Reflections

It's been a busy 8 weeks since arriving home from East Africa. I became a PhD candidate the week after we got home - yay! It's been a whirlwind since as the holiday season was upon us.

The trip to East Africa was wonderful - I frequently recall fond moments. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to join friends on the Kilimanjaro (attempt) and that our fundraising efforts have been so successful. Just before Christmas we received the news that our donations will be matched 3:1 (through SOS Norway). For those of you who were not able to donate in the first round donations are still open 
http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=5091 

The Arusha SOS Children's Village (Orphanage) is operating at capacity right now and requires a major cash injection to expand. We visited another part of the Arusha Program - the Family Support Program where we can direct our donations toward a more immediate benefit. The children in the Family Support Program are facultative orphans (they have lost one or both parents or do not have a primary caregiver that is able to provide for their daily needs). They live at home, but need much assistance. The Family Support Program is a day program which includes schooling, lunch and breakfast.  Our team felt that the funds we had raised would be better utilized in the family support program which is more connected to the local community. With the match our donations (nearly $10,000) will be quadrupled to $40,000 and cover FSP costs for over 500 at risk children for at least a whole year!! 

The trip was definitely life changing for me.  Thanks to your  kindness, generosity and support the journey has been life changing for some children in Arusha, Tanzania - my deepest gratitude to all who supported our journey.

All the best for 2010!

Zanzibar

After arriving on Zanzibar we made a beeline for the northeast coast to the beach. We stayed at the charming Matemwe Beach Village and were treated to excellent weather...until yesterday afternoon when we watched a rainstorm arrive from the south east...wow! Our stay at the beach, despite the rain and monumentally sized mosquitoes was glorious. I wished I had more than 7 words of Swahili to engage with the women tending their seaweed aquaculture in the inner reef. [ed. note: Zanzibar has a number of women's cooperatives - seaweed aquaculture and clothing and textiles are a major way of generating money for women...who generally use the moola to send their kids to school --- because past primary school, parents must pay to send children to school.]

The beaches at Zanzibar are beautiful - a fine coral, nearly white sand against the glorious aquamarine of the Indian Ocean which was bathtub warm. We had a very cool complementary short sail on a ngalawa dhow. I spent much of the rest of the time reading, pasted to a chaise until about 1030 am when the fierceness of the sun became too much for my pale and admittedly sun averse exterior forcing me under the cover of the nearby mini-gazebos...same position, in the shade. Dad, as ever, managed a longer in the sun than I...but we both agreed sun or shade it was a fine way to spend a few days and did the time fly!

 

Next was Stonetown - the city. Here the Swahali culture is alive and thriving and well documented at the Zanzibar Museum. Trade on the Indian Ocean was conducted mostly by dhows (of various sizes and slightly different shapes) riding the tradewinds that blow in alternate directions with the two main seasons. So, once you reach your destination (India, Arabia, East Africa) you are stuck there until the wind switches and you can catch a ride home. Upshot - you get to know the locals and might even share some food, drink, words, religion, a bed and viola Swahili is the result - a people, a language, and a culture!

 

Stonetown is fantastic - the town buildings are built impossibly close together to protect from both sun (as noted, fierce-some) and rain (equally fierce). The winding lanes are a labyrinth that is ... um... well, you'd better not be in a hurry to get anywhere! But, along the way, there is much to see and enjoy. We were lucky to get a room at the Tembo [Elephant] Hotel a charming spot right on the ocean. I dragged Dad to the Forodhani Gardens every night so I could feast on Zanzibar Pizza, washed down by Tangowizi [ed. note: Swahili for ginger, it's a sharp ginger ale made by, you guessed it - CocaCola]  yum!

On Safari

So the day after we got off Kilimanjaro, we went to Arusha where I met up with Dad and split with the climbing crew with whom we met up later in Mombasa. Dad had already started his sampling of East African beers with Tusker the night before. So for lunch we were onto Kilimanjaro. For my part, which might make me a heretic, I prefer Kilimanjaro. Anyway after lunch we were off...going on safari! First stop: Ngorongoro Crater views. Next day driving in the Ngorongoro Crater, and driving all the way to the Serengeti. Day 3: driving the Serengeti down to the other side of Lake Minyara. Day 4 driving through the Lake Minyara Park (there's water!) and back to Arusha.

Going on safari is both amazing and bizarre. Driving (er, rather bouncing for an African massage) around in a stretch land cruiser trolling for the Big 5 is kinda weird. But, totally amazing. Lions sitting on a kopje basking in the sun, a leopard in a tree with a fresh kill. Elephants so close I could've reached out to touch them. Baboons, monkeys, cheetahs, giraffes, wildebeest (or gnus), ostrich, secretary birds...AMAZING.
Seeing Maasai people, in the regal red or blue capes, herding cattle, or using donkeys (our driver called them Maasai trucks) to collect water - equally amazing.
For those of you who spend time thinking about these things - I think the Serengeti is a fascinating place to break down the binary of human and nature...

Arusha & the SOS Village

So I was lucky enough to arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport and have my 3 friends waiting for me with accommodation for the night already arranged. The Kili Airport is at the end of a "T" in the road halfway between Moshi (staging town for Kili) and Arusha (staging town for safaris).

It takes about 90 minutes to get from the airport to Arusha and 90 minutes from Arusha to Moshi...including stops to take photos of Kili who every once in a while flashes her grandeur from behind a thick pile of cloud.

The next day we spent visiting the SOS Village - which was no small task to find - and running errands before decamping to Moshi. Never having been to an SOS Village I found the visit fantastic. There are 10 homes in a village; each with 10 children - 6 boys/4 girls or 6 girls/4 boys - and a house mother. Beyond my incredulity at parenting 10 children is doing laundry - by hand - for 10 children! (Granted African children don't have wardrobes the size of Canadian kids, but nonetheless this is a major task.) Touring the laundry room reminded me of Aunt Bonnie's stories about Grandma Lyla and how when they got a washing machine (in a 7 person household) grandma suddenly had some leisure time.

Next we went to a preschool class (3 year olds) to play. Farhad caused near pandemonium by showing the kids his digital camera and pictures of them and Paula delighted them when she let them play with her shoulder-length hair.

Finally, we visited a daycare in town that provides family assistance. The HIV/AIDS infection rate in Tanzania is significant. Even if children are not orphaned, they may be receiving reduced care and resources because their parents are unable to work outside the home. As Stephen Lewis has highlighted, many of the children are cared for by grandmothers who are often widowed and of limited means. The daycare is meant to fill the gap - to ensure the children are fed and engaged. A few of the 100 children at the daycare are themselves HIV/AIDS positive - and you can see how sick they are - but SOS has chosen to keep them in the community and care for them as well.

It was an amazing day...that I had the opportunity to reflect on earlier this week. At the hotel we stayed at in Arusha (post-safari) there was an FAO meeting on AIDS and Agriculture and I had the opportunity to chat to a couple of people. The point is that AIDS impacts most significantly the most productive age group...in farming this is a big deal...it results in a knowledge gap and languishing field productivity.  More info is meant to be available at FAO's website.

Jambo, Jambo Kilimanjaro

Okay. First things first, Kili is a beautiful mountain. Wow! The dormant botanist in me was awakened and it was glorious.
Second, 8 of the 9 of us climbing made the summit - way to go team - and I am the one who did not make it. Having had a nasty headache on day 3 at 4500 metres, I decided on Day 5 to descend to 3800 metres, taking the southern circuit to Millennium camp. Everyone else went to 4600 m at Barafu Camp to wait out the afternoon before beginning a midnight ascent. Here's some pix of the scenery along the way...and finally - a picture of the triumphant summiteers!

Welkom in Schiphol

So, this choice of itinerary reminds me that although I'm a student again, I'm not actually in my early 20s anymore. In my student mode, I agreed to stop at Minneapolis St Paul on my way to Schipol to save some dough. I've arrived at Schiphol, all is well, but my ability to sleep on the plane seems to have vanished. I had my suspicions and they have been confirmed. I need the direct flights and, perhaps, a giant glass or two of wine. On the plus side, I did see 3 movies and so caught up a bit of my pop culture deficit.

I took a quick tour of Amsterdam yesterday. It's been years since I've been here and it mostly looks the same, except perhaps for a considerable amount of construction. All around the Centraal Station and the Dam is covered in scaffolding.  And the bikes, bikes, bikes! It would be great to have a cruiser here. So well suited...But, if I rode my bike at that pace in Vancouver, I'd never get anywhere.

Packed...I think

Well, am I ever out of practice...or maybe it's just that packing for this itinerary really is that tricky. How cold will it be? How warm will it be? What do you wear on safari anyway? How many books will I read? I guess as long as it's not on a computer screen...I am so looking forward to being away from my computer for a bit. It's been a busy summer to get ready to go. And this week was no exception. Two days of research workshops; one day cranking out the final draft of my proposal; a fantastic mountain-themed send off dinner; and one solid morning of consulting work. Plus a visit to physio and a couple of trips to London Drugs and Shoppers.
In the end I didn't get my proposal defended, but I did get a solid draft out for comment. Plus, I have a meeting scheduled to discuss my proposal - with my entire committee. This is exciting!

Further good news, after numerous attempts and few results, and several flashbacks to "Insha'allah Bukran," I have, with a little (actually quite a lot of) help from my friend managed to book accommodation for Dad & me in Zanzibar. So, away I go, tomorrow morning.

About that extra fleece...

Poking & Proding

Just because I had so much fun that day, I'd like to share some of the joy in preparing for a trip to East Africa. (Plus, should you be feeling the least twinge of jealousy this ought to cure you.) It necessarily involves a trip to the travel clinic. In my case, the Coastal Health Travel Clinic at Broadway and Ash - these people know FUN! And not just because they can empty your wallet faster than you can say, "How much will all this be?"
I recommend being really, really excited about your trip before you go there because you could easily change your mind once the consult starts. For the warm up there's the malaria prophylaxis, the cipro, and then the diamox (see earlier post for how I feel about this and add on that once you've had an allergic reaction to sulfa antibiotics, but you can't remember the reaction so you have to book into see an allergist in less than 5 weeks...guess what, the allergist says you can take diamox because it isn't the same sulphur structure!). The main event is a party of needles. Shots for meningococcal meningitis, typhoid booster, tetanus booster, yellow fever... For extra entertainment I recommend going with someone over 60  for the story on how the risk of death from the vaccination is much increased for over 60 year olds...unless you've already had yellow fever vaccination in which case this is merely a booster so don't worry about it.  Dad couldn't remember, but we went with thoughts that it would be a booster owing to his early start as an intrepid traveller...Good news is that we're both through the 'caution' period and seem to be fine.

Why this trip?

Good question!
I like to hike, but I've never really considered climbing mountains and at 5892 m, Kilimanjaro is a mountain of somewhat scary proportions to the non climber. True, it's not a technical climb, but it is high. And, lots of people get acute mountain sickness (AMS) on the way up. This is partly to do with the route, but mostly, it seems to do with the aggressive climbing schedule that Tanzanian operators promote. This could lead to a lengthy exposition on diamox, which if I haven't already asked your opinion on consider yourself lucky. So, back to the titular question. I'm going to climb Kilimanjaro and tour a bit of East Africa because a dear old friend of mine was already planning to go with a group of friends and he invited me to join in the fun. My first reaction was "um...hmmm, Kili is not really on my bucket list (see Morgan Freeman & Jack Nicholson movie, I'd argue you're never too young to have a bucket list) and I'm not much of a mountaineer and frankly the risk of AMS freaks the crap out of me." But, on reflection, I thought, if it scares me a bit, that's probably a good reason to go and if the trip is largely planned already, why not? I, of course, well trained in arguing both sides, had a long list of reasons not to go, not least my aforementioned dream of candidacy (which the longer I type at this blog...), and the fact that it is not exactly a budget holiday. However, I've been lucky enough to have some good consulting projects this year, my interest piqued, I threw caution to the wind, and  said "maybe".

Then my grandpa died reminding us all of how, inevitably, times does pass. So, I asked my dad if he wanted to *finally* take that trip with me (for some years we've been bandying about the idea of a trip together) and join in the climb and trip to East Africa. Dad said "Sure!" Although he has declined the climb (for knee issues) we are meeting in Arusha where we're going on safari (hence the url of this blog) and then to Zanzibar and finally Mombasa.

Preparing for a Trip

Okay, so I'm at my desk, ostensibly editing my research proposal because I have dream (actually, I have several), but this particular dream is that I might achieve the long-sought candidacy in my PhD programme before I attempt to climb Kilimanjaro. At the same time, thoughts of what to pack and what still needs to be done before I leave in 17 days keep flying into my head - a bit like that circling mosquito that just won't leave you alone at 1 in the morning. No amount of swatting seems to chase the mosquito away and my list of to-dos doesn't seem to be doing the trick either. So, I've decided to start my blog for the trip.

An important part of this trip is the fundraising for 5 orphans in Arusha, Tanzania, through SOS. Thank you to everyone who has already donated - we really appreciate your support.

To learn more about SOS see http://www.soschildrensvillages.ca
For more on the children's home in Arusha see http://www.sos-ea.org/tanzania.htm.

To donate please go to: http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=5091