

and treatment through training health workers and providing medical equipment. 

This lovely woman greeted us upon our arrival and then related her story of giving birth to her first son who is an albino. Quickly she witnessed first-hand how he was shunned by members of her own family along with her neighbors, and she knew she had to do something. As a result, she began educating herself and then her family and community about the condition while advocating for her son. When her son was only three months old, she met Martha Mganga and the women of Albino Peacemakers, and now she works with them to continue their educational outreach.

This woman designed and sewed this stunning outfit that she is wearing.
It could easily be sold in the fashion market of NYC for hundreds of dollars.

Lenny helps a woman in our group with translating shillings to dollars
for the items she wants to purchase.

In the center is a list of all the items the sewing cooperative makes and sells
listed in order of popularity.

Tools of the trade

To communicate with Albino Peacemakers, follow their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Nonprofit-Organization/Albino-Peacemakers-1908841156023954/

Stay tuned for the next blogpost which includes more learning and discovery in Arusha at Safe Water Ceramics of East Africa.

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

"Food is the most primitive form of comfort." 

-Sheilah Graham 

One of the first questions I am asked upon our return from Africa is, "How was the food?"  Of course, everyone expects me to describe all sorts of unusual meals, incorporating local ingredients and native delicacies, to which my reply is simply, "It was good." Allow me to elaborate.

All the food served at all the lodges and camps was flavorful, filling, and plentiful. Period. It was not a foodie paradise or a gourmet's delight. Rather, to my tastes and culinary skills, it was solid comfort food with added local flavors cooked to feed hungry and often weary  travelers. And as a self-proclaimed non-foodie, it satisfied me as well as my partner just fine.  

In re-reading the OAT Travel Handbook, I think it describes the food quite accurately. The fact is, the lodges and the tented camps we stayed in attract visitors from all over the world. As a result, the chefs have been well-trained to cook in what I would call a Western or European style using locally sourced fresh vegetables, fresh fruits whenever possible, and fresh or frozen meats. All foods are washed and prepared using bottled water so they are safe for Western digestive systems. I even ate the leafy green salads offered at two of the hotel/lodges with no ill-effects, which can't always be said right here in the U.S.

*  *  *  *  *  
Breakfasts were most always served buffet-style with the usual choices of American and European fare including eggs (cooked-to-order), breads (fresh or toasted), fruit (fresh and canned), sausage or bacon, assorted cheeses and cold cuts, plus cold and hot cereal, yogurt, and fruit juices.

The morning sunrise warms the breakfast table at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge

The breakfast buffet is ready at our OAT tented camp in the Serengeti.

A variety of sweet potatoes, fresh fruit and toast are among the choices at
House of West Kili on the pre-trip excursion.

This breakfast buffet at Moivaro Arusha Lodge has enough selections to satisfy even the
 pickiest eater--from continental style fruit, cheese and breads in the foreground
to a variety of hot breakfast selections in the back, including made-to-order eggs.

*  *  *  *  *

Similarly dinners were also buffet-style and always started with hot soup (some variation of a vegetable-based soup) and bread. The main courses included a variety of meat and or vegetable stews, curries, or braised meat dishes with some sort of sauce. Starches included polenta, rice, potatoes (boiled, roasted or mashed), and pasta along with a plentiful array of cooked vegetable dishes and raw vegetable salads. 

Our first dinner of soup and bread was served upon our late-night arrival
in Tanzania at the House of West Kili Hotel on the pre-trip excursion. 

Karibu means 'welcome.'  In this case welcome to the soup station at the start of the dinner service
 and later to the custom stir-fry station to the left.

Despite all the soups being similarly green in color, they all tasted slightly
different depending upon the vegetables and other ingredients.

Dinners by candlelight was always the custom since we usually didn't eat before 7-7:30 after a full day of touring or late-in-the-afternoon game drives followed by showers and a social hour. Depending upon the individual lodge or tented camp, beer, wine and mixed drinks were either complimentary or available at a no-host bar. 

Candlelight and beaded Masai collars used as place mats set a welcoming table
at our first dinner at the House of west Kili.

Candlelight softens the overhead glare of the few electric lights in the
open-air dining lodge at Kambi Ya Tembo camp.

Our candlelit deck table at Lake Burunge Tented Camp beckons us to relax
and enjoy dinner and conversation after a busy day. 

Using only a solar powered generator, electricity was at a premium at our OAT camp
in the Serengeti where candlelight softens the glare of a single bare bulb.

With so many choices offered, it was very easy to fill one's plate.

Food was both attractive and plentiful, hence the full plates at dinner. 
And I must confess, I usually ate everything on my plate.

However, as the trip progressed I became more careful about filling my plate. For one reason, the food all began to taste the same to me. It's not a complaint but a reality I have experienced when traveling in a group where meals are served buffet style. Plus, some evenings I just wasn't so hungry. That's when a salad of green leafy lettuce, onions, tomatoes and avocados sounded good. And because we had been assured that all the vegetables had been washed with bottled water, I had no qualms about eating the fresh green salads. 

This lettuce salad along with the house-made honey mustard dressing satiated me
when I grew tired of the soups, stews and marinated vegetable salads.
Sometimes less is definitely more.

*  *  *  *  *

Lunches varied the most depending upon if it was a picnic lunch, which we hand-packed ourselves in the morning from a buffet of lunch foods and ate at a rest stop along the way, or if we ate in a restaurant at a hotel/lodge along our day's route. But the variety and amount was always more than adequate. Again, no one went hungry. 

In Arusha, we ate lunch at the Asili Resort where beer and wine was included.

In the photos below, the chef at the Asili Resort describes each of the foods he has prepared for our lunch. Along with the grilled meats, Chapatti (flat bread) and several potato varieties, there is an assortment of cooked vegetables and stews including Wali wa Nazi (rice in coconut milk), Ugali (cornmeal grits), cooked plantains, and spinach. 

A little of this, some of that makes for a filled plate.

This sit-down lunch at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge offers a variety of cooked
vegetable salads along with a chicken or beef entree.  

In addition, there were the impromptu, food-on-the-hood snacks, organized by Lenny,
our Trip Leader, when it had been a long day and he knew we needed a little sustenance.

Then there was brunch, especially on the early morning game drives during the pre-trip excursion. Typically we'd awaken at sunrise and have coffee and a cookie or bread before heading out to see the animals. Then about 10:30 we'd return to the tented camp for brunch. Brunch looked very similar to the dinners except that in addition, you could order eggs cooked any way you wanted. Did I already mention no one ever went hungry? 

*  *  *  *  *
Desserts were also plentiful and included cakes, tortes and custards, but as a sweet lover myself, I found the baked goods often disappointingly dry and lacking in sweetness as my American taste is accustomed. But that was the only disappointment in the otherwise excellent fare. 

Rice pudding before anyone touched it with a spoon.

And as far as I know, no one became ill as a result of eating the food. Yes, there were a few cases of traveler's you-know-what, but they seemed to be short-lived and relieved within 24 hours with Immodium or Pepto-Bismal. 

*  *  *  *  *

But what was most incredible and memorable were the kitchens in which our meals were prepared, specifically at the two tented camps which were miles from Arusha or any big city. How the chefs, who always wore white chef coats and tall white chef hats, created their magic meal after meal was phenomenal and worth mentioning.

This screened in room (below) is the kitchen at Kambi Ya Tembo Camp on the pre-trip excursion. It is located 500 feet downhill from the main lodge where we ate. This is where all the food was prepared and then transported in a cart up to the dining room to a small serving kitchen which set up the mealtime service. 

Everything in the kitchen was spic and span when we visited. The roof is corrugated metal with a deep thatched overhang.
 The sides are half metal and half screen. Notice the two, two-burner propane cook-tops
 which amazingly produced all of the cooked food we ate. 

This is one of several vegetable storage bins which store the fresh vegetables that are delivered from Arusha
by truck once a week. Having traveled from Arusha to the camp ourselves, it is not an easy 2-hour trip (one-way)
because there is much road construction as well as bumpy, dirt roads. Notice the egg crates on top. 

As evidenced by the empty bins, our OAT trip had all but depleted the vegetable stores.

One of the three camp chefs stands next to a wood or charcoal fired grill.
Look closely to see that it is re-purposed from an automobile wheel. 

This is the pot washing station.

This is the pot drying station.

The camp director and the camp chef.

This is the tented kitchen at the OAT movable tent camp in the Serengeti where we stayed for four nights. 

The heavy metal screen is designed to keep out the large animals that may roam the camp at night.

The camp chef utilizes basic cooking methods that don't require electricity or fancy gadgets. 

Unlike the kitchen at the previous tented camp, this kitchen has a five-burner,
one-oven propane stove.

Obviously, the oven is used to produce beautifully browned rolls such as these.

The produce bins while not as depleted as in the previous camp, they will be used up soon as this camp will be moved
in the weeks following our trip. All OAT tented camps are required to be moved seasonally to protect the fragile environment.

The wash station is located behind the kitchen under the shade of its own tent and a nearby tree.

NOTE: For more information about any of the tented camps and lodges mentioned, please follow the links embedded within the text.