Tish Takes Tanzania

Starting to reflect...

2008-07-28T02:58:00.000-05:00

Sunday, July 27th

I can’t believe that I’ll be home in 10 days. This summer has absolutely flown by. Now don’t get me wrong… I can’t wait to see my family and friends and I’ve just about had it with eastern toilets. Every now and then I crave something like sushi or a quesadilla. There’s a long list of things I’m looking forward to doing when I get home. But regardless, it’s going to be very hard to leave this place.

Every day has been different and there have been more adventures and surprises than I can count, but somehow it has started to feel like home. The waiter at Changbay Restaurant knows that I like my barbequed bananas extra crispy; the guy who sells oranges from his wheelbarrow outside KASI knows that I don’t like the ones with lots of seeds; instead of calling me “mzungu” which means “white person” people who recognize me on the street call me “dada” which means “sister.” I know that five bananas should cost 200 shillings (10 cents) and that there are at least five different varieties of green bananas that the women here cook with.

I’m going to miss the women walking through town in beautiful, bright clothing. I’ll miss the huge baskets full of fruits and vegetables that they carry on their heads with such ease and grace. I might even miss the group of guys that blatantly check me out while I’m going for my morning walk. Okay, so I probably won’t miss those guys. But I will definitely miss the children who call out “good morning madam” even when it’s not really morning, and the little babies who always seem fascinated with my hair.

People here are just genuinely friendly. I’m sure I’ve written about it before, but I love that I can’t walk more than 10 or 20 yards without somebody striking up a conversation with me. And although the lack of space on the daladala can be a little intimidating at times, it’s an experience you never forget.

So if I pass you in the hallway at school, I just might give you a jambo. And if I get on a bus that is mostly empty, I might sit down right next to you and strike up a conversation. Imagine how different the hallways at MIT would be if people all said hello each other as they passed, instead of keeping their ears stuffed with iPod headphones and their eyes turned to the ground. What if the people on the subway chatted with each other instead of trying to keep as far apart as possible?

10 days is still 10 days. And I’m certainly going to make the most of them. I have lots of loose ends to tie up with each of the new small-business owners, and I want to leave a solid framework for the GlobalGiving project with KASI before I go. And on top of that Daniel and I have about three small projects going on at MobilityCare that all need to be finished. It might be a bit of a scramble, but at least I’ll be busy!

A day with Richard

2008-07-24T03:28:00.003-05:00

Wednesday, July 23rd

By the time I got back to Moshi last night I was so tired that I just crashed. For the past two weeks I’ve been waking up before work to go walking which is great, but this morning I was just way too tired. There wasn’t a lot of food in my apartment because I had been gone for the past few days, so I packed up all my stuff and went out for breakfast. It was kind of chilly so I decided to follow everybody else and have chicken soup. It was pretty much like chicken soup that you would get at home, except there are no noodles or anything, and instead of little pieces of chicken you get one big piece that is still on the bone. So it takes a little more work to actually eat, but it’s quite tasty.

Then I met up with Richard, one of the new small-business owners, and we headed over to Exim Bank to open his account. He was really excited and the people at the bank were very helpful with everything which was great. He made his first deposit of 10,000 T. Shillings and his ATM card will be ready in two weeks! Walking/rolling back from the bank he informed me (through my translator) that having a bank account is a really good idea because if he keeps all his money in his house it will be too easy to spend it without thinking about it. I couldn’t agree more!

Last week I spent a day with Peter, getting to know his business and daily life better. It was really eye-opening, so I took the rest of the afternoon to hang with Richard and get an insider perspective on his business. We drove to his house which is about 12 km down a crazy road. He said during the rainy season some parts of the road are impassable. Luckily we made it through safely, and his wife was happy to greet us when we arrived. In the three weeks since Richard received his small-business wheelchair and start-up loan, he built a huge chicken coop and stocked it with 40 chickens! His original business was shining and repairing shoes, and although he is still doing that, he thought the chickens would be easy to take care of and would help him to earn more money for his family. If you remember how rapidly Peter’s business expanded, this seems to be a general trend.

Me and Richard infront of his chicken coop

Richard’s property is really bustling because along with his 40 chickens, he also owns pigs (which he had before the start of this project). He has about 6 little pigs that are in one pen, and then he has about 10 giant pigs each in their own pens. And when I say giant I really mean it. These pigs are huge! There are about 5 feet long now (no joke) and he said he will sell them when they get to be 6 feet long. Based on current market prices he expects to fetch about 3,000 shillings per kilo, and the big pigs will be about 180 kilos when he sells them. Next time I meet with Richard we’re going to do some calculations to see how much money he should be making, but it seems like it will be a lot!

Of course I wasn’t allowed to leave his house without eating something. His wife cooked up a big pot of rice and chicken with a special sauce. I had to work hard to chew the chicken, and it was a little awkward eating it when I knew the chicken coop was right outside, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Inside his house Richard had a bunch of posters of people playing wheelchair tennis. Apparently some guy had visited a few years ago and taught a group of them how to play, but at the end of his visit he took the special sports wheelchairs that he had brought back with him. Maybe one of the projects in this wheelchair design class should be to design a simple, cheap sports wheelchair that can be manufactured locally. Hmm…

2008-07-24T03:27:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, July 22nd

I woke up this morning and it was raining. Raining. During the dry season! The weather has been so strange this summer. Last summer it seriously did not rain a drop the entire time I was there. But this summer it has been raining quite a bit, especially around dinner time and in the morning when I wake up (how convenient). The rain wouldn’t have been so bad, but it’s been so cold in Arusha. Last night I wore two sweatshirts to dinner and I was just comfortable. I know the cold doesn’t even begin to compare to Boston, but I guess I just expect it to be warm.

Despite the rain (and the cold) we got back to work on the backpack. Yesterday we bent the tubes and sewed the main section, which basically completes the “table” portion of the design. And today we came up with a cool design for the side pockets, and a special compartment to store a stiff piece of wood that will make the table more sturdy. We went to MobilityCare’s special tailor in town who was really quite amazing. She seemed skeptical when I explained that after sewing all these small pieces together the final product would be a backpack, but she was happy to give it a try. And I think it turned out pretty well! It’s not quite finished yet but we made pretty impressive progress in the short time that we had. We still have to attach the backpack straps and add some zippers or Velcro to close the pockets. And there are a few structural changes that I want to make, but it’s so close.

Yesterday I learned how to use the bender. Today I learned how to weld. For some reason everybody seemed to think that I already knew how to weld. So when I asked if I could weld something they just handed me the welding gun and said have fun! After a short lesson I was ready to go. It was so fun! I was absolutely terrified that I was going to light my hands on fire, but what a thrill! I definitely need a lot more practice, but I think I’ll get the hang of it eventually.

2008-07-24T03:27:00.001-05:00

Monday, July 21st

It felt good to be back at MobilityCare today. I met up with Daniel early in the morning to catch the daladala. I don’t know what criteria he uses to choose the best bus but at least four or five passed by before he was happy. The two passengers in the front seat got out and Daniel hopped in. I was about to hop in next to him but I guess I was too slow because somebody else slid in before me! So I went behind into the main section of the daladala and found the only remaining seat, which was really just a sliver of space in the last row. I didn’t really mind being squished in the back and the other passengers were very chatty which kept me entertained. The only problem was that I was so packed in there that I couldn’t see out any of the windows. I’ve taken the daladala to MobilityCare so many times that I know where the stop is, but not being able to see made it a little difficult.

I love that workshop. It’s absolutely beautiful and the people that work there are just so genuine and kind. We spent some time catching up (the typical lengthy Tanzanian greetings) and then got right to work. One of the teams from this year’s Wheelchair Design class created this table that can be turned into a backpack. They thought it would be useful for a small business, but it seems perfect for a student who needs to carry around books and pencils, but also needs a flat desk for writing. Seems like the students at UDSM would be the perfect candidates to test this out when it’s finished.

One of the team members sent some photographs of their prototype (thank you April!) and Daniel and I were busy trying to reverse engineer it all together. The prototype small business wheelchair I made last summer was still in the workshop so I hacked a few pieces off that were no longer necessary and we used it as our base for sizing the backpack-table.

Daniel taught me how to use the bender (which he made himself) to bend the tubes that will support the table. He made it look easy with his giant biceps but it was a little bit harder for me!

Back to Arusha

2008-07-24T03:26:00.001-05:00

Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th

I was excited to head back to Arusha this weekend. Between my trip to Dar/Zanzibar and the laundry list of things that I’m trying to finish up in Moshi, it had been a while since I had been there (which everybody happily reminded me). On Saturday I went out to dinner at the G&T Hotel with Jodie, Daniel, and Joseph. The boys exchanged stories in Swahili while Jodie and I chatted about almost everything else, in English of course. We’ve gone to this restaurant quite a few times now because the guys are obsessed with their pork, and their chicken is really good too. Usually it takes at least an hour for the food to be prepared—I know, good food takes time. But I guess the combination of the good conversation and the steaming pot of fresh tea made the time fly by. I’m definitely going to miss these Tanzanian meals. Back at MIT I rarely spend more than 15 minutes eating lunch, and then I’m probably racing off to class or a meeting or a study session. I forgot how nice it is to sit down and simply enjoy a meal with good company.

On Sunday I met up with Jodie again to do some souvenir shopping. We went to this crazy craft market which is just stall after stall of people selling wood carvings, paintings, earrings, and everything under the sun made from beads. It’s absolutely crazy and you have to be prepared for some serious bargaining. And although I’m not the best bargainer, I did make a few good purchases. I’d tell you what I bought but most of them are gifts and I don’t want to ruin any surprises.

In the afternoon I went over to Daniel’s house because I had a little gift for his son (little Joseph) who is about 2 and a half. People are always selling these crazy DVDs in town that have like 80 different movies on a single disc. I have a few of them so I’ll try to bring them home, but I heard sometimes customs confiscates them. In any case, I found this awesome DVD with The Lion King, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Ice Age, Robots, and a dozen other great cartoons. The Lion King even has some Swahili in it (the main character’s name “simba” simply means lion). Little Joseph was really excited, although I think he may have been more interested in the DVD case than what was actually inside.

Daniel and I started chatting about my project and the new MIT Mobility Lab and the future donation network that some of my classmates are currently working on. And before I knew it almost 3 hours had passed. Seriously. Daniel is extremely knowledgeable about everything I’m working on and it was great to get his perspective on everything.

A business of small businesses

2008-07-18T03:13:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, July 15th

I spent most of the day (and even part of the night) with Peter, a KASI member and one of the wheelchair users who is trialing the small-business wheelchair. Remember “Peter’s Mobile Workshop?” Well let me tell you, mobile is an understatement! This guy is all over the place. His original business was repairing umbrellas, radios, and other small electronics. And while he is still doing that, he has rapidly expanded his business to include several other small endeavors. He built a small chicken coop next to his house and now has 10 chickens, with plans to sell the eggs and the chickens themselves after they reproduce. He lives pretty far from town (about 15 km) but he frequently pushes himself to and from town for meetings and appointments, and now to pick up things for his business! Along with the chickens, he is also selling small vegetables and as of today, kerosene. He realized that instead of putting all his eggs in one basket, he could have several tiny businesses that would all add up to one small business. Okay that didn’t make much sense but I think you get what I mean. In any case, I could not be more impressed with how well he is doing. He’s really taking advantage of every opportunity he finds, and I’m expecting lots of good things from him in the upcoming months.

Even though it was already quite dark, Peter insisted on making me some tea before I left.

I really wish I knew more Swahili. I’m going to make it a point to learn more before I come back to Tanzania next. MIT doesn’t offer it, but we have cross-registration with Harvard, and I’m determined to fit it into my schedule. Not that my Swahili is terrible. I’ve got the greetings down pat, and I can actually understand a lot more than I can speak. But I want to be able to chat with the ladies at the market; I want to learn more about whoever I’m sitting next to on the daladala; I want to tell Peter what a rockstar he is without a translator. I’ve still got about 3 weeks here so I’m going to make the most of it and practice as much as I can.

Visa or Mastercard?

2008-07-18T03:12:00.000-05:00

Monday, July 14th

Four out of the five wheelchair users that are participating in my trial of the small-business wheelchair do not have their own bank accounts. They probably never needed them. But now that they are getting their businesses going and are starting to earn money back on the loans that I provided them, we came to a unanimous decision that they all needed to have their own bank accounts.

There are a number of banks in town, and although I have used the ATM services at many, I needed more information than that to figure out which one would be most suitable for our purposes. I talked to Abdullah and some other guys at KASI to find out their favorites, and then set out into town to visit each one. My first stop was Exim Bank which was almost too good to be true. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and the office was calm and not too crowded (something I wouldn’t find anywhere else). The minimum deposit is only 10,00 Tanzanian Shillings (about $8) and the monthly charges and ATM service charges are both very low. And as an added bonus, there are no steps to get into the office or outside ATM making it super wheelchair accessible. Even though I basically fell in love with Exim, I thought it was only fair to check out the other banks in town.

NBC (the National Bank of Commerce) was overwhelmingly crowded. To start an account you have to get a form signed by the equivalent of the local mayor and deposit 50,000 TSh (about $40). Despite all this, I give them major props for having a wheelchair ramp.

CRDB was my next stop and it was even more crowded than NBC. The staff were nice but you had to push your way through a crowd to get their attention. Bonus here was the TemboCard (tembo means elephant in Swahili) which is their ATM card with an adorable picture of an elephant on it!

Last, I checked out NMB (National Bank of Microfinance) which is actually across the street from where I’m staying, but I struck it off my list pretty quickly. You have to climb up 6 or 7 really steep stairs to get into both the office and the outside ATMs, and line for the ATM has at least 30 people in it at all times of day. Seriously. It seemed like a nice place but it’s simply not accessible, so it has to go.

We have to do some paperwork and get a whole bunch of passport size photos to open each of the new accounts, but hopefully by next week it should all be settled.

A few pictures

2008-07-11T08:39:00.003-05:00

Everybody at MobilityCare for the small-business wheelchair delivery

Swimming with giant turtles in Zanzibar! Totally awesome but also surprisingly scary.

At the National Museum in Dar es Salaam, posing in front of the actual door to Dr. Livingstone's Tanzanian house.

Catching up... again.

2008-07-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday, July 5th to Wednesday, July 9th

In the morning I took a little tour of downtown Dar, driving down the busy streets while my driver pointed out various important buildings that I’ll probably never recognize again. Then I went to the National Museum which was actually really cool. Tanzania has a pretty crazy history and it was a lot of fun to learn more about it. There was even a special exhibit of Julius Nyerere’s important cars!

In the afternoon I headed to the airport because I was off to Zanzibar! I don’t know why I have so much fun saying that name. I met up with Jake and Levi, two other MIT students working in Tanzania, and we had a great time exploring Stonetown, especially the crazy nighttime fish market. It’s basically a long street with barbeques on both sides, and big tables in front of each one with skewers of every kind of fish. You pick your skewers and they barbeque them right there for you! Then you move to the next stand and try something else.

On Sunday we headed out to Nungwi which is a beach village on the northernmost tip of the island. It’s about an hour drive on some bumpy roads, but definitely worth it. I spent the next few days catching up on some reading, playing Frisbee on the beach, eating tons of seafood, and doing a lot of floating in the Indian Ocean.

Now I’m back in Moshi and totally rested and recharged to finish out my project. I’m looking forward to catching up with the new small-business owners to see how things have moved along while I was gone.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-10T07:58:00.000-05:00

Friday, July 4th

Happy Independence Day! I headed off to the 32nd annual International Trade Fair this morning which was absolutely packed. It started drizzling a little but you would have never known because people were still scurrying about from booth to booth. It’s hard to explain what it was like, but basically it was a showcase of Tanzanian companies and goods, with a few halls showcasing goods from other countries. You could pretty much buy everything at this fair, from cell phones to flight jumpsuits to tractors. I had a nice chat with the representative from FINCA who promised me that they would be bringing their microfinance opportunities to Moshi and Arusha by October. I ended my Independence Day by having sushi at the Kempinski Hotel, my big splurge of the trip.

Count your blessings

2008-07-04T03:04:00.002-05:00

Thursday, July 3rd

When I arrived in Dar last night it was dark so today was my first real look at the city. There are soooo many people! The streets are absolutely filled with people and the roads are packed from end to end with cars. During rush hours they have terrible problems with traffic, which I witnessed firsthand while I was standing up in a daladala.

The reason I came to Dar was to meet with a professor from the University of Dar es Salaam who had contacted me about some of her disabled students.

Can you imagine being born without the use of your legs, and forced to crawl on the ground to get around? Imagine being a college student and having to crawl across campus to your classes. If you’re lucky you might graduate, but now you have to crawl around the city to job interviews and it’s doubtful that anybody will take you seriously.

Dr. Tungaraza, the professor who contacted me, introduced me to one of her students named Michael who is living the life I just asked you to imagine above. He managed to crawl his way across the campus and graduate with a BA in Sociology, but is now finding it incredibly difficult to get a job. I was amazed by his determination and resilience, and it really fired me up to do something about his situation.

Dr. T listed off over 17 physically disabled students, many of whom are crawling to classes. The campus is huge and hilly and many of the classrooms are on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors of the various buildings. Most of the disabled students are unable to attend all of their classes because them simply can’t reach them.

I don’t know what I will be able to do for the physically disabled students of the University of Dar es Salaam, but I will do something. If anybody has any ideas of things we can do to raise funds, or if you know of any organization that might be able to help out, please let me know. I’m going to fix up the prototype wheelchairs that I’ve made in Arusha over the past two summers and hopefully send them down to these students, but that’s only a small dent in a larger issue.

Dr. T gave me a big tour of the campus so I could get a real sense of what it was like for her students. We climbed to the top of a steep hill where the large lecture halls are located and gazed out onto Dar while a nice breeze cooled us down. “Sometimes we forget to count our blessings. We don’t realize just how lucky we are,” she said. Let me tell you, I certainly counted my blessings today.

Catching Up

2008-07-04T03:04:00.001-05:00

Sorry I haven’t written in a while. Things have just been so incredibly busy… which is a good thing. I don’t have time to write about everything that has happened and you probably wouldn’t have time to read that much anyway, but I’ll try to give you the highlights.

On Tuesday morning the last two small-business wheelchairs were finished and we organized a little party to deliver them. We gave it a 4th of July theme which was an excuse to make hot dogs and French fries, which everybody loved. Plus it’s watermelon season here. Agnes and I made the French fries from scratch. She made everything look so easy and I’m sure I slowed her down a bit, but I’m starting to catch on.

After lunch we called each of the new entrepreneurs up to present them with their new small-business wheelchairs. Mr. Beads will be expanding his beads shop and has already found a place in town where he is planning on “opening up shop.” I met him last year which I visited him in Monduli, a mountainous town about an hour outside of Arusha. Daniel hadn’t told me his name, only that he made things with beads, so I kept referring to him as Mr. Beads and it looks like the name stuck! This is the first time that Mr. Beads has ever had a wheelchair and it was absolutely awesome watching him hop in there and wheel around MobilityCare with a huge smile on his face.

Our last businessman is a young guy named Ebeneza who will be making shoes. He likes to work under a tree that overlooks a carwash, so he called his business Waterfront Shoemaker. I guess you could consider the carwash a waterfront view! I don’t know if he makes womens shoes, but if he does I’ll certainly be a customer.

Wednesday morning I started my long safari to Dar es Salaam. [“Safari” is actually a Swahili word that means “journey.”] It took about 9 hours on the bus which is considered fast. As we got close to Dar it occurred to me that my bus had been overtaking every other vehicle on the road, and not a single car had passed us. The bus stopped for about 15 minutes when we reached the halfway point, which was just enough time to check the tires and grab something to eat. I tried to sleep but it was too bouncy, and I was afraid I would miss something out the window. The scenery changed quite a bit, from Baobab trees to bush to palm trees. Every now and then we would pass a small town with people milling about and trying to sell us things through the window. Somebody suggested a hotel called The Sleep Inn, whose slogan is “for a great tomorrow, be our guest tonight.” I love it.

Pictures!

2008-06-28T05:21:00.004-05:00

Me with the new entrepreneurs

Handing over Richard's new small-business wheelchair
(Daktari wa Viatu is Swahili for "The Shoe Doctor")

Joseph and I displaying the completed small-business wheelchairs

Three small-business wheelchairs.... coming right up!

2008-06-28T05:20:00.001-05:00

Thursday, June 26th

I was really nervous today. Mostly because I was afraid the wheelchairs wouldn’t be finished, and their delivery was the reason for the party in the first place. Joseph drove me to the workshop early in the morning so we could help them put on the finishing touches. He didn’t know the word “nervous” but I couldn’t really figure out how to explain it!

I was in charge of putting the rubber stoppers in all the exposed pipe ends, which resulted in me getting my hands completely covered in rubber cement. Then I started moving some of the small pieces into the car and ended up with black paint on my arms from a piece that was still a bit wet. At that point I decided I would be more useful at KASI, helping set everything up and greeting people as they arrived.

The hardest thing about the party was figuring out what time to tell people it started. Seriously. At home if I said the party started at 11am, people would probably come around 11:10 or 11:15, just a little fashionably late. In Tanzania if I told people the party started at 11am, the first guest might trickle in around noon. This usually drives me crazy but today I really appreciated it because we needed all the extra time we could get to finish up the chairs.

The party that was slated to begin at 11am officially got underway around 1:30. Another reason it started so late was that Tanzanians take forever to greet each other. It’s really quite sweet actually. I think I talked about this in another entry so I won’t go into too much detail, but in the schedule of the event that Dr. Nyamubi and I made we allotted 30 minutes for “greetings.”

Dr. Nyamubi welcomed everybody to the event and then I spoke for a while, introducing the relationship that MIT has developed with KASI and the local wheelchair workshops, and then talking specifically about the small-business wheelchair project. Everything I said had to be translated which was actually nice for me because I could think about what I wanted to say next while my translator was speaking. Next our VIP guests spoke—the Moshi District Administrative Secretary was there, as well as Annarose, the Siha District Commissioner who is giving us a piece of land. Everybody spoke in Swahili so I don’t know exactly what they were talking about, but I heard it was good.

When everybody was done speaking I called Hilda, Peter, and Richard up individually to give them their new small-business wheelchairs. It soon turned into a photo frenzy with everybody wanting to jump in and shake hands and congratulate each other. Good thing I had a clean MIT t-shirt to wear today! When all of that was finished lunch was served which was really tasty, and people had plenty of time to mingle and talk about what had just happened.

There were two journalists in attendance—one was a radio presenter and the other works for ITV which is the main news channel here. I don’t know if we’ll get any coverage but they did take me aside after the event for a special interview. I probably sounded like a blubbering idiot in my Swahinglish but it was fun!

I was too buzzed with excitement to head home after the party so I headed over to the Kindoroko Hotel which has a really cool bar on its rooftop. There’s no elevator and let me tell you, after 5 steep flights of stairs I was some thirsty! It was a little cloudy so I couldn’t see Kilimanjaro, but I did have a good view of sprawling little Moshi. And the mango juice I ordered was so fresh that I could see the bartender crushing the mangoes behind the bar. A perfect way to end a perfect day.

2008-06-28T05:18:00.000-05:00

Monday, June 23rd to Wednesday, June 25th

What a whirlwind start to the week. I knew that the small-business wheelchairs would be finished soon so I was busy planning how I would deliver them. Should I visit each person at their house to deliver their new wheelchair? Should I invite them all to lunch and then give them the wheelchairs? Should I organize some sort of party for the delivery? It quickly became clear that a party was the way to go.

The guest list started at about 10 people but overnight it escalated to almost 30! We were planning to have it on Friday but a few of our VIP guests could only make it on Thursday so we bumped it up a day, which means we had a LOT of work to do to make sure the chairs are finished in time.

On Tuesday I met with Hilda and Peter—two of the people who are trialing the small-business wheelchair—to finalize the details of their businesses and to help them get any materials that they still needed. We managed to talk our way through breakfast and lunch (which were both very tasty). In the afternoon I went to the workshop to check on the chairs and found that they were ready to be painted but the spray paint gun was broken. So off to town we went. By the time we came back it was well after the workshop would have been closed, but the chairs had to be painted then otherwise they wouldn’t be dry in time for the delivery. Samson did an awesome job spraying the chairs while I bounced around and tried to entertain him. He taught me how to use the spray gun which was actually pretty fun, and in return I introduced him to Pringles on the way home (which he is now obsessed with).

Wednesday I caught up with Richard, the last of my three disabled entrepreneurs, to check-in and get an update on his plans. He was originally going to have a shoe shine and repair business and while he is still planning on doing that, it turns out that before his accident he used to own a small shop in town that was pretty successful. Since then he’s started a pretty big farm at his house, growing rice, beans, and maize. He wants to combine everything and reopen his shop to sell the things he grows on his farm, while running his shoe shine and repair business out front. I can’t wait to be a customer!

Back to the workshop to make sure the chairs would be ready in the morning and everything seemed to be going fine, until we noticed a small, technical manufacturing error about which I won’t go into much detail. But it resulted in us having to do a lot of cutting, re-welding, grinding, and more painting… all the night before they needed to be finished. So it was another long night at the workshop, but boy did I sleep well that night!

2008-06-23T02:37:00.003-05:00

Discussing the design for the drawers

Me with my freshly painted signs!

In front of Marangu Waterfall

A weekend in... Moshi!

2008-06-23T02:36:00.001-05:00

Saturday and Sunday, June 21st-22nd

This was the first weekend I spent completely in Moshi so I had lots of time to explore. There are several really cute coffee shops here. One almost reminds me of Starbucks, except in addition to cappuccinos and lattes they also serve hotdogs. They all have really good coffee which is grown right here in Moshi, and all of them seem to be very popular with tourists!

I bought some postcards and went to one of my favorite coffee shops—appropriately named, The Coffee Shop—and sat in their garden while I wrote them. But I realized that I don’t have anybody’s address so if you would like a postcard please send me your address! After some exploration I located the Moshi Post Office and I even bought stamps so I could practice my Swahili.

To balance my touristy afternoon, for dinner I went to a real local restaurant and ate a huge plate of food with my hands. Each meal begins and ends with washing your hands in steaming hot water. Sometimes you have to get up and wash your hands under the communal tub of hot water, but other times the waiter brings the hot water to you which is really nice. The only problem with this dining situation is that sometimes you’re halfway through your meal and your phone rings, but you can’t exactly pick it up because your hands are covered in food.

On Sunday I expanded my exploration and headed for the mountain. On clear days Kilimanjaro looks absolutely majestic and I would love to climb it, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. A lot of the tourists I see in Moshi are on their way to the mountain and I often think about joining them… maybe on my next trip. Anybody want to join me?

Joseph’s grandmother is from a village called Marangu which is just about as close to Kili as you can get without being inside the actual national park. Aside from being home to the tallest mountain in Africa, Marangu boasts a large natural waterfall which is where I was headed. We drove up to the entrance to the park where we were literally accosted by a dozen guys claiming to be mountain guides. I ended up choosing a young guy named Benedict who had climbed Kili 15 times. We negotiated a deal for the day and then set off for our first destination.

We hiked for about an hour, winding our way through the edge of a coffee farm, collecting small children who wanted to follow me along the way. Whenever I go hiking I always end up with a pack of little kids following me. They’re really cute but they always make me feel lame because they quickly scamper over the rough parts in plastic sandals while I’m in my super North Face hiking boots and still slipping all over the place. We finally ended up at a beautiful little waterfall. Joseph hopped his way into the middle of the river so he could get closer to the waterfall, but I was very content to look from the edge.

After lots of photos we hiked our way back out and up to gate where we had left the car. Then we drove about halfway down the mountain before we turned off onto one of my favorite Tanzanian dirt roads. We bumped and jumped our way down until Joseph decided his car couldn’t go any further. So we got out and started hiking!

We eventually made it to the entrance to Marangu Waterfalls and I could already hear the water roaring up ahead. Kilimanjaro is home to the Chagga tribe and the area around the waterfall was like a kind of museum of their culture. It was interesting to read about the history of their tribe and some of their folk stories, but I was too excited to see the waterfall. Somehow I climbed down the steep, muddy steps without falling, although Joseph had no problem letting me know that I was going really slowly and that he could fall asleep waiting for me to get down.

All the hiking was definitely worth it. The waterfall was just beautiful. The water, which comes from the mountain, was moving really fast and the sound of it hitting the rocks below was the only thing you could hear. This time I decided to take a chance and try to make my way into the middle of the river. My guide helped me to take lots of pictures so hopefully some of them came out well. When I find an internet café with a faster connection I’ll try to post some.

After we made our way back out again I was pretty exhausted, but Joseph wanted to say a “quick” hello to his aunt who lived down the road. Now I have to tell you, nothing about saying hello in Swahili is quick. Saying hello can actually be quite a lengthy process, shaking hands or hugging while you go back and forth exchanging greetings. If the person you are greeting is your elder you have to give them an honorable greeting by saying “shikamoo” to which they have to reply “marahaba.” Then you get into the jambos and the habaris; then you have to ask about everybody else in the person’s family that you know. So we went to greet Joseph’s aunt who was really sweet… and we ended up staying for almost two hours.

I took a much needed shower and I’m back home now, but I think I’m too tired to go out. Good thing I stocked up my kitchen a few days ago.

In my "studio"

2008-06-23T02:35:00.000-05:00

Friday, June 20th

I spent all morning painting the signs which I had stenciled in Arusha earlier in the week. It’s really nice to have my own place because I can do whatever I want—like turn the sitting room into a studio! The brush set I got had about 12 different sizes and the smallest ones came in really handy.

The biggest challenge in painting the signs was that I have the arts and crafts skills of a third grader, but at the same time I’m a huge perfectionist. Yes, I’m admitting it. The solution I came up with was to use the smallest size brush and to work really, really slowly. And I think I did a pretty good job! I painted the MIT wheelchair class logo in the corner of each one, and then the name of the shop in big letters, with the phone number of the “shop owner” at the bottom. I’m still hoping to paint some small graphics that represent each business but I’m going to practice on paper first.

I opened my window that looks out to Kilimanjaro and left my signs to dry, while I headed into town to KASI. I had been in Arusha for a while so it had been almost a week since I had seen those guys and I definitely missed them. They are hiring a few new employees so they were busy doing interviews, but I still popped in to say hi and to make plans for next week.

A stack of cucumbers or a pyramid of tomatoes?

2008-06-23T02:34:00.000-05:00

Thursday, June 19th

I drove back to Moshi this morning and headed straight for the wheelchair workshop at KCMC. They had finished making the wheelchair frames but were waiting for the brackets which we had made in Arusha. I had my hands full when I walked in—umbrellas, brackets, tables. There’s a guard who I have to sign-in with at the gate and I can tell she thinks I’m kind of crazy. I can’t wait to roll out of there with the completed small-business wheelchairs and show her what I’ve been working on all this time!

Samson and Albert came up with a neat design to hold the drawers under the seat. It’s slightly different from what we did in Arusha, so it will be good to get feedback on both designs. We welded on the bottom bracket that acts as a stand for the table (and by “we” I mean Samson welded while I shielded my eyes and then checked with the square to make sure it was straight). And then we welded a small piece of pipe onto the side that will hold the umbrella.

On my way home I stopped at the market because Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard was looking pretty bare. I love going to the market here. All the vegetables are super fresh and grown more locally than you could imagine. Rows of women sit with assorted stacks in front of them—piles of oranges, stacks of cucumbers, pyramids of tomatoes, rows of onions. Things are priced by group, which vary by size. So the small pyramid of tomatoes might be 200 shillings while the bigger pyramid is 400. You have to bargain a bit but I’m getting better.

Trying to upload pictures...

2008-06-20T08:12:00.001-05:00

So iPhoto isn't working on my computer which means it's a huge pain to get the pictures off my camera. And I can't resize them so they take foreverrrrrrrrrr to upload. But I think I may have finally gotten one posted. It should be from my cooking lesson with Abdullah's wife, Fatuma.

"A business without a sign is a sign of no business"

2008-06-20T08:10:00.000-05:00

Monday, June 16th to Wednesday, June 18th

What a busy week! I arrived in Arusha on Sunday afternoon so Monday morning I was ready to get to work. I picked up Jake (another MIT student) and we headed to MobilityCare. They had made great progress on the wheelchair frames, and were just waiting for the small-business “accessories” so they could weld a few final pieces. I brought the completed drawers and tables, and we got to work designing a track for the drawers to slide on.

In the afternoon we went into town to look for a signwriter to paint the tables that will also serve as signs. When I was telling my dad about the design for the small-business chair he reminded me of a sign we saw in Antigua (a favorite family vacation spot), that read “A business without a sign is a sign of no business.” Which is exactly why these business wheelchairs need signs!

The first signwriter we went to gave us a price that was much higher than I expected to pay. I thought it was probably because I was a “mzungu” (white person in Swahili) but even when Joseph went by himself to another signwriter the price was still high. Now I’m certainly not an artist—in fact I have probably have the arts and crafts skills of a 3rd grader—but I wasn’t expecting anything too fancy for these signs. So I decided to do it myself. We went on a crazy goose chase around Arusha and finally tracked down the right kind of paint and brushes, and large stencils for the letters. The best part was that the shop reused glass Konyagi bottles for dispensing paint! Konyagi is a local Tanzanian gin which they are very proud of. And now I have a collection of bottles in my apartment.

On Tuesday we painted the tables white which took forever because the sun kept hiding. The weather has been kind of crazy. It’s supposed to be the dry season but it’s been kind of drizzly and very cold. It’s not a Boston winter but I’ve still been wearing two fleeces to dinner.

On Wednesday we stenciled in the words for each of the businesses and prepared them to be painted. We had set up a table outside in the shade for the stenciling operation and it was really zen sitting there, methodically plodding across each table and penciling in the letters. I almost felt like doing some yoga.

… …

When Daniel visited MIT in March he had a burrito from Anna’s in our student center and he loved it! He kept telling everybody back at MobilityCare about burritos and asking me if we could make them. Jake is a much bigger burrito eater than I am so we decided to make Wednesday “burrito” day for lunch. We went all over town getting avocados, rice, beans—the only thing we couldn’t find were tortillas so we used chapati which is a round, flat bread they eat here that is similar but thicker and sweeter.

We set everything up outside and showed everybody how to fill their burritos. The only problem was that we all put way too much inside and then it was impossible to roll them shut! But they were really delicious and everybody seemed to enjoy the afternoon. I wonder what else I could cook for them… any suggestions?

Another weekend in TZ

2008-06-17T05:05:00.000-05:00

June 14-15

I spent Saturday in Moshi. In the morning I went to KCMC and we finished making the frames for the 3 wheelchairs there. I also sharpened my kitchen knife so now I’ll actually be able to slice my cucumbers and pineapples easily.

Tanzania was playing Cameroon in soccer so in the afternoon I went to a local bar with a few friends to watch the game. The crowd was crazy! If Cameroon had the ball the entire place was dead silent, but when Tanzania even touched the ball they all started whooping and cheering! Unfortunately the match ended in a 0-0 tie but Tanzania still has a shot of making it to the World Cup in 2010 if they win their next two games. Hope they can do it!

On Sunday I drove to Arusha and met up with Jake, another MIT student who is working on a similar project at MobilityCare. We went to Daniel’s house and hung out with his family, and then took Daniel, his brother Alfred, and his 2-year old son out to dinner.

The place we went for dinner had a playground which I thought would be good for little Joseph, but I ended up chasing him around the swings for at least an hour. How do little kids have so much energy?

A very successful day!

2008-06-17T05:04:00.001-05:00

Friday, June 13th

As of today, there is a piece of land in the Siha District of Kilimanjaro with KASI’s name on it. Cue excitement! I would love to write about everything that happened today because it was pretty amazing, but we have to go out and celebrate. So briefly…

There are six districts in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania with the newest one, Siha, just added in 2006. Henry arranged for us to meet with the new District Commissioner to see if she might have some land for us to build the new KASI facility. On the drive there Henry let me in on a little secret (the District Commissioner is his younger sister!)

It was a beautiful drive up to her office and even more beautiful driving down the meandering grassy lane to her house, sunflower fields flanking both sides. First I had to sign her official visitor’s log which made me feel pretty important considering the President of Tanzania had signed just a few pages earlier. Apparently the color of the signature signifies how important you are—the President signs in red, members of Parliament in green, and everybody else in blue or black.

Like most Tanzanians, Annarose, the Siha District Commisioner, was such a warm, welcoming person. Henry and I told her about our plan for the new KASI facility and about the funds that we have already raised and she was really excited. There are very few schools for disabled children but one of the best ones in the country is located in her district. So Annarose was very enthusiastic about building her district as a hub for all of this activity.

She has to look at her maps and figure out exactly which piece of land she can give us, but she said by next month we will be able to come and look at it and start working. The only condition is that we have to plant some trees—she really likes gardens, much like somebody else I know! The district is right inbetween Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru so it should be pretty spectacular on a clear day.

I can’t believe this all happened so fast. I expected to spend the whole summer searching for a piece of land and we already have one. Next week we’ll continue planning how to spend the funds from GlobalGiving. I can’t wait!

Cooking Lessons

2008-06-14T05:05:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, June 11th

Since I’ve been here people have asked me a lot of questions that I just don’t know the answers to. Maybe I look smarter than I really am? In any case, here’s a sampling of what I have been asked:

How did Oprah make so much money?
How many floors are in the tallest building in the world?
Is it safe for people on the top floors of skyscrapers to open their windows?
Will Obama choose Hillary to be his vice-president?

After I finished working for the day I went to visit Abdullah’s wife, Fatuma. Abdullah is in South Africa until the end of this month but I couldn’t wait for him to come back to see his wife and new baby girl, Nadia. Nadia is about 7 months old now and she’s sooooo cute! I played with her for a while until Fatuma announced that it was cooking time. Last time I was at her house she taught me how to make ugali, which is a basically a stiff porridge made from maize powder and a staple for many Tanzanian meals. It’s not that hard to make and it fills you up like nothing else.

Today Fatuma wanted to make pilau, which is a really tasty spiced rice dish. It’s much more complicated than making ugali, but it tastes a lot better too! I tried to be as helpful as I could, cutting up tomatoes and onions and being the master stirrer.

Fatuma is such a good teacher. We joked around and said that I was the first student in her new cooking school. I probably didn’t get an A but I got to eat my final project so I was happy!

And for you, only mangoes!

2008-06-14T05:04:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, June 10th

I ate an entire mango for breakfast. It was soooooo good, but I’m sure I’ll pay for it later. If you open my refrigerator you’ll find it filled with mangoes, oranges, bananas, cucumbers, eggs, and of course bottled water. I love going grocery shopping here. On Monday the fundi came to fix my stove so now I can actually start cooking—not that I’m a really good cook or anything. So far I’ve made pasta, eggs, and toast. But hey, I’m learning!

I got to see a lot of Moshi as I ran around town yesterday. I started off at KASI and we just about finished the website. Although it’s not totally done yet, I’ll let you all have a sneak peak: http://KASI.tanzania.googlepages.com

There is still a lot of editing to be done but I think we did a pretty good job given the circumstances! The wheelchair technicians at KCMC have all the materials to make the three new small business wheelchairs and they’re working on them now. Can’t wait to see them when they’re done!

In order for GlobalGiving to transfer the money we raised to KASI there is a lot of paperwork to be done. I was a little worried about getting it all done before the deadline at the end of this month but Henry and I pretty much finished everything in a single sitting this afternoon! I’ve noticed that things that seem like they will take forever get done really quickly, and things that seem like they should be finished in no time end up taking forever. Ironic but interesting.

A Weekend in Arusha

2008-06-09T07:08:00.000-05:00

June 7-8

I started off the weekend by visiting the fundi to check on the wood drawers and tables for the wheelchairs. He had finished all of the drawers and they looked fantastic, but he was still working on the tables. So I decided to come back later in the afternoon.

Joseph took me out to breakfast which was a good way to pass the time until the fundi finished. It was a traditional Tanzanian restaurant, but they had a few things I recognized from home like a Spanish omelet, toast, and hard-boiled eggs. Joseph wanted me to have something traditional like “kuku soupu” but I wasn’t too sure. Now I understand why he’s so skinny! Kuku soupu, which is apparently one of his favorite breakfasts, is a plate of boiled chicken and boiled bananas, with a little cup of broth that you dip everything in. Talk about low-carb. My toast was really good but I’m definitely going for the chicken soup next time.

Later we went to the Mountain Village Serena Hotel where Joseph’s dad works. I needed a quiet, relaxing place to do some brainstorming and writing, and the Mountain Village is definitely the place to go for that. Sitting in their garden you have a stunning view of Lake Duluti. Plus you get to sit in really cool giraffe chairs that Joseph made himself. His father was recently named the chief of their tribe so I felt pretty important to be spending time with the chief!

Back to town to see the fundi who had finished everything. The tables were perfectly finished and the drawers look really neat and professional. I’m so excited! He was a really sweet guy, and he gave me a really good price. So if you want any kind of woodwork done in Arusha, I know the place to go.

Sunday was pretty relaxing. I saw a bunch of old friends in town, and then headed back to Moshi in the afternoon. Back to work tomorrow!

The Maasai Drives a Landcruiser

2008-06-09T07:03:00.002-05:00

Friday, June 6th

Back to MobilityCare this morning to keep working. With the woodwork outsourced to the fundi in town, we still had to make the steel brackets, cut the pipe, and weld various bits together.

The morning got off to a good start with peanut butter and banana sandwiches. In case you haven’t noticed, I eat these a lot when I’m here. The bananas are just so good! I’m going to start counting how many bananas I eat each day, but if I had to guess I would say I’m eating at least 5 or 6 each day. Mmmmmmmm.

Joseph cut the large piece of pipe into the smaller couplings and then I drilled most of the holes for the screws. If nothing else, 2.007 taught me how to drill holes. Thanks! Joseph was working really fast and within no time he was welding everything together. Everybody has promised that they’ll teach me how to weld this summer, but I was in no rush to learn today.

So I took the prototype small-business wheelchair outside and wheeled it around for a while. Yesterday we finalized the design of the drawers and desk, but somehow I had forgotten about the umbrella. Originally it was supposed to slide right into one of the hollow pipes behind the user’s shoulder. But in riding around I found that my arm kept hitting it when I reached backward. Not good, but nothing we couldn’t solve. I took the chair back inside and shared what I found with Daniel and Joseph, who both quickly agreed that we needed to change something. We found a new spot on the outside of the sideguard where there is space to mount a holder for the umbrella. And by moving the umbrella to that spot it covers the user so much better. So it seems like a win-win.

After we finished everything up we headed into town, which was really bustling with people. The streets were literally packed from end to end. Luckily Joseph knew exactly where he wanted to go. His church is doing some major renovations and they need five new toilets, which his mom had volunteered him to buy. The first toilet store didn’t have what he was looking for so we went to a second. And then a third. Who knew there were so many toilet stores in Arusha? He finally found what he was looking for, and now I know exactly where to go if I ever want to buy a toilet in Arusha. You never know when that may come in handy!

One of my favorite things about Tanzania is that people don’t really plan things too far in advance, and some of the best times happen completely unexpectedly. Tonight was a perfect example. We went to a place called Triple A which is a radio station, restaurant, bar, night club, barber, and car wash all rolled into one compound. I definitely recommend passing by if you are ever in town. We had gone to get tea (called “chai” in Swahili) because it was getting dark and chilly, at Triple A’s restaurant, and found out that they were hosting the Miss Arusha 2008 pageant in the main hall later that night. There was no way I was about to pass up that opportunity!

Tickets were 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings (about $8) and it was well worth it. Ironically the tickets stated that the show started at 8pm, everybody said it started at 9pm, and it didn’t end up starting until well after 10:30. I didn’t mind that it was starting so late because I knew I could sleep-in the next morning, but it seemed crazy that it would start 2 and half hours late! And everybody seemed to know that it would start so late, as half the crowd didn’t show up until 10pm. When I asked why everybody was so late all I got was, “This is Tanzania. We’re not in a hurry. We’re on African time.” Good to know!

There were 12 contestants who competed in formalwear, swimwear, a design of their choice, and answered interview questions. Although most of it was in Swahili, my favorite DJ was one of the presenters and he happily translated the important parts into English. From the first round I picked number 8 as my favorite and I guess I have good taste because she won! Aside from winning a car, refrigerator, and television, she will go on to compete in the Miss Tanzania pageant later in the year. I hope she wins!

*The title of this post was inspired by a Maasai named KinyeKinye who I met today. While I was having some tea at the Triple A restaurant I was surrounded by a group of about 8 Maasai. The Maasai are one of the most well known tribes in East Africa because of the bright red cloth they wear. Apparently the Maasai I met today were Tanzanite brokers who must be doing quite well because they had a really nice car! And although their bright red "shukas" looked cozy and warm, I caught most of them wearing pants and jackets underneath. Oh those Maasai...

Off to Arusha

2008-06-06T02:58:00.000-05:00

Thursday, June 5th

I got up early this morning and set off for Arusha. Last summer I spent almost all of my time in Arusha so I was really excited to be going back. When I pulled up at MobilityCare everybody was sitting outside enjoying their morning tea break. It reminded me of so many times I had spent with them, sitting outside on our breaks talking about everything under the sun.

Hugs all around a lot of jambos later, we went inside to get to work. Last year it took a few days of getting to know each other better before any real work began—interesting difference between the working styles of each culture. So I was surprised when we pretty much got right to work today. If this is a sign of things to come, this is going to be a really productive summer!

Daniel wheeled out the prototype small-business wheelchair that we had finished up in January and we all crowded around. We pulled out the drawers and played with the table, checking to see if we wanted to make any changes. We all decided that the table was performing well, but the drawers needed to be tweaked a little. Lucas, who as the affectionate nickname Mr. Excellent, had a really good idea to take the drawers and desk to town to a woodworker who would be able to make them more faster and better than we would be able to at MobilityCare. We took everything apart and loaded it into the car, not wanting to waste any time.

We went to three different stores looking for a special plastic that we wanted to make the desk out of so that it would be waterproof, but nobody had what we were looking for. So we decided to stick with wood for now and we can change to plastic later if we need to, after all this is an experiment. We went to another store to get 35mm diameter pipe to make the stand, and then to the fundi (in Swahili you can use the word fundi to describe anybody who makes something with their hands, so in this case we called the woodworker a fundi) to drop off the drawers and desk. There was a lot of back and forth in Swahili and I did my best to keep up, but it was kind of like watching a tennis match with the ball going back and forth really quickly! The fundi is going to call us tomorrow with an update, but he guessed that he would be done by Saturday and he gave us a great price. So I was happy!

With everything finished for the day it was time for a break. Last time I was in Arusha they had been busy building this enormously tall building that was covered in shiny blue glass. Word on the street was that this new hotel, called Naura Springs, was being funded by the President of Uganda, and when it was finished it would be one of the best hotels in town. So of course I wanted to check it out.

Plus, there is a huge conference going on in town this week called the Sullivan Summit, which has brought over 3,000 American business people—mostly those with African roots— together to try to solve some pressing problems. A bunch of famous people like Jesse Jackson and Chris Tucker were rumored to be there and I was hoping to catch a glimpse!

The Naura Springs Hotel is quite spectacular and it was so nice to sit outside on their patio, having a cold drink and doing some people watching. I swear I saw a famous basketball player. I couldn’t tell you his name but he was enormous. It was a really nice place to relax in the evening and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.

It's amazing what you can do in a single day

2008-06-06T02:57:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, June 4th

I don’t think I could be any more exhausted today, but boy do I feel accomplished! Yesterday Faustina gave me the names and phone numbers of the three wheelchair users who want to participate in my trial of the small-business wheelchair: Peter, Richard, and Hilda. I met up with Samson, who I luckily had tracked down the night before, to see when he would be available to visit these people. We need to start building each of their wheelchairs but we need to take individual measurements so each one fits correctly, which is why I needed Samson to come along.

I expected him to say that he would be free sometime next week but when I showed up at the hospital he was all ready to go, tape measure and notebook in hand! Joseph called Peter, Richard, and Hilda and all of them said they were around, so off we went. Moshi itself is a really small town, but these three people probably live in three completely opposite corners, each one off a crazy dirt road with potholes the size of bathtubs!

We went to see Peter first and at several points I thought I might be pitched from the car because it was so bumpy. I met Peter last year when I was working on the folding three-wheeler and it was so great to see him again! We caught up with Peter pushing himself up an especially steep part of the road to his house. It’s amazing to think that Peter pushes himself up and down that same road with the crazy potholes several times a week. I touched him on the arm when I said hi (well really when I said jambo) and he’s certainly got the muscles to prove it!

Peter gets by day to day by repairing radios and umbrellas. He’s really good at making simple repairs, but he just doesn’t get enough business right now. When I asked him why he said it was because he can’t go very far from home with his tools because he has nowhere to put them, and also because people don’t take him seriously because he doesn’t look like a real business. This made me even more excited to be working with Peter because I really believe that with a small-business wheelchair and some capital to purchase the necessary tools, he will really be able to boost his business. He already has the skills and the determination, he just needs a little help getting a jumpstart.

With the measurements to start making Peter’s new wheelchair and lots of details about his business, we set back down the crazy dirt road and went off in search of Richard. I had also met Richard last year and while I remember how much fun he was to work with, I definitely did not remember the ridiculous road to his house! I swear at one point we crossed a river (okay so it was really just a huge pothole that was filled with water, but still). I ran through the same questions with Richard as I had with Peter. Richard also has been trying to start a small business but has been frustrated that he does not have all the tools he needs and does not get recognized as a real business. He is really good at making and repairing shoes, and just needs a little help to get his business going. He has a partner that he plans to work with and he thinks this will help him cover more ground and attract more business.

While I was chatting with Richard a crowd of people in the village had gathered around to see what was going on. Joseph was translating everything because Richard doesn’t really speak English, and I think my new audience really enjoyed that! I wish I could have stayed and talked to Richard longer but there were still miles to go before I could sleep. He was sooooo excited about the project. In fact, I later found out that he had called KASI that morning to find out when I was coming to see him!

Next we went to find Hilda, and after fording the pothole river and cutting across town to another crazy dirt road, there she was. KASI was anxious to include at least one woman in this project and of course I had no objections to that! Hilda recently learned how to make batik fabric at a training session that KASI ran. She also does amazing embroidery and has her own sewing machine already. The problem is that she doesn’t have the capital to really start her business (familiar theme, huh?) Hilda will also be working with a partner, who can help her by going to town and collecting the different materials like cloth and dye. Then Hilda can take some samples and go around to people’s houses to see if they want to buy something. I talked to Faustina about this when I saw her later today, and she was really supportive. Apparently Hilda has a lot of friends who will definitely buy from her! She’ll need a lot more capital than Richard or Peter to get started, but the return should be much greater.

With measurements for the three wheelchairs and tons of notes about each business scribbled in my notebook we finally headed back to town. I stopped by KASI to apologize for being gone all day, and they couldn’t believe how much I had done! I had planned to cook dinner in my apartment tonight but my stove seems to have a short circuit. So I went out and got some milk at the shop across the street and enjoyed my off-brand corn flakes.

Let's make a website

2008-06-06T02:56:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, June 3rd

Rise and shine! I got up early and made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast. The peanut butter here is as real as it gets; I seriously think it’s just ground up peanuts and nothing else. And the bananas are delicious! Everything I ate was probably grown right in Moshi—talk about supporting your local farmers.

I met Faustina, KASI’s secretary, this morning and we began working on a website for them. They had been meaning to make a website for a long time now, but things had been really busy and they needed some motivation to get started. Last year Shirley Fung, another one of the MIT Public Service Center Fellows, developed a guide called “How to Make a Website at an Internet Café.” It’s a really neat document and has helped several people around Moshi to make their own websites. As per the guide’s suggestion, we decided to use GooglePages. It’s very simple to pick up and if you play around with the layouts and fonts, you can come up with something pretty professional looking!

We talked a lot about who the audience of the website would be and what information they would be looking to find. Faustina told me about some of KASI’s recent events and I had an idea to have a section called “News” on the homepage. The plan is for Faustina to update the site once a month with new stories about what’s going on. (Hopefully this will keep people coming back to the site!) We had another idea to do a “member of the month.” I spent a lot of time showing her how to use the program and of course we spent a lot of time chatting, so the site isn’t quite done yet. But I promise to post the link as soon as we finish. Stay tuned!

While we were working on the website I heard some drumming come from outside. I was so intrigued that I popped my head outside and found a whole ensemble of traditional dancers and drummers practicing for a performance. I thought I would just watch for a bit but after a few minutes they spotted me and I was dragged out onto the dance floor! Luckily there are no photos of me, but I’ll never forget my attempt at traditional Tanzanian dancing in the middle of a regular Tuesday afternoon.

I left KASI around five and set off to find Albert and Samson, two wheelchair technicians who work at KCMC (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre). They work with Abdullah who I probably talked a lot about last year. Unfortunately Abdullah is in South Africa right now for a training program on special wheelchair seating, but he should be back at the beginning of July.

For a small town finding these guys in Moshi was such an adventure! Both of them had new cell phone numbers so tracking those down was the start of the battle. I called Albert first and the person who picked up was only speaking Swahili, so Joseph talked to him and was told that the wheelchair workshop had closed. That was our first tip that we had the wrong number! One of Joseph’s friends said he had Samson’s new number so he gave it to us but it ended up being a different Samson, who of course had no idea what we were talking about. We finally found them at a bar outside the hospital and it was so great to see them! I didn’t stay long because it was already dark but we made plans to meet tomorrow morning.

First day at work

2008-06-06T02:54:00.002-05:00

Monday, June 2nd

It was really quiet when I arrived last night, but Moshi came alive this morning! Everyone was hustling and bustling about, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Ahh jetlag. Nothing a little Tanzanian coffee can’t remedy.

Joseph and I went to a cute little restaurant called Central Garden to get breakfast and to discuss the plan for the summer. As some of you know, my project has grown exponentially over the past few weeks due to the awesome success of the project on GlobalGiving. I knew I would need help driving around to meet all my different community partners, and although I’m trying my best to learn Swahili, I definitely need help translating. Joseph and I met last summer when I was working in Arusha and we hit it off pretty quickly. He’ll be starting at the Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies in September, so he’s free for the summer and seemed like the perfect person to help me with my project.

With a good plan and some much needed caffeine, we set off for KASI, the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured. I was introduced to KASI last summer and I was blown away by the awesome work they were doing. I don’t have enough time to do them justice by fully explaining what they do, but I promise I will soon. Just trust me now that they are a spectacular group of people doing really great work.

Recently I had the awesome opportunity to fundraise for the project of my choice on a website called GlobalGiving. I decided to raise funds for KASI and if you haven’t seen my project page already then you should definitely go check it out now:

http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2060a.html

The project has been extremely successful and we managed to raise over $9,000 in just a few weeks. The project was part of a competition and because it raised the most money, GlobalGiving is awarding us an additional $3,500 in pursuit of our project. We have big plans ahead of us and I was so excited to get going!

Dr. Henry Nyamubi is the Executive Director of KASI and we had been e-mailing a lot over the past few weeks with much excitement. He has some really great ideas and I can't wait to see how everything works out. There is a lot more that I could write about today but Moshi is calling me and I want to get out and do some exploring. I promise I'll write more soon.

Back in Tanzania

2008-06-06T02:51:00.000-05:00

Sunday, June 1st

I’m back! In Tanzania, that is. When I got to Amsterdam I managed to switch my seat to a window seat in the 8th row, so when my plane landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport I was one of the first people off. There had been a mix-up with the visa I got last January, but I explained what happened to the immigration agent and he waved me through without any problems. One of my bags came through quickly, and of course then my luck had to turn. I waited for at least 45 minutes scanning the tiny conveyer belt for my bright yellow duffel bag, which was nowhere to be found. I finally gave up and went to the “lost baggage” stand. I gave the woman my name upon which she promptly told me that my bag had been left in Amsterdam. At least they knew where it was! Being back in Tanzania, I was in too good a mood to let that bother me. So I crossed my fingers, gave her my number, and hoped my bag would show up on the next flight.

And off to Moshi I went. It was already dark when I arrived, but the area I’m staying in seems really nice, and if I’m not mistaken it’s within easy walking distance of the main bus stand. I hope I can sleep tonight because I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.

2007-09-18T15:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everybody who was following me this summer. I know I promised to post more but this thing called MIT pretty much took over my life! I'm back at school now and more busy than ever, but in the little spare time I have, I've been putting together a website to showcase everything I was doing this summer. It's definitely not finished yet... I'm still adding photos and videos, but you're welcome to take a sneak-peak. Here's the link:

http://web.mit.edu/tish/www/Wheelchairs/Home.html

Thanks again for all your comments and words of encouragement!

Badaaye!

2007-07-29T04:04:00.001-05:00

Hi everybody! Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. This was my last week working here in Tanzania so it was pretty crazy trying to tie up all the loose ends. But what an amazing week it was! I promise I'll post the highlights when I get back. But for now I'm packing up my things, cleaning my apartment, saying some last goodbyes, and heading to the airport to pick up my family. Hopefully they recognize me, big hair and all!

This has been the most amazing summer. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

Just a few pictures...

2007-07-24T06:28:00.000-05:00

cooking traditional Tanzanian food with Abdullah's wife, Fatima. do you like my green kanga?

I gave tootsie rolls to some small children who were watching me talk to Peter. I tried to show this boy how to open the wrapper but when I went to put the candy in his hand he pointed to his mouth. I hope he enjoyed it!

having lunch with Daniel's family on Sunday afternoon. That's his son on his wife's back, and next to her is his sister.

some of the huge boulders in Mwanza. see the tiny person standing on the right?

here I am with Samson from KCMC showing our test user, Peter, how to use our folding prototype.

here I am with Joseph by Lake Victoria (this is where we got to eat breakfast in the morning!)

Let me catch you up....

2007-07-24T06:24:00.000-05:00

July 20-22, 2007- Naenda Mwanza!

This weekend Joseph and I went to Mwanza, a place which Tanzanians call “Rock City.” It was his first time on an airplane so it was quite an adventure. He told me that he wasn’t scared at all but his palms sure got sweaty when we began to take-off! I can’t remember what it was like when I first flew on an airplane because I think I was only about 7 or 8 months old. However, I do remember being terrified of the bathrooms on the airplane. For some reason I was convinced that if I flushed the toilet I would get sucked down out of the plane, so I made my mom go in after me to flush. Don’t tell anybody!

Mwanza was unlike any place I had ever been. They call it Rock City for good reason; it looks like chunks of Stonehenge have just been dropped all over the place! There are huge boulders all over the place, with even more boulders balancing on top of them. On Saturday we went for a walk to a place called Rock Beach which was a stretch along the shore of the lake where they have some of the biggest boulders. I asked somebody if people had arranged the boulders like that themselves to which she replied, “why would they do that?” It was certainly a sight to see!

Lake Victoria is really gorgeous, and we were lucky that our hotel was right on the water. Nobody seemed to be swimming in the lake, but it was nice just to enjoy the view. All the other guests at the hotel ate their breakfast inside the air-conditioned restaurant, but we took our food each morning right up to the water, so close that I swear my toes were getting wet!

Joseph has a cousin who lives in Mwanza so we met with her to get the scoop on what to do. She took us to this shopping area that reminded me so much of Canal Street in New York City, except without all the Asian people and fake handbags. But each stall had clothes hanging in the front, and then you got to claw your way to the back to find even more goods. It was a lot of fun and I came away with some cute purchases.

When Joseph was much younger he had spent some time helping out at a rehabilitation center for blind people. I don’t know the whole story, but basically the sponsor wasn’t a good guy and the organization ended up corrupted, with money promised for the center never making it into the right hands. We had some really amazing conversations about the problems of Tanzania and what is being done to alleviate them, which ended with us deciding that we need start our own organization! I still have three more years at MIT, and even more if I go for a graduate degree, but I really think that we are on to something good here and I can’t wait to see where it takes us.

July 16-19, 2007- A Week in Review

I don’t even know where to start because far too much has happened this week! There is no way I can write about everything so I’ll try to capture the most important things. Upon some advice from my mom, here are my top ten highlights from this week (in no particular order):

1.Visited Emmanuel, a 12 year old boy who was housebound since birth because of a disability, but is now able to attend school because of a wheelchair provided by Mobility Care. When we asked him what he wanted more than anything he said “education.” Unfortunately, while the wheelchair allows him to attend school now, some of the other children are not very nice to him. We are looking into finding him a sponsor so he can attend a school in Dar es Salaam which is only for disabled children. It’s the same school where Daniel received his education and he turned out pretty amazing!

2.Returned to Moshi to visit Peter, the user who was testing our prototype. He was really pleased with the chair and offered some especially helpful feedback. He even pushed himself all the way to town and back in the chair which we clocked to be at least 15km each way! Peter was really an inspiration and I hope that I will be able to stay in contact with him. He’s an avid wheelchair tennis player and will be part of an exhibition at the PAWBA (Pan African Wheelchair Builders Association) 4th All African Wheelchair Congress this September, which I’m hoping to attend!

3.Made several new friends while waiting for and riding the daladala. 1) In the morning I walk down to meet Daniel at one of the bigger bus stops so we can ride together. A very nice man named Steven has elected himself to be my guard in the morning while I wait for Daniel. My Swahili and his English have been exhausted but somehow we still find ways to communicate, usually with large hand gestures! 2) Two mornings in a row I sat next to the same guy on the daladala so we took it as a sign and became friends. Benson was very excited that I want to learn Swahili, so he now sends me text messages in Swahili with the English translation in parentheses. 3) Later in the week I was riding in a very full daladala (what a surprise) and I was basically sitting in the lap of a Maasai man. As it turns out he’s an electrician and a tour guide working at the lodge where I’ll be staying with my parents when they arrive! So I’ll have to look for him next week.

4.Visited Usa River Rehabilitation Center to meet another wheelchair user who would be testing our prototype. Edmund was a bit shy at first but he seems excited to be part of our project. He doesn’t leave the center so he won’t be able to take the chair on public transportation, but he attends classes at the center and should be able to give feedback regarding the use of the chair in an indoor setting (which we don’t have yet). Everybody at the center was very friendly and from what I saw it looks like an amazing place. The only problem is that there aren’t enough centers like it around!

5.Took my folding wheelchair prototype on the daladala with me. Our test users have taken the chair on public transportation, but I’ve never been around for that. In order to reach Usa River to meet with Edmund at the center we had to take the chair on the bus. It was interesting to see how the conductor reacted to the chair, where he wanted to stow it, and what the other passengers thought. The wheels slide easily under the seat and chair itself can be placed comfortably in the front row against the bench, or even on the lap of the user himself.

6.Went to Abdullah’s house to meet with his wife who wanted to teach me how to cook Tanzanian food. Fatima was so excited and really put on quite a show. Her and Abdullah agreed that I couldn’t cook Tanzanian food unless I was wearing Tanzanian clothing, so after donning a piece of kanga we got to work. I explained that I really didn’t know much about cooking at all, so she gave me all the easy jobs like slicing the tomatoes and washing the coconuts. We cooked a large beef stew and a cabbage salad, but the pinnacle of the event was learning how to cook ugali, one of the most traditional Tanzanian foods. Made from ground maize and water, I can only describe it as a very stiff porridge. And it’s so filling! I felt so full after eating that I nearly had a food coma and Fatima insisted that I take “a small rest” before heading back to Arusha. It was certainly an unforgettable afternoon!

7.Was invited to have dinner with Rosemary, my Kenyan neighbor. She prepared a delicious meal and even though she had arranged a beautiful setting on the dining table, she insisted that we sit by the TV because her favorite program was coming on soon. Would you like to guess what show she was talking about? Desperate Housewives! I haven’t watched that show in a long time so I was really behind, but it was still so entertaining!

8.Felt tremors as a result of a large earthquake not too far from Arusha. As I was falling asleep on Sunday my room started shaking which seemed strange, but I have a wild imagination and came up with plenty of possible reasons for this. Then the next morning I read in the paper that there was an earthquake! The ‘quakes were estimated to be about a 5 on the Richter scale, and we continued to feel aftershocks and tremors for a few days after this. Everybody is perfectly safe, but apparently some of the larger tremors sent people running from their offices and homes!

9.Had some really amazing conversations with the staff here about some problems they have been having and what we can do together to fix them. While I’ll be really sad to leave this place at the end of the month I feel like there is so much I can still do once I return to the States. We generated some really interesting ideas and I’m excited about the possibilities that lie ahead!

10.Visited the Sibusiso Foundation to show Shirley and Christina (two other MIT students) around. I had already been overwhelmingly impressed by the center when I toured it last month, but if it’s possible I was even more amazed this time! They insisted that we stay and have lunch with them and when I explained that my friends at Mobility Care were expecting us for lunch and would be sad if we didn’t go back they said “but we will also be sad.” The staff here are really incredible and I walked away with many e-mail addresses of people who want to keep in touch!

So there you have it. While that sums up the most important experiences from the week there are still plenty of things that I couldn’t include. As you can see it was a pretty busy week!

I know how much you all love pictures....

2007-07-16T10:30:00.001-05:00

Beat posing next to the walker he built for a small child. They don't have a design for walkers already, so the staff here came up with this one!

Joseph carving a celebratory pineapple. apparently his job last christmas was to carve the pineapple so he was really good at it!

here I am outside of TATCOT, the Tanzania Training Center for Orthopaedic Technologists. I hope one day I can teach here!

Here, There, Everywhere!

2007-07-16T10:27:00.000-05:00

July 15, 2007- Lunch with the Namkessa’s

This was the weekend of following through on some things that I have been wanting to do for a while. Yesterday I went to the market and today I took Daniel’s whole family out to lunch! After a quick stop in town to buy a small gift for Daniel’s son, Joseph drove me to Daniel’s house so we could pick up his family. We really packed ourselves in there; Daniel and his son, little Joseph, in the front, and then myself, his brother Freddy, his sister, and his wife Emily in the back. So cozy! Little Joseph really likes cars so he was having a blast in the front, and at one point he was even playing with the shifter when big Joseph wasn’t looking!

We went to the AICC (Arusha International Conference Center) Club which had a beautiful garden for us to dine in, and a cute little playground in the back where we all took turns taking little Joseph to play. On the other side of the parking lot it also had a row of tennis courts where two guys had gotten into a heated match. Even though it was called a “club” it was certainly not a “country club” in any sense of the word. However, I’m sure it does cater a bit more to the middle and upper class.

Anyway, I had been telling Daniel for a while that I wanted to take his family out so I’m glad I finally got the opportunity to do it! We had two large platters of kuku choma, chips, and a whole huge tilapia! I didn’t think we would be able to finish but the guys really pulled through and finished everything off. Daniel pronounced himself the official winner of lunch which nobody could dispute.

Little Joseph was quite the entertainer throughout the meal. He would get up and run around, then cry a little, then get up and run around some more. He’s fascinated by cell phones, so whenever somebody’s phone would ring he would go chasing after them. When it was my turn to take him on the playground we played on the swings which he loved! The smile that washed over his face when I pushed him on the swing reminded me so much of my cousin Eli’s face when you rock him on our hammock. Something about that swinging motion just amazes those kids!

After lunch we headed into town because another student from MIT had arrived at the airport and was on the shuttle to town. Christina will be a senior in the fall, and she’s traveling pretty much all over the world to visit other students working on Public Service Center sponsored fellowships. Her plan is to photograph and document our work so it can be more effectively shared with our campus and community at school, and also to raise more awareness about the problems people face in these countries, what we’re doing to help them, and how we can do even more to help. It was nice to have some female company so we spent the rest of the afternoon chatting about school, our summer projects, and of course boys.

Rosemary, my Kenyan neighbor, had us over for tea which is always fun. She’s just such a bubbly woman! She’s a single mother and her only son is at school in the States so I think she enjoys the company too! As delicious as her tea is, it wasn’t quite enough to fill us up so we went out for dinner. Christina had just come from Uganda where apparently they don’t eat a lot of meat, so Joseph and I decided to take her out for kuku choma, even though we had just eaten it for lunch. Apparently we can never get tired of it!

July 14, 2007- Kwenda Sokoni (Going to the Market)

Last Wednesday I wrote about the chaos of finding a ride home because of the large market that was being held a few stops up from our workshop. The market is also held on Saturday, so I decided that I had to see the place where all the women were going with their large baskets of bananas and pineapples. What a sight it was! The place was mobbed and people were selling anything and everything. Those selling the same item tend to cluster together, so first I passed the women selling cloth, then the tomato salesmen, the potato guys, the women with oranges and avocados, and so on. The market is held in Tengeru which is where Joseph’s family lives, and his mother insisted on accompanying me to the market. I don’t think they get many “visitors” if any, so it was pretty nice to have an official escort!

I watched as my hosts carefully selected maize, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes. Choosing the best, tastiest, healthiest vegetables seems to be an artform, with the buyer carefully holding each item before tossing it in their basket. I tried to ask what they were looking for when they were weighing the item in their hand, but apparently it’s not a skill that can be taught!

I bought a beautiful piece of kanga, which is a cloth that women wear here usually as a wrap, and it has a small proverb in Swahili along the sides. From the English translation they gave me, mine says something about peace on Earth. Before leaving the market Joseph’s mother said she had some business to take care of, so we sat outside and had some sodas while she scurried around. Then she sat in the car and rolled up the window so we couldn’t see what she was doing. Hmmmm. What can mama be up to? At the end of the day when we drove her back to her house, she plopped a small package wrapped in silver cellophane on my lap. I tried to tell her that I really couldn’t accept a gift and that she didn’t need to get me anything but she wouldn’t hear it and insisted that I wait until I reach home to open it. So I followed her wishes and when I arrived at my apartment I opened my package to find a beautiful set of traditional Tanzanian clothing! The blue and purple cloth has an incredible white design along the hem and it fits me as though it had been specially made just for me. I don’t know how she did it!

Before going back to town we stopped at the Mountain Village, where Joseph’s father works. We were waiting for him to return from a tour so we sat outside in a beautiful garden overlooking a large lake. The chairs in the garden were absolutely gorgeous. They had been designed so that from the sides they look like giraffes. When I told Joseph how much I liked them he said, “oh thank you. I made them.” Haha very funny. Good joke. After 10 minutes of me telling them I didn’t believe him, one of the staff at the hotel confirmed that Joseph really did make those chairs! Right now I’m trying to figure out how I can bring one back because they really are beautiful.

I was planning to meet up with some friends from work for dinner but I was so exhausted from my long day at the market that I passed out when I came home and didn’t wake up until the next morning!

July 13, 2007- On Again Off Again

The internet at Mobility Care has been out for almost two months, so I was really excited on the way to work this morning when Daniel announced that it was back up! He informed me that the technician had fixed it just before lunch yesterday, and he had spent the rest of the day sending e-mails until it was time to go home! I managed to squeeze in some quality time catching up on my correspondence this morning until it went out again. Apparently it tends to be “on again-off again” so everybody is sure it will be back soon.

There are two dogs that always walk around the property who were both very, very pregnant the last time I checked. Well of course the one day I go to Moshi they both had their babies! So the Mobility Care family now includes 16 tiny, incredibly cute puppies! We decided that maybe we can use them as a promotion, like “buy 5 wheelchairs, get a free puppy!” What do you think?

Word seemed to spread quickly that the internet was “working” at our workshop so the afternoon brought us many visitors. Toward the end of the day Emmanuel, one of the occupational therapists from Sibusiso, stopped by. A few weeks ago we had tried to make plans to go to dinner together but it didn’t work out, and today Emma wanted to redeem himself. Mr. Daniel is a huge fan of pork so after he and Emma debated for some time about the best place to go, we set off for The New Bar. Apparently it’s so new that they haven’t given it a real name yet! The pork was served on a communal platter (as always) and was mixed with vegetables. Unfortunately I picked up what I thought was a piece of potato, but which my mouth confirmed to be a large piece of fat. Mmmmm. Other than that the meal was quite tasty!

July 12, 2007- Moshi!

This morning I set off for Moshi to visit Abdullah and the guys at KCMC. My new apartment is too far to walk to the bus stand, so I took the daladala to town. When I got off I started heading for the bus stand and an older gentleman who had been on my daladala caught up and was walking with me. He was very excited to see that I knew where I was going without taking out the “travelers bible” which I deduced to be the Lonely Planet guidebook. He was very sweet and even helped me to find a good shuttle that got me there in 90 minutes, as opposed to my usual 2+ hours.

It was nice to be back in Moshi at KCMC because it had been too long since I had last visited—which all the guys let me know! “Why have you been lost for so long?” they wanted to know. It was drizzling when I got there, so we quickly packed into Abdullah’s car and headed off to find Peter, a wheelchair user who would be the next to test our prototype. Luckily Abdullah had four wheel drive because it was a crazy ride up the side of a mountain, on a road that quickly turned to mud. To my untrained eye all the roads and “driveway” looked the same, so I’m amazing that we managed to find Peter’s house. We did have to ask a few people for directions, which they usually answered with something like “turn left at the banana trees up there” or “go back to that big pothole and turn right!”

Peter leaves 10+km from town, and he has to push himself there often. The daladala conductors usually refuse to take him because of his wheelchair, and now when the roads are muddy they don’t even come up near where he lives. Peter was really an inspiration. When the front wheels on the hospital wheelchair he was given wore out after a few months he made his own from some spare wood. Now he has happy to be using a three-wheeler from KCMC which he even plays wheelchair tennis in! I told him that next time I come to Tanzania I’ll bring my racket and we can play which he’s looking forward to. The area around his house is pretty crazy, so it should provide an awesome environment to test our prototype.

As we were talking with Peter and explaining our prototype to him a kindergarten class let out and about 15 small children came screaming down the hill from our school. When they saw us they became completely silent, watching my every move. I had some Tootsie Rolls in my bag that Wenxian had left here, so I scrounged up enough and gave one to each of them. I demonstrated how to open the wrapper and eat the candy, after which all the children wanted me to open theirs. It was so cute! I’ll be going back next Thursday to talk with Peter and gather his feedback on our chair (and I’ll have to remember to pack some more candies for my new friends!)

On the drive back to KCMC we got into a really interesting conversation about “bride prices.” Here it is custom for the man to give something to the family of his wife-to-be. Usually the man gives an assortment of cows and goats, although in some tribes they also give blankets and some other small animals. According to Abdullah I would be worth at least 20 cows, which I took to be a very nice compliment! All in all, I’m not too sure how I feel about this custom. From what they’ve explained to me, it helps to unite the family of the groom with that of the bride because they have shared something very special. They were very interested that in my country the man doesn’t pay anything for his wife, and I think they all want to find wives from America now! At one point the conversation was so funny that Abdullah had to pull over to the side of the road because he was laughing too hard to drive! My trips to Moshi always provide me with a good abdominal workout.

After work Shirley and I treated the guys to some nyama choma for lunch, which was tasty as always. But I nearly choked on my food I was laughing so hard at one point! Abdullah was very happy that we were enjoying ourselves so much in his country, and he told Shirley he hoped she would come back again soon. When I asked him why he wasn’t asking me to come back he said, “I don’t have to ask you to come because I know you will be coming back very soon! But you know I will be very happy for you to come.” He went on to say that he would be most happy if I became his sister-in-law. (Everybody here refers to their fellow citizens as brothers and sisters, so I suppose if you marry here you then have thousands of sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law!)

We went to KASI after our late lunch to see how everybody was doing there. Unfortunately Dr. Nyamubi was home sick but I chatted with him briefly on the phone and we have plans to meet up soon. He also told me that he has seen my blog so if you’re reading this now, I hope you feel better soon!!! KASI is an amazing organization and I’m really excited to see how we can get involved.

I had been asking Abdullah when I could meet his wife so I was pleasantly surprised when she was there at KASI! Fatima is the cutest woman and so sweet! When I told her that I had heard a lot about her she said, “Even me, I have heard things about you!” Abdullah likes to make jokes about having multiple wives but he really just does it for a laugh. He’s very devoted to his wife and even called her “my little angel.” Awwwww! Next week she wants to teach me how to cook some Tanzanian dishes, because you know, obviously I’ll never find a husband if I don’t know how to cook good ugali. This place charms me even more each day!

Albert walked me to the bus stand and made sure I got on a good shuttle. The big bus stands are always packed with vendors, walking around with all sorts of things that they try to sell you through your window while you wait for your bus to leave. I helped myself to some “Glucose Biscuits- Boost Your Energy” and a newspaper, but sadly I had to turn down the man selling soap, the one with radios, and another who was selling socks. Ironically the biscuits didn’t boost my energy at all—rather, I fell asleep halfway through the trip. Although that might have been due to the exceptional heat being produced from all the bodies packed closely together.

It had been quite hot in Moshi once it stopped raining, so at first I didn’t mind the cold that greeted me back in Arusha. But when Joseph and I went out for dinner later that night it was really chilly! It’s very charming to sit outside under the beautiful thatched roofs at these typical Tanzanian restaurants, but sometimes I find that when the waiter comes around with the hot water to wash our hands, I want to ask him to pour it all over me so I can warm up! I don’t know how I’m going to survive the winter in Boston this year!

July 11, 2007- Lots of Wageni (Visitors)

I was feeling very rested after my relaxing trip to Zanzibar and I was excited to get back to work at Mobility Care today. Everybody wanted to hear about my trip so I regaled them with stories while we worked. Apparently I can be quite the storyteller!

We had so many visitors today! First was Bingo, or Mr. Beads as I like to call him. I had visited him in his hometown of Monduli a few weeks ago where he makes the most amazing things with beads. He had finished my things and was very happy to deliver them today. The blouse he made me is so gorgeous! I put it on, along with the headwrap he made from the same fabric and everybody was so excited! They started calling me “mama Afrika” which means “African woman.” I was even paraded around the property in my new apparel so everybody around could see! Bingo is being sponsored for a wheelchair, so after the excitement over my new clothing settled down, we measured him for his chair.

Daniel and I continued to work on the prototype of our folding tray. I was worried that it was becoming too intricate and difficult to produce but Daniel assured me that everything was simple and there was “no problem”. Then again, the Tanzanians are very fond of that expression, with at least a dozen ways to say no problem, no worries, or some variety of the sort.

A short while later we had two more visitors! Zachariah—one of our test users—showed up with Freddy, Daniel’s younger brother. Zachariah was there to be measured for a wheelchair and Freddy had come to show him the way, and also to visit us! He had his heart set on going to medical school but has been unable to find a good sponsor, so he has decided to go to the Monduli Teacher’s College to become a science teacher. Then he can save up the money he needs and pay his own way through medical school here. He would really make a fantastic teacher because he’s so passionate about the material. I wish him the best of luck!

Just as were leaving work at the end of the day, a school bus from the School of St. Jude got lost around Mobility Care. After helping them out, they offered to give us a ride to town. It was quite a sight, all of these adults packed onto this little school bus!

A few weeks ago when I was coming back from Nairobi I wrote about how I made two very nice friends, both working for the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda here in Arusha. When I was on the beach in Zanzibar this weekend Rosemary called to see how I was doing. I explained that I had been very busy because I just moved to a new apartment and after a very funny exchange we figured out that not only do we live in the same apartment, we live right across the hall! At first she didn’t believe me and wanted to knock on my door but I explained that I wasn’t there because I was in Zanzibar, but would come and visit as soon as I got back.

So tonight I went across the hall and spent a lovely time chatting with Rosemary, and enjoying some delicious tea that she had prepared for us. She has a son who is about my age who just finished high school in the states, and will be starting college in the fall. He must be pretty smart because he’s majoring in aeronautical engineering! She’s been living in her apartment for almost 3 years now so it looks much more homey than mine, and it was a lot of fun to chat with her about anything and everything. At one point we even played dress-up in her closet because I was interested to learn more about East African clothing. She’s thinking about maybe coming to work in New York after the Tribunal finishes up next year so I’ll have to return the favor and have her over for tea in Waccabuc if she does!

You asked for it...

2007-07-11T09:23:00.000-05:00

here I am at daniel's house with his adorable little son!

I can't remember why I have my head tilted at such an odd angle here, but I'm pretty sure I was checking to see if the tray was situated at the correct angle. at least that seems like a reasonable explanation for why I look like that!

here I am with Mr. Mangoes in Zanzibar! he really did have the tastiest mangoes.

here is Mr. Lucas working on one of the special children's wheelchairs.

Agnes and I making burgers and hot dogs on the fourth of july. note her festive clothing!

here I am on the dive boat in Zanzibar with my divemaster and official buddy, Mbwana

doing a stability test on Daniel's wheelchair.. and having a little fun!

Joseph and I at lunch one weekend afternoon.

our MIT sand castle! I swear the picture doesn't do justice to all the hardwork and sweat we poured into that.

I know I've been slow to post these.....

2007-07-11T09:21:00.000-05:00

.... but here they are now! Read all about my Fourth of July Celebration, progress on making a foldable tray for the wheelchair, and my recent trip to Zanzibar!

June 10, 2007- Back to Arusha

Unfortunately this morning we had to leave Paradise. Usually I’m pretty sad when a vacation comes to an end, but I think this time I was okay because I knew that even though I was leaving Zanzibar, I was going back to Arusha—my home away from home. While going back to Arusha means back to work, it’s work that I love doing with people who I really missed. Awwwwwww.

The flight back routed us through Dar es Salaam which made for an interesting trip, but I was happy when we got back to Arusha. My refrigerator seems to only have one setting regardless of how you turn the knob, and that setting is freezing! So all my fruits seem to have turned to stone over the weekend. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to buy more! Other than that the apartment is in tip-top shape. We returned from Zanzibar mid-afternoon so while we were waiting to meet with some friends for dinner I enjoyed the view from my perch on the fourth floor.

I took Mario to New Countryside Bar, a restaurant close to my apartment where they serve the best kuku choma (barbequed chicken). After I ordered the food the waitress proceeded to ask me another series of questions that I was not expecting. I presume she was asking how much chicken—half, quarter, the whole thing? But unfortunately I don’t know any of those words. Mario and I tried to demonstrate “one half” using some entertaining hand motions but eventually the waitress realized we were going nowhere fast and gave it her best guess.

Somehow we were still hungry after this (maybe we needed more chicken?) so I decided we should get chips mayai, the tasty potato omlette that I like so much and which Mario had yet to try. Joseph was back in town so he joined us for our second dinner of the night. In the middle of this meal my friend Boniphace (Taye Diggs’ twin) called because he was with another friend who wanted to take us out for pizza. I may have still been hungry after the chicken but by this point I was really full! We met up with Boniphace and his friend just to say hi, and somehow I was convinced to order a cappuccino and a nutella crepe, which Joseph happily helped me finish. I think I’ve officially spoiled myself in terms of food these past few days!

June 9, 2007- Fish Galore

I had gotten certified as an Open Water scuba diver a few months ago through a physical education class at MIT, so I was really excited to be in a place with such amazing dive sites. In Massachusetts I had to wear two super thick wetsuits, booties, gloves, and a hood so I was delighted to be diving in such warm water!

When I got on the boat the divemaster asked everybody to introduce themselves and their diving background. Well it turns out that all my fellow divers were these amazing advanced divers who had logged tons of dives all over the world. Then there was me, the baby who had just gotten certified. When he was making buddy pairs the divemaster picked me for his buddy and basically took me under his wing. It worked out amazingly because not only did he take really good care of me, but he knew where to find all the best fish so I got a really amazing tour! We did dives at two different sites of about 40 minutes each, at a depth of about 20 meters, and it was amazing!! I was a little scared when I hopped in the water and was greeted by a school of jellyfish (my archenemy next to snakes) but Mbwana, my buddy, picked one up and started playing with it to show me that they were harmless.

The fish we saw were amazing! Big ones, small ones, long ones, skinny ones—blue, green, orange… you name it! It was just incredible. Between the two dives they served up some freshly cut pineapple and bananas on a flipper that doubled as a tray. I think this place really set the bar for the rest of my diving!

I came back around 2 and quickly had lunch so I could get back onto the beach. It was quite a relaxing afternoon, going back and forth between playing in the warm water and napping on the beach. Ahh… to be in paradise. Before I had decided that I would definitely get married in Antigua, a Caribbean vacation spot that has become like a second home for my family, but I think Zanzibar might be in the running now. I guess it depends on who I marry!

After another Zanzibar sunset we showered and headed for dinner. Another restaurant on our beach was having a barbeque so we decided to go for it. We sat at a table that had been constructed from an old dhow and ate under a sky filled with more stars than I thought could be possible. They had built a little bonfire on the beach so after dinner we relaxed by the fire and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

July 8, 2007- Up to Nungwi

This morning Pandu arrived bright and early to transfer us to Nungwi, a beach on the northern tip of Zanzibar where we would be spending the next two nights. Our hotel was called Paradise Beach Bungalows, and what a paradise it was! The water was an amazing mix of dark blue and light turquoise, dotted with old dhows and fishermen paddling their boats with long sticks a la Venice. I quickly changed into my bathing suit because I couldn’t wait any longer to get on the beach and feel the fine white sand between my toes.

As I splashed into the water it suddenly occurred to me that I was in the Indian Ocean. I’ve never been in the Indian Ocean before! I was struck by how incredibly far away from home I was and reflected on the path that had taken me all the way here. I don’t want to get all dramatic and serious but I did do some quality thinking under that scorching sun.

At high tide our beach was just one of many along the coast, but at low tide the water goes out so far that all the beaches between the different hotels connect together into one long, long beach. So as the water moved out we walked around a bit, exploring this charming new place and of course making lots of friends along the way.

We were talking about how much fun it would be to make a sand castle when I suddenly had an idea—let’s make a sand castle of MIT! Emily and I had built part of the campus as a gingerbread house for a competition around the holidays (which we won I might add) so making it out of sand couldn’t be much harder. We must have looked pretty silly, 3 adults digging on the beach, making odd shapes with the sand and obsessing over the location and design of each mound. Building the Stata Center was a lot of fun—just toss random piles of sand all over the place and you’re done! A group of South African college students were taking bets on what we were making, so I tried my best to explain that we really weren’t strange people, we just wanted to make a sand castle of our school. Okay, so maybe we were a little weird but it was a lot of fun! The pictures don’t do justice to our MIT castle which lasted for most of the afternoon, until two dogs decided to wrestle in it.

It just doesn’t get cold here so as the sun was setting I was still laying on the beach. I had my feet pointed toward the water, and as the sun came down it made this beautiful pink line across the water that could have been connected straight through my feet to my head! I felt so perfectly aligned with the world, as bizarre as that sounds.

July 7, 2007- Off to Zanzibar!

This morning we set off early to catch our flight to Zanzibar! Zanzibar! I just can’t say the name enough. Precision Air runs a shuttle from town to the airport for free so after a quick trip to the ATM and a stop to get some egg chop for breakfast we arrived at their office. I suddenly realized that I had forgotten my passport (I know, so silly of me!) but as it turned out I didn’t need it because I wasn’t going out of the country—I just used my driver’s license instead. While we went to wait inside somehow the shuttle left without us, 20 minutes before it was scheduled to depart!! I could feel “airport Lou” starting to creep up inside of me but Joseph calmed that beast and handled the problem effortlessly, getting Mario and I our own private shuttle to the airport.

Kilimanjaro Airport is so cute! I had arrived very late at night when I came in June so I didn’t really see much of it then. Like almost everything here, it’s really very charming. Another MIT student, Shirley, met us at the airport because she had been in Moshi. We all jabbered away about anything and everything and before we knew it we had landed in Zanzibar! I was certainly not prepared for the heat. Arusha has been so mild, even chilly at times, so I was overwhelmed at first by the sun!

I spotted a man holding a sign that said “Tesch x3” who I deduced to be our driver. After exchanging the usual Tanzanian hospitalities, Pandu helped us into his jeep and took us over to Stone Town, giving us a detailed history of everything we passed along the way. We checked into the Safari Lodge which was nestled between stone buildings along narrow streets just wide enough for people and bicycles.

Feeling adventurous, we asked Pandu to suggest a couple places for us to check out. A short walk took us to this amazing spice market where we all bought lots of souvenirs. Along the way we passed through wheelbarrows and stalls of people selling all kinds of fruits which is always my favorite. I made a new friend who I affectionately refer to as Mr. Mangoes because he had the most delicious mangoes! He sliced one up for me in a pretty creative fashion and I munched it on the street as we weaved between the spice stalls. It really doesn’t get much better than this! I love talking to people on the street so this was a great opportunity to practice my conversational Swahili.

Pandu had told us about this amazing fish barbeque that was pretty close to our hotel so before it got dark we headed over there. I can’t even being to explain this place! It was basically a pier on the water covered in rectangular tables with people selling anything and everything to eat. The fish guys had big tables with kebabs of every kind of fish, crab, lobster, etc. When you selected your items they would pop them on the barbeque and cook it right there for you. It was really fun to watch the whole process from beginning to end. The tables always seemed fully stocked because the “chefs” had guys behind them scooping up the fish—but the funny part was that these stockers seemed to be scooping up the fish right from the sea! In reality they were just picking them from their stock below on the beach, but from where we were it really looked like they were just fishing them from the water!

We tasted Zanzibarian Pizza which is essentially this really thin piece of dough that the chef puts scoops of meat, tomatoes, mayo, and an egg on. He mixes it all together, cooks it in a frying pan, and then cuts it into neat little finger-food sized pieces. It was surprisingly delicious given the ingredients! A later pizza guy I found was making chocolate and banana pizza which of course I had to try. I took a picture with him and instead of saying cheese, he instructed me to say “yummy yummy!” I love it!

After stuffing ourselves full of food it was still pretty early, so we decided to stop for a drink at this cute little restaurant overlooking the water. It was run by a very sweet Hindu family who really chatted us up. The man who appeared to be the owner was this very sweet 67 year old guy who had been born and raised in Zanzibar, but who had traveled to lots of other places. He told us charming stories from his life and bragged about his house on the island that costs him only $4 a month! One of his sons joined us who must have been mildly autistic because he was rattling off the capital of every country and its major airport. It was a very memorable night to say the least. I have the worst sense of direction in the world (mom, you can vouch for that) so luckily my companions were handy navigators and got us back to our hotel easily at the end of the night.

July 5-6, 2007- Work Work Work

What a busy week! At Mobility Care we have hard at work prototyping our first design for the foldable tray, which is coming along pretty nicely. The only problem is that everybody is so excited to work on it, that I feel bad reminding them that they should be sure to take care of their own business first before helping me with mine. It seemed like an easy task at first—just cut a rectangular piece of wood and have it fold out onto the user’s lap. But alas it’s much more complicated than that. The user needs to maintain full functionality while in the chair—so basically this means that when folded, the tray cannot hinder the user in any way. In other words, when it’s folded you shouldn’t even be able to tell that it’s there! I’ll write more about this when I have an update, but for now we’re still prototyping and working out the kinks.

On Thursday night Joseph and I went on a wild goose chase looking for sheets and blankets for the apartment. We drove past closed shop after closed shop until Joseph suddenly had a brainstorm and took me speeding off toward Sakina. The Sakina Supermarket can only be likened to a luxurious Target. Not only is it open until close to 10pm, but when you enter you are greeted by your own personal shopper who carries your basket and helps you select your items. I wanted to buy everything but limited myself to a case of Coca Cola Light (the closest thing to Diet Coke), peanut butter and jelly fixings, and a variety of fruits including one very large pineapple.

Outside the Supermarket we stopped to get dinner and while we were waiting we had some egg chop. To make egg chop you basically take a hard-boiled egg, cover it in meat, batter it, and then deep fry it. Needless to say it’s absolutely delicious. Just don’t eat too many!

On Friday night Mario arrived from Nairobi so after picking him up we met with Mr. Daniel for dinner. I think this week must have really worn me out because boy was I tired! Mr. Daniel was thinking that we could go somewhere to dance and listen to music after dinner but I was way too tired for that. We had an early flight to Zanzibar the next morning and I still hadn’t packed so we headed pack to prepare for our trip.

July 4, 2007- Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! I hope you all had a happy celebration, wherever you were. I had promised my friends here at Mobility Care that I would prepare a real American lunch for them on this occasion, and boy did we have a feast! I had a small American flag that I had brought from home, and using some colored pens I managed to make a small Tanzanian flag to hang next to it. When Agnes arrived this morning I was totally surprised to see her decked out in full Tanzanian traditional clothing. She had even brought one piece for me to wear! Even though it’s not practical for the kind of work we do here, Agnes felt that she needed to wear it because today was such a special day. How sweet!

It was really cold today so we brought the gas stove inside to cook, and after taking care of our usual morning business Agnes and I set off to prepare the food. She was very excited to learn how to make hamburgers and hot dogs and let me tell you, she was one fast learner! I think she’s now officially ready to open up her own American restaurant here in Arusha.

I made a poor conversion between grams and pounds which led me to buy far too much meat, but luckily everybody had brought their biggest appetites today. Lucas and Agnes each packed away two cheeseburgers and Daniel had a burger and three hot dogs! I couldn’t have been happier to see them enjoying it so much. After taking a few bites of her burger Agnes announced, “now I am no longer in Tanzania. Now I am in America.” I explained that while it was lunchtime for us in Arusha, my friends and family in America were still sleeping—and everybody here was very excited that we had begun the celebration for everybody back in the States!

As if we weren’t busy enough already, today we had so many visitors! I think I mentioned earlier how KASI had found sponsors for 10 wheelchairs, so three of the new users came today to be measured for their wheelchairs. When they smelled the food coming from the office/kitchen they were delighted to partake in the festivities as well!

On Wednesdays there is a huge market at Tengeru, a town just a few stops past Mobility Care. For all the previous Wednesdays I have been in Moshi, so I’ve missed the craziness that ensues when you try to catch the daladala on Wednesday evening. Let me tell you, it was a pretty big adventure! Because the daladala stops at the market before coming to our stop, each one was jam-packed with people (and their various sacks of goods) by the time it reached us. We finally decided to take a daladala out of town toward the market, where we would get off and switch to come back. It seemed like a good idea, but when we reached the market the people rushed the bus and piled on so fast that there was no way we could get off! So we had to ride out all the way to Usa River (the last stop) and then we stayed on to come back. I’ve talked about how crowded the daladala can be, but this really broke all records. At one point I counted at least 25 heads in a space meant for 16. Now add in the fact that everybody has large sacks of oranges, rice, tomatoes, and plenty of small children! It was certainly an experience I’ll never forget.

I had found a really nice apartment and I was supposed to move my things there tonight, and then I would move myself in on Friday after the current tenant moved out. I called to tell her that I was running late and she informed me that it didn’t matter because she had already moved out! Ah, so I can move in? Yes! I hastily packed up my things so I could get over there before it was too late, but the landlord was happy to come over and let me in (and collect his money of course.)

It’s a beautiful apartment with a gorgeous view from its perch on the fourth floor. The only problem was that despite being furnished with a bed, sofa, etc, there were no blankets or pillows. Apparently I was supposed to bring my own. It’s not a big deal because I can buy those things for very cheap, but nothing was open because it was so late. So I pulled on my sweatpants and sweatshirt and I was actually surprisingly warm for the night! But hopefully tomorrow I can pick up those last items that will make the place really great.

Joseph had come over to help me move my things from the guesthouse to the apartment and to thank him I wanted to make a proper American Fourth of July dinner (because he wasn’t at our party this afternoon). Unfortunately I couldn’t come up with much given the hour, so we had a delicious meal of French fries, Crystal Light Lemonade, and the smallest Snickers bars I’ve ever seen. I’d say that was pretty American!

I would say that this was one of the best days I’ve had here, but really, every day is amazing. Each day I meet more amazing people, I learn things I never thought I could learn, and I share moments with friends that I’ll remember forever. Okay maybe that was a little sappy, but this has really been the most amazing summer. Thank you to everybody who has supported me along the way.

July 2-3, 2007

The past two days just flew by. In fact, the past month has really flown by! I can’t believe I’ve been here for a month already, and I certainly can’t even begin to think about the fact that I only have one month more. Tonight Daniel informed that he already had figured out how he could extend my stay. He has decided that he can just talk to KLM and have them cancel all their flights out of Tanzania, and warned me not to be surprised when I have to stay for a few more weeks. Ahhh, I wouldn’t mind that at all!

We’ve spent the past two days brainstorming on the Vodacom project, specifically how to make a foldable tray. The idea is to have a large rectangular tray that the user can pull out when they want to “open up shop.” The difficulty is in finding a mechanism that is simple to produce, easy for the user to use, and sleek enough so that it does not hinder the user’s regular activity. We have two ideas that seem pretty on target, so we’re ready to start prototyping!

I went running around town before work this morning to find all the supplies needed to make a proper American feast for the 4th of July tomorrow. I managed to come up with hamburger meat and Heinz ketchup, but there are no hamburger buns anywhere! I think I may have to give in and use the regular SupaLoaf bread which we make our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on. In any case it should be a really fun day!

Feeling better!

2007-07-02T10:11:00.000-05:00

July 1, 2007- All Around Arusha

My guesthouse is very nice but after being there for a month it’s starting to lose its allure. So I decided to see if I could find an apartment to rent, perhaps something that will feel more like a home and less like a motel. A friend of Joseph’s who I had met at the birthday party last night knew of a good place so I met up with him to check it out. I should have realized that being Sunday, nothing would be open. So the office at the apartment complex was unfortunately closed but from the outside it seems really nice! He’s going to make some calls for me and hopefully I can figure it all out by the end of the week. I’m pretty sure my adventure in apartment hunting can’t even compare to what my brother will soon be doing in Manhattan! Good luck Alex!

In the afternoon I met Joseph and we went to have a very late lunch with one of his brothers who is a chef at a restaurant outside Arusha. I told him that when I open my East African restaurant at home he has to come and help me! After lunch I went to visit Mr. Daniel at his home because I had not seen him much this weekend. His wife and son gave me a very warm greeting as always, and I was also happy to find that one of his sisters and his brother were also there. After the sun had set it became very dark, so Daniel set up a lantern and we all sat around and talked. It reminded me of those rare nights at home when the power would go out and we would all sit around by candlelight.

Joseph’s friend Tony—affectionately nicknamed Tony Blair-- was having a problem with his car so we went to help him out after leaving Daniel’s house. After we gave him a lift to his house he insisted that I come inside and greet everybody, including all the neighbors and their children! I must have met half the population of Arusha by now. I love it!

June 30, 2007- Saturday in Arusha

I’m planning a trip to Zanzibar hopefully very soon so I had a chat with the agent who is helping me with the booking this morning, and then went to one of my favorites, Dreamers Café, for breakfast. They have the best donuts in town and they always have plenty of fresh passion fruit juice. But that might not have been the best choice for food given my sick stomach, and I’m pretty sure I ended up paying for it this afternoon!

Amos Winter, the instructor of the class at MIT where I learned about wheelchair technology in developing countries and a really amazing guy, had put me in touch with a friend of his who he had met here in Arusha. Boniface had been away for a few weeks but was back in town and wanted to meet me! Now is probably a good time to mention that in Amos’ description of Boniface, he said “this guy looks just like Taye Diggs.” So I set off into town looking for Mr. Diggs’ long lost twin.

After meeting Boniface I have to say that was a pretty good description! He doesn’t know what Taye Diggs looks like so I promised him next time we would go to the internet café and I would show him, or he could just look in the mirror. He was really great company and he was born and raised in Arusha so he knows all the best places to go. Needless to say we will be hanging out again soon.

I got hit with another wave of stomach pain this afternoon, maybe as a result of my poorly chosen breakfast, so I went back to the guesthouse to rest some more. My mom told me to make some toast or oatmeal which would be a great idea if I but had a toaster or hot water! Thank you mommy!

When I was feeling better Joseph came to take me to dinner. We went to the Triangle Polygon Restaurant, which brings the number of restaurants I’ve eaten in here to well over 30. When we sat down there was one of those little stand-up menus on the table that you would find at many American restaurants—you know the kind that lists a couple specials or something and has very appetizing pictures of the food. I was completely overwhelmed when I picked it up to find that it was advertising tempura shrimp and vegetable springrolls on one side, and apple pie and tiramisu on the other. It was like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert! But like an oasis it wasn’t real; the restaurant was just using it as decoration because they liked the pictures. Nevertheless the meal was still delicious. My chicken was served with a border of fresh cucumbers which the waitress saw I was really enjoying, so she had the chef prepare me a whole plate of chopped fresh veggies. Sometimes I think they spoil me too much!

Joseph’s supervisor was celebrating his 40th birthday so after dinner we went over to the party. He had an adorable little house with a small garden bordered by tall banana plants, that had been filled with tables and chairs, each decorated with a small bouquet of flowers and candles. I felt bad that I was kind of crashing this party but I was greeted with nothing less than the warmest hospitality (although that seems to be the case everywhere I go here!) A few guys were very excited to talk about American politics with me which has actually happened a few times before. Barack Obama’s father is from Kenya so everybody in East Africa seems to very excited for his campaign, as am I!

June 29, 2007- Back to Work

Sometimes it’s just nice to have some company, so I decided to go back to work today even though I wasn’t quite 100% better. Everybody was so happy to see me, and I couldn’t have been happier to see them too! They filled me in on all the things I had missed and I told them entertaining stories about my past few days, most of which involved me trying to speak some muddled Swahili.

Agnes cooks lunch out in this little gazebo/hut on the property using an old skillet over a gas flame, and I’m always amazed at how delicious the meals are that she prepares. I decided to join her today even though my culinary skills are limited to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hot pockets. I think she must have been happy to have the company out there because she engaged me in conversation for quite some time! She’s only a few years older than I am so it was really interesting to see what her life is like, and what life is like for women in general here.

Whenever I go out to eat at the restaurants I’m usually surrounded by men, and if there are other women there they are usually accompanied by a husband or boyfriend. Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely have seen small groups of women at restaurants before, but they usually seem to be just having a drink and not eating. When I asked Agnes about this she thought it was pretty funny. From her explanation it seems that many women don’t like to eat in restaurants because they themselves cook all the time. It would be like Ralph Lauren buying clothes from J. Crew (or something like that). When I open my East African restaurant back in the States I’m making Agnes my head chef!

As usual we were making wali (rice) and vegetables, but I had also bought some pasta which Agnes wanted to cook. The brand of pasta is called “Mr. Pasta” but Agnes decided that they had made a mistake and that this was actually “Mrs. Pasta” because in her words “they are so beautiful.” I think they were the Farfalle butterfly shaped pasta, but it was just so adorable to listen to her talk about them!

In the afternoon we were all outside working—Beat was painting, Lucas was cutting footrests, Agnes was assembling sideguards, and Daniel and I were discussing something with Dr. Nyamubi on the phone. KASI periodically receives funding from outside sponsors to build wheelchairs, so Dr. Nyamubi wanted Mobility Care to build 10 wheelchairs! The only problem was that he needs pictures of the users to send to the sponsors so we were just discussing how I can help them out this time. (And there just might be a special gift waiting for Daniel before I leave that will help them to do this in the future after I’ve gone! But shhhh.. he doesn’t know yet.)

As we were packing up at the end of the day Daniel and I hurried off to meet Zachariah, who had been testing our chair this week. His feedback was really fantastic and he was so excited about the chair! He had taken it on the daladala without any problems which was great to hear. He also found the design particularly useful at night for when he needs to “park” his chair. Usually he has to leave his chair outside of his home because there is no space to bring it inside, but this is dangerous as somebody could easily take it. With the space he saves by folding the chair, he was able to bring it inside and store it safely overnight without worrying. So cool!

It was already late so I decided just to take the wheelchair to my guesthouse rather than drag it all the way back to Mobility Care. I wheeled it back to Kitundu and then set about folding it. Let’s just say I attracted quite a crowd! Everybody wanted to see what I was doing and it was really fun to show them, although I’m sure I looked pretty ridiculous. Several people wanted to help me carry the chair down to my room, where it is now safely “parked” for the weekend.

Joseph took me out to dinner but I haven’t quite gotten my appetite back yet so I’m not sure how much fun I was. He decided that what I really needed was a steaming cup of fresh milk, to which I tried to explain that dairy products usually make me feel worse, but “lactose-intolerant” isn’t part of my Swahili vocabulary yet. This restaurant had a small menu with mostly African food, but a few American items listed like hamburger, hot dog, and pizza. I’ve been to a few restaurants that boast these delicacies, but they never seem to have them available when I ask!

What to do...

2007-06-30T04:53:00.000-05:00

June 28, 2007- Rest for the Weary

Last night I really thought I was starting to feel better. My friend Joseph had come over to check on me because he had heard that I was sick, and after hearing that I hadn’t really eaten much all day he promptly took me out to get some dinner. We ordered “take away” to bring back to the guesthouse and stopped at the Duka La Dawa (pharmacy) to get some medicine for my stomach, which was starting to feel worse again. When we unloaded our feast we found that we didn’t have any utensils, so Joseph used my Swiss army knife to cut spoons for us out of the cardboard lid that the food had come in. I still couldn’t eat much, and unfortunately I started feeling quite sick again.

Joseph bought me some ginger ale, which apparently is a universal beverage for those with sick tummies. Who knew! I decided that maybe I could just sleep off whatever I had but Joseph convinced me that we should go and find a doctor. At this point it was nearing midnight, as our trip into town to get dinner had taken us on quite a tour, introducing me to about half a dozen of Joseph’s friends!

After trying two hospitals that were closed for the night, we arrived at the Arusha Medical Centre, which despite the padlocked chain around the gate, was open. The nurse at the desk promptly called the doctor who had presumably gone home for the night, and I waited patiently, looking around to be sure that this was a good, clean place to be. It appeared very nice and modern and Joseph confided that this was where he would come if he was sick.

The doctor was a very nice older gentleman with perfect English who swiftly drew my blood, ran a few other tests, and sent me back out to the waiting room. The waiting was the worst part. I’m sure I didn’t wait long but it felt like forever, and apparently I turned a concerning color of red. The doctor emerged, delivered a sheet of paper to the nurse, and retreated back into his office. Okay I’ll cut to the chase and fill you in. The nurse was happy to report that my blood came back clean, and I did not have malaria nor typhoid. Phew! I did however have some bacterial infection of some sort, for which she gave me an antibiotic and her phone number, incase I should have any problem. The doctor and nurse were really fantastic and I would recommend their hospital to any other visitors to Arusha.

My stomach pain has been coming in waves today. Sometimes I feel alright and other times I really need to lie down. Today I spoke to a doctor from the SOS International System—an emergency system for travelers that the Public Service Center signed us up for, thank you!!—and she confirmed that the medication I was given was ideal and that within 2-3 days the pain should be relieved. So, more rest! The staff at the guesthouse have all been really great, checking up to make sure that I’m doing okay. As much fun as it is to be at the workshop, I’d be pretty useless right now, so I just have to suck it up and wait until I get better, which should hopefully be soon!

June 27, 2007- Taking it Easy

Normally when I’m sick at home (which isn’t all that often) I curl up on one of the plush leather couches in my family room and watch old shows on TiVo while my mom heats up some soup. Well, there is no microwave, no plush leather couch, and the only tv is a tiny one in the front of the guesthouse playing odd shows in a language I can’t follow. I slept late today, getting up when a few construction guys resumed work on what can only be the roof directly above my room.

I made a short trip to the internet café to post some pictures--which I hope you are enjoying—but the power went out about halfway through my time there so I gave up and went to get something to eat. I went to my favorite place across the street from my guesthouse and ordered chipsi mayai, which is basically like a potato omelette. My stomach could only handle about half the dish, but I didn’t want to offend the cook by not finishing. Hmmm… what to do…. I found a couple napkins in my bag and wrapped up my leftovers while nobody was looking so I could smuggle them out, making my plate appear empty. When I got back to my room to unload my lunch I found that some of the potatoes had leaked out to the bottom. I hope I got them all out!

I slept a bit more and then spent what remained of the afternoon revising an old questionnaire and reading up on some other disability-related organizations in the area. Certainly takes “working from home” to a whole new level!

June 26, 2007- Trouble in Paradise?

I’ve been here for almost a month so it’s pretty much a miracle that I haven’t gotten sick until now. I wasn’t feeling so hot when I woke up this morning but I figured whatever it was would pass after I had some breakfast. I worked in the office, sorting through information I’ve gathered from interviews with wheelchair users. I take lots of notes in my notebook during these interviews, but usually I try to write down so much that it comes out a bit messy! Agnes loves helping me learn Swahili, so while I was in the office (which is also our kitchen and dining room) she would pick various things up and ask me to name them. Cup- kikombe, banana- ndizi. Now if only somebody could explain the subject-prefixes and verb tense markers to me!

By lunch I was still feeling pretty sick. I knew it was bad when I could only eat a few spoonfuls of Agnes’ wali, which I usually love. I decided to call it an early day and headed home to rest. I’m giving my body 24 hours to get better, and if I still don’t feel well then I’ll have somebody take me to the doctor. But it’s really amazing that I haven’t gotten sick before now!

I was supposed to go to Moshi tomorrow but the user who we were going to give the chair to was just admitted to the hospital for pressure sores. So I’ll have to try again next week. Perhaps it’s a sign that I too need to rest, as the last few days have been pretty crazy.

June 25, 2007- Lots to Do

Sometimes it’s so quiet at my guesthouse that you can hear a pin drop, and other times it sounds as though hundreds of desperate shoppers are storming into Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I think you get my point. Unfortunately last night was one of those shopping stampede days, so I was pretty tired today, but I had lots of fun things on my agenda so it didn’t matter how sleepy I was!

After I got off the daladala I stopped to buy bread from a tiny stand across the street. At one point the woman selling me the bread said to her friends in Swahili something to the extent of “ah this girl understands a lot of Swahili, more than she can speak,” which ironically Daniel had to translate for me! Still, I think I’ve come a long way!

On the walk from the bus stop to Mobility Care I passed a man who was clearly training for a marathon. I always read about the amazing athletes from East Africa who sweep the marathons, so it was very surreal to be passing one in the middle of his training on his home turf. If I see him again I’ll have to get his name…. perhaps I saw him at the Boston Marathon and didn’t know it!

It turns out that Agnes is a big fan of American hip-hop, so we made a big playlist of 50 Cent, Tupac, Akon, etc and played it off my computer while the two of us were working in the office. At one point we were both singing along to “In the Club” which was really quite cute.

I spent the rest of the morning riding around in my prototype, basically putting it through as much stress as I could to be sure that it was strong enough. I rode it around Mobility Care for awhile, going up and down steep ramps, small steps, and even slamming it into the wall on purpose sometimes. Later I went out onto the road outside and had a lot of fun aiming for as many potholes as I could. The other people passing on the road all had a good chuckle watching the crazy mzungu bounce around in her wheelchair!

We had arranged to give the chair to Zacaria, our test user, this afternoon, so I wanted to get as much time in the chair myself before then. Once I was satisfied Daniel and I packed up and headed out to catch the daladala. The conductor had no problem taking the wheelchair onboard and even helped me to fold it, but I later found out that he was a friend of Daniel’s which might explain why. Zacaria works for Money Maker Pumps, making a simple irrigation system produced by the Kickstart company. I’m pretty sure it was one of the showcased items in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s ‘Design for the Other 90%’ exhibit. He was very excited to be testing our chair and went for a quick spin around the block as soon as he sat down!

Once he came back, he wanted to give me a tour which I certainly didn’t object to. Packed into this small, two-story building were about 30 guys cutting, welding, grinding, and painting these pumps. Let’s just say I got a pretty warm welcome! I’ll be back on Friday to pick up the chair and gather Zacaria’s feedback which I’m really looking forward to.

I didn’t get enough Bongo Flavor when I bought the CD from town last week, so Daniel took me to visit another one of his friends (basically everybody is a friend!) who burns music off his computer. We all had a lot of fun picking out the songs, and I’m currently rocking out to my new CD as I type this!

The CD guy was really close to where Daniel lives, so I decided to stop by with him to visit his wife and son. I picked up some bananas on the way and meandered up a winding road behind Daniel, where I’m fairly sure no other visitors have gone. All the children love to shout out “how are you” when I pass by, but they usually don’t understand when I answer. Nevertheless it’s really cute.

Daniel’s wife, Emily, is such a sweetheart. She doesn’t speak any English but just seeing her smile is enough. She insisted that I have some wali and beef before I go and you really can’t refuse food if it’s offered to you, not that I would ever turn down wali! She’s really an excellent cook, especially considering she does everything without electricity. Daniel’s son, affectionately known as little Joseph (so as not to be confused with big Joseph), was even cuter than the last time I saw him if it’s possible. He absolutely loves cell phones and even though he can’t talk yet, he has figured out how to put the phone reasonably close to his ear and let out a little noise that sounds like “hey.” I promise I’ll photograph this next time!

Picture Frenzy!

2007-06-27T02:56:00.000-05:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

here I am at Hell's Gate National Park in Kenya

Kilimanjaro! this is officially my new desktop picture.

this is me testing the prototype on the road outside Mobility Care... I seem to have made some new friends!

here I am trying out the new tricycle that Mario is working on at APDK

this is in the gorge at hell's gate with our guide, Patrick

2007-06-25T10:44:00.000-05:00

June 24, 2007- Back to Arusha

This morning I caught the shuttle back to Arusha, and I was thankful for the opportunity to sit for five hours without moving! A chatty Filipino man sat down next to me, and after a few minutes of talking I found out that he worked for the United Nations, and was pretty important there! He was very interested to hear what I was doing in Africa, and engaged me in conversation until we both fell asleep. At the border another woman boarded our bus (who had apparently missed the departure in the morning but had now caught up) and sat down on the other side of my UN fellow. As it turned out she also works for the UN! I was able to go through immigration quickly because I already had my visa, but the other travelers took forever waiting for theirs so I was able to have a nice long chat with Rosemary, my new UN friend. She had just returned from visiting the US, as her son just graduated high school in Florida. I really enjoyed meeting both Rosemary and Sergeant Litto, and I hope to meet up with them again soon. They have both invited me to visit them at the Rwanda Tribunal so I’m pretty excited! I also met another woman from Dar Es Salaam on the bus who invited me to come visit her if I ever go to Dar. I love how friendly the people here are!

As soon as I got back to Arusha I scrambled around trying to find an open internet café so I could post this incredible backlog of entries, but it seems that everybody decided to take the day off. After being here for a few weeks I have an assortment of about six internet cafes that I vary between, and they were all closed! So I apologize for these being so late, but I really tried.

I somehow had missed breakfast and lunch so I went across the street to Raha Snacks, an adorable little restaurant a few yards from my guesthouse where the owner is always very happy to see me. He makes the best fresh-squeezed mango juice I’ve ever had—not that I’m an expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure it can’t get any better than this!

Daniel was anxious to hear about my trip to Nairobi so we went to another new restaurant and he listened to me tell stories for quite some time. Later, Joseph joined us for dinner which was kuku choma (literally chicken barbeque). I had it the very first night I arrived but I had forgotten how delicious it is! I’m becoming quite good at eating with my hands now, and Dad, you would be proud of how much meat I can get off those chicken bones now!

June 23, 2007- Hell’s Gate National Park

When Mario asked me if I liked mountain biking I said yes because it seemed like a really cool thing to do. I didn’t really think about the fact that I probably had not been on a bicycle since the ‘90s, let alone an off-road mountain bike. We set off this morning for Naivasha via matatu, from where we would catch a cab to Hell’s Gate National Park. We rented mountain bikes at the foot of the park and began the 2km ride up the park entrance. Let’s just say I was pretty terrible at riding this bike! Once Mario helped me adjust the seat and figure out how to change the gears it got a little better, but already my legs were killing me.

They gave us a map and pointed us in the direction that would take us to a gorge, about another 8km away. Okay, no problem. It’s just a bicycle. Little kids ride bikes, so can I. What a ride it was! We had been biking for maybe a kilometer through a vast valley carved out of the mountainside when Mario suddenly exclaimed, “woah there are zebras over there!” I nearly fell of my bike I was so excited! Just off the trail was a herd of zebras grazing in the grass. And then up ahead there were impala. And then there were warthogs. It was incredible!

When we arrived at the gorge they asked us if we wanted a guide and we hesitated, but finally gave in. Boy am I glad we did. The places Patrick, our guide, took us were places that Mario and I later decided were places we would have thought were off-limits had we been leading ourselves. There were many times when I needed all four appendages to get myself through! Patrick told us lots of great stories about the area, showed us where they apparently filmed part of Tomb Raider, and took us to several hot springs. One was so hot that they were boiling eggs in it!

The gorge was totally amazing, but after finally ascending back out I realized that I still had another 10km bike to get out of the park. I did my best but unfortunately my best was a little slow. I also seemed to have a problem starting and stopping. Once I got going it was fine, but twice when I tried to stop I ended up slamming into Mario. I’m sorry!! Somehow I made it out, with a little encouragement from Mario and a little self-peptalk that involved numerous references to Lance Armstrong. We managed to catch the matatu just before it got dark and were on our way back to Nairobi, very sore butts and all (why can’t anybody invent a comfortable bike seat?)

I’ve never needed a shower more in my life! After I removed the pound of salt that had deposited itself on my body, we went out to get some dinner with Samir. We hadn’t really eaten much all day so I had quite an appetite! We had nyama choma which is a traditional East African dish of barbequed meat. It’s served on a communal tray put in the middle of table and it’s really quite an experience! I’ve only ever eaten it with other guys, and last time one of them said, “wow, this really makes me feel like a man, eating meat with my hands.” Mario and I decided that we want to open up an East African restaurant in Boston. It would be such a hit! We just need to bring back a herd of goats to get us started.

It was an unreal day, both totally amazing and incredibly exhausting! I pretty much couldn’t move by the end of the night, but it was so worth it!

June 22, 2007- Off to Nairobi

I had been thinking about visiting Mario, another MIT student, in Nairobi but I wasn’t really sure when and if I would really go. He called last night to say that he had found a really great day trip for us this weekend so I decided to go for it! There are daily shuttles that run from Arusha to Nairobi at a pretty reasonable price (especially when you bargain for the resident’s rate!) The driver of my shuttle seemed excited to have me onboard, and asked me if I would be his co-pilot and sit in the front passenger seat. Not only do I have the world’s worst sense of direction (Mom, you can vouch for that) but I was clearly the only person on the shuttle who had no clue where we were going! Luckily Teddy, the driver, had been driving this route for 20 years so he didn’t need my help. It was a really interesting drive through ever-changing scenery which I really enjoyed. Crossing the border was a little chaotic. You have to get off the bus and file your departure form on the Tanzania side, and then you can walk across through No-Man’s Land into Kenya, where you file your arrival form and get your visa. When we crossed into Kenya Teddy told everybody to put their seatbelts on. I asked if this was because it was the law, or because the roads were so crazy and everybody just laughed! Hmmm.

Nairobi is so big! I was totally amazed at it’s size, and I was really happy to see Mario waiting for me at the station. We walked briskly through City Center to catch the matatu up to APDK, the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya, where he’s working this summer. The matatu is basically the Kenyan equivalent of the daladala, except it has a limit on the number of passengers each can carry so it doesn’t get nearly as crowded as it does here in Tanzania! But the roads are infinitely more crazy so it’s just as well.

I got to spend the whole afternoon at APDK, meeting the staff there and seeing what Mario has been up to these past few weeks. He and his group at MIT came up with some really amazing improvements to the hand-powered tricycle and it was awesome to get to try it out! We took the tricycles out for a spin around the compound which was quite entertaining to everybody who passed by.

After work we headed to Upper Hill Campsite where Mario is staying. It’s a really cute compound with tiny, individual cabins and lots of tents on the lawn. Many travelers and volunteers stay there so it’s a good place to meet people. We went to this adorable Ethiopian restaurant for dinner where they served us enough food for an entire family, but it was really delicious! After dinner we met up with Samir, one of Mario’s friends from the campsite, for a drink. From what I pieced together, Samir is a Kenyan, but lived in England for five years, and now travels to really crazy places to do freelance photography. So cool!

June 21, 2007- Finishing the Prototype

As soon as I arrived at Mobility Care this morning we got right down to business! Agnes taught me how to attach the upholstery using shoelace string and how to set the front castor wheel. Our mechanism was sticking a little at first because of the extra layer that the paint added, but after playing with it a few times it was okay. Beat helped me put the finishing touches and voila—we finished!

I was so excited I had to take the chair out for a spin. So Daniel accompanied me on his wheelchair and we ventured out in search of some rough terrain. Luckily you don’t have to go more than 20 feet to find the potholes of your dreams. I wheeled that chair over the biggest bumps and down into the biggest holes that I could find and it was as sturdy as ever. We rode up and down the road for quite some time, until my arms were thoroughly exhausted. Throughout the day I road the chair around Mobility Care in a variety of conditions to see how it felt, and it was really quite comfortable! Early next week we will be giving it to somebody to test, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting his feedback.

Wenxian left to go back to Singapore (via MIT) tonight, so we were also very busy saying goodbye to him and making sure he got off safely. We really had a lot of fun working together so now I’m going to have to get used to doing this on my own. Luckily I still have Mr. Daniel to look out for me!

Daniel and I had dinner at Florida 2000 tonight. There are a bunch of restaurants around town named by American cities so we decided that we have to go to all of them! Next is Washington D.C. Bar. I absolutely love this place!

June 20, 2007- Wednesdays in Moshi

There’s no way I could possibly describe everything that happened today, because there was honestly never a dull moment, but I’ll try my best…

We set off this morning for Moshi and boarded one of the big buses. There were a lot of guys walking around the bus station with books of tickets, and I’m pretty sure most of them weren’t real. One of these fake conductors got on our bus and tried to charge me 6 times the usual price for my ticket (which is how I knew he wasn’t real). Once he understood that I wasn’t going to fall for his trick he gave up and left. Once the bus was mostly full we finally left the bus station. Wenxian and I were seated in the fourth to last row, and all the rows behind us were suspiciously empty.

A few guys came to the back behind us and were all whispering and looking around suspiciously. This is where my very creative imagination came into play. I dreamt up a few crazy situations, which mostly all ended up with my face on a milk carton. At this point many other passengers were turning around to look at the back, and the guys in the back continued whispering. At the intersection where we should have gone straight to go to Moshi, we suddenly turned right, which only fueled my imagination more. Next we pulled into the police station which I totally didn’t see coming at all. A policewoman boarded the bus, walked to the back, said something in Swahili to the whispering guys and got off.

At this point a friendly guy with very limited English decided to sit down next to me and try to explain what was going on, because I clearly looked very confused. Apparently there was a man lying down in the last row, and according to my new friend he was “dirty.” Dirty, dirty? Maybe the whispering guys were smuggling drugs? My new friend then explained that we were going to Mt. Meru Hospital, and started waving his hand across his throat. Maybe he was trying to say that the man was dead? No way. This cannot be happening. When we pulled up at the hospital a few more policemen and a United Nations security guy came onboard, whispered a few things, and left. The next thing I knew they had opened one of the back windows and were passing a man through the window to some other men on the ground. Shortly after that the bus started up, we were off to Moshi, and I never really found out what happened to the man who was laying in the back. What a start to the morning!

When we finally arrived in Moshi we headed straight to the workshop at KCMC. After chatting for a bit with all the guys, we left with Abdullah and Sam to go see Richard who had been testing our chair for the past week. After 10km on one of the bumpiest, dustiest roads I’ve ever been on, we arrived at Richard’s house and all his children came running out to greet us. Overall Richard really liked our wheelchair! He took it on the daladala on Sunday and his experience was much better than when he has tried with his old, rigid wheelchair. Usually he is turned down by several conductors, but when he told them that his wheelchair could fold he was picked up by the first one that stopped! Before we left he asked if we wanted to trade—he would keep our folding chair and we could have his rigid one! He tested the chair in some really rough situations and he was very happy with how it performed. There are a few small things that we can improve on, but I’m really happy that it’s working out so well! Abdullah is busy rounding up more people to test the chair, so next week I’ll likely be going back to Moshi, and probably once a week every week thereafter.

The guys at KCMC are really great. On the way back to town Abdullah stopped because he wanted to buy us gifts! He bought me a really cute necklace with an elephant on it, and in return I treated him to lunch. He had to go to class so I met up with the other guys from the shop for a drink before making the trip back to Arusha again. They always want to know when I’m coming back again and have asked repeatedly if I can stay longer, instead of just making a day trip. It’s really quite cute!

Of course the trip back to Arusha had to be another adventure. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until all of a sudden the bus just pulled over onto the side of the road and stopped. People started clamoring in Swahili and then about half of the bus just got off. At this point it was actually pretty dark, so I stuck my head out the window to see what was going on but really couldn’t figure out anything. Should I stay on the bus or should I get off? What if I get off and then the bus leaves without me? Just as my patience was really starting to wear thin and I was getting pretty concerned, the engine started up again and everybody climbed back on the bus. I still have no idea what happened, but I’m glad that I finally made it back to Arusha safe and sound!

June 19, 2007

Before going to work this morning we ventured into town to do some shopping. Wenxian will be leaving on Thursday and wanted to get some gifts, and of course I would never turn down an opportunity to go shopping. It was fairly quiet when we first got started as it was still pretty early, but by 9 the streets were bustling with people. It was really quite an adventure to say the least!

Mr. Beads had come into town to pick up fabric to make a shirt for me, because apparently the fabric in his village isn’t good enough? I had left him with a few special orders on Saturday, and I had written everything down in his notebook so he wouldn’t forget. So for example, for my bracelet I had written “bracelet: Tish TZ 2007.” I was really excited that he had finished my bracelet, but when he handed it to me it seemed like there was a lot written on it. I guess Mr. Beads likes to follow his directions very exactly, because my bracelet read “Bracelet – Tish – TZ – 2007.” It’s absolutely priceless. I wonder if my shirt is going to have “shirt” written across the front of it…

I can’t remember the last time it rained here. Now I’ve never been a fan of rain, but the roads are getting so dusty! I just did my laundry and I swear my jeans are an entire shade lighter now that the dust has been washed out.

Emmanuel came with another child from Sibusiso to be fitted for a wheelchair. He usually stays for a bit after the fitting to talk with us which is always entertaining. At one point everybody was talking in Swahili and the only part I could pick up was “Pork House” which kept being repeated. Somehow we ended up in a big conversation about pork and where the best place to get it is in Arusha. (Daniel’s favorite is Pork House.)

Even though Daniel is Christian, he has this Muslim cap that he likes to wear (just for the aesthetics I think). It was really funny listening to him talk about pork in that hat. I asked him if he has ever inadvertently gone into the Pork House with that cap on and he just laughed, which means “yes” in my book.

Another note about food (because I can never have too many culinary experiences in one day): I always see people on the sides of the streets with big wheelbarrows full of oranges that they peel and sell, but they’re always this light shade of green. I finally gave in to temptation today and bought an orange from one of the guys while my daladala was stopped and waiting for more passengers. First he peels the orange so it still has some of the white skin, but all the green rind is gone, and then he slices it in half. It was one of the best oranges I think I’ve ever had! Once the daladala got going the wind started blowing my hair into the orange, so the woman seated next to me took it upon herself to hold my hair back while I ate. Where else could you eat a delicious, fresh orange while a total stranger holds your hair?

Back at Mobility Care, Beat put the finishing coat of paint on our wheelchair, and it’s hanging in the storeroom to dry. Everything should be ready to be assembled when I get back from Moshi on Thursday. I can’t wait!

June 18, 2007- The start of week number three

There must be some special ingredient in the rice here, because I honestly cannot get enough of it! Cooked rice is called “wali” in Swahili and it’s probably one of the most commonly used words in my vocabulary here. Agnes made wali for lunch today at the shop, and then I ordered it again when we went out to dinner tonight. I’ve yet to meet a wali that I didn’t like! According to Wenxian the rice here is made from longer grains, and not to be racist but he’s Asian so I trust pretty much anything he says about rice.

This morning we showed Mario around our workshop and filled him in on everything we had been doing the past two weeks. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it up to his workshop sometime to see how he’s been doing on his tricycle too!

Later we walked down to Sibusiso, the center for mentally disabled children on the same road as Mobility Care. As many times as I had seen children from the center come in to be measured for wheelchairs, I had yet to actually visit. As we walked in I was struck by how beautiful it is. It’s set on a large piece of property that used to be a coffee plantation, and all the buildings have perfect thatched roofs. We got to see our friend the occupational therapist in action, working with some of the youngest children, and then we got to tour around the complex. Among my favorites was a wonderful playground where some of the mothers were playing with their children. It’s hard to explain, but it was terribly sad and at the same time extremely heartwarming to watch. And somehow it reminded me of Patch Adams.

After our wonderful visit we headed back to Mobility Care, enjoyed a delicious lunch of wali and beef, and said goodbye to Mario. Then it was back to work on our chair. Daniel taught me how to put the finishing touches on the upholstery, which involved using a punch and hammer to cut holes and then fastening eyelets in their place. He’s always very amused when I turn out to be handy with the tools! In the meantime Wenxian finished grinding the chair and Beat painted it with the anti-rust primer. We’re almost there!

June 17, 2007- More Exploring in Arusha

I was hoping to sleep-in this morning but I think my body is just used to getting up around 7 so it wouldn’t let me. I lazed around my room trying to go back to sleep, and finally gave in and just got up when a rooster started cock-a-doodle-dooing outside my window. It’s a good thing I got up because just after I came out of the shower someone started banging on my door. I was actually kind of frightened because I couldn’t imagine who would be looking for me so early, but when I opened the door I found a small, harmless woman with a bucket and a towel. She didn’t speak a word of English, but I quickly gathered that she wanted to clean my room which I certainly didn’t object to! The floor had gotten quite dirty from all my dusty clothes and especially my shoes. I hastily grabbed my laptop and headed out to the internet café, leaving my new friend to clean.

I finally figured out how to post pictures on here so I hope you’re enjoying them! I came back to my spotless room (which I was very excited about!) to drop off my laptop, and then headed out with Daniel to do some exploring. Since it was Sunday the streets were fairly quiet and it was really nice to just walk around. We went to a small music shop where I got a CD of Bongo Flava, which is basically Tanzanian hip-hop. The locals usually get pretty excited when they find out that I know about Bongo Flava so it’s always good for a laugh!

On our way across town we passed herds of people on their way back from church. It was really beautiful to see everybody in their colorful Sunday best. We ducked into a few craft shops where I negotiated some pretty good deals, if I do say so myself. And the list of things I want to buy just keeps growing!

After a few hours of meandering around town we realized that we had completely missed lunch, so we headed over to another new restaurant to get something to eat. I think our goal of 60 restaurants in 60 days is definitely going to happen!

Wenxian and Mario arrived back from their safari just around dinnertime, so we met them back at the guesthouse, and were just deciding where to go for dinner when I got a call from my friend Joseph (who picked me up from the airport). We hadn’t seen each other since that first weekend so he was hoping that we could meet for dinner. The more the merrier! He and Daniel debated in Swahili for a few minutes, and suddenly we were off. We went to a place called Triple A, which is a large restaurant/bar with a DJ. We were totally in luck because tonight they had a bunch of live dance performances too! There was a group of acrobats that did amazing cirque de soleil-esque stunts, a group of break-dancing/hip-hopping guys, and even a disabled guy who danced on his hands! I think there may be some incriminating photos of me dancing somewhere….

Busy, busy, busy....

2007-06-17T01:45:00.001-05:00

June 16, 2007- Visiting Monduli

This morning I set off for Monduli to visit a friend of Daniel’s who is a so-called “bead master.” His village is nestled in the Monduli Mountains, about an hour away from Arusha via dalla-dalla. As crowded and packed as it was on the bus, it was really interesting to watch the scenery change out the window, which my face just happened to be smashed against! Once we were out of Arusha the landscape quickly changed to flat plains with rolling mountains far in the distance, dotted with Masai herding their animals around.

Bingo, or Mr. Beads as I like to call him, was really a whiz with his beads! I picked out a beautiful beaded necklace, and left him with a few special orders to work on, including a Father’s Day gift for you, Dad! He does some really amazing work on clothing too, attaching beads in really pretty patterns. So he took me across the street to be measured by the tailor who will make a shirt for me, and then Mr. Beads will decorate it. It was really funny when I was being measured by the tailor because she kept babbling away in Swahili to her partner. It reminded me of being the nail salon at home and wondering if the Korean woman doing my nails was telling her co-workers how smelly my feet were. Either way, I can’t wait to see how it all turns out!

Around the corner from the ShopRite is a small shopping center filled with fancy coffee shops and other high-end little stores. It even has a gelato shop where Daniel and I decided to stop for a bit today. It looks kind of out of place here, but the gelato was delicious so I can’t complain!

Just before dinner we met up with Daniel’s friend Zakaria who I had met at the airport when I arrived, but hadn’t seen since. He doesn’t speak a word of English so Daniel had to play translator for most of the night, but he didn’t seem to mind. I’m not sure about the specifics of his disability, but Zakaria currently uses a tricycle to get around, and will be testing our wheelchair as soon as it’s done! According to Daniel’s translation, Zakaria is very excited to be involved in our project and it was nice to get to know him a bit before giving him the chair.

June 15, 2007- A Few More Tweaks

As we were building our first prototype, any problems that arose were pretty much fixed on the spot. Consequently, we found that in the end we had a few mechanisms that were no longer necessary. So we spent the morning really studying our product and getting rid of anything that we didn’t need anymore. We don’t want this new design to cost much more than the current one, so any excess material has to go!

The folks from Sibusiso came around again this afternoon, but this time with just one mother and child. The young girl’s wheelchair was ready, so she was here to be “fitted.” Because the children’s chairs are so specific and intricate, after it’s finished the children have to be fitted to make sure that all the straps are in the right place, etc.

After the fitting I had a nice chat with Emmanuel, the occupational therapist from Sibusiso who I had met very briefly the day before. He was really knowledgeable about the children and their conditions, and it was amazing to watch him work with them. He was also really excited to see our project and to find out more about what I was doing at Mobility Care. And it didn’t hurt that he was absolutely adorable. I’m trying to set him up with Agnes so we’ll see how that goes!

Around dinnertime Mario, another MIT student who is working at a tricycle/wheelchair workshop in Nairobi, arrived here in Arusha. He and Wenxian are going on a short safari this weekend, but I decided not to go since I’ll be going on a long safari with my family at the end of July. There’s still plenty more to see in and around Arusha to keep me busy until then!

June 14, 2007- Back at Mobility Care

As much fun as Moshi is, it was nice to be back in Arusha at Mobility Care today. Everybody was excited to have us back and wanted to hear all about our safari (Swahili for journey) the previous day. The staff at the two workshops know each other pretty well so they enjoy exchanging stories. Abdullah had told some pretty entertaining stories about Daniel when they were studying together at KCMC, so I had to tell Daniel the stories again to see if they were true!

The wheelchairs they make here have cushions made from two different foam densities—one is soft and squishy for comfort and the other is thicker to provide stability and shape. Mobility Care’s supplier for the thick cushion is in Nairobi, so Lucas had gone off to pick it up. Daniel had to meet him at the border to make sure he made it through customs alright. Apparently the border guys try to make them pay tax on the items they bring across, so Daniel goes to help smooth talk them through without paying. Once they understand that the material is being used to make wheelchairs it’s usually fine. Just before lunch Lucas arrived with about 15 large mattress size pieces of thick foam which we carried into storage. According to Daniel this is enough to last them a year and a half!

Along the same road as Mobility Care is the Sibusiso Foundation, which is a center for mentally disabled children. An outreach program finds the children, and then brings them to the center with one of their parents. From what I’ve heard, I believe they stay there for about three months learning about the disability, how to manage it, etc. They are supported by the Lillian Fund (I think) which allows them to purchase wheelchairs for most of the children before they leave, making them one of Mobility Care’s biggest supporters.

Today Sibusiso brought in 6 young children to be measured for wheelchairs. We were not expecting them so it was quite a surprise to suddenly have 6 kids and 6 mothers wandering into the shop! I hastily rounded up enough chairs for everybody so Beat and Agnes could begin taking the measurements. The chairs that Mobility Care makes for these children are really remarkable. They have all sorts of special straps and side supports, and even mudguards over the wheels for those children that are not able to push them.

While it was great to see that these children would soon be getting wheelchairs, it was really quite sad to see how much they were suffering. After the children left, we all sat around and talked for a bit, digesting what had just happened. Beat said something to the extent of “I’m happy that I can help by making a wheelchair, but sometimes after work like this you just feel sad.” So I did my best to cheer him up and assured him that he was doing an amazing job to help these children.

This led us into an interesting conversation regarding donations and international sponsors. I’ll be writing more about this soon, after I’ve given it some more thought. I really think there is vast potential for us to get involved on a deeper level here. Just need some more time to figure out how!

Comments!

2007-06-16T02:48:00.001-05:00

Thank you to everybody who has been leaving me comments. It's really great to hear from you all and I love reading them! Keep them coming! I promise pictures are coming soon. Hope all is well!
Love Tish

Apparently my hair looks like gold?

2007-06-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

June 13, 2007- Another Visit to Moshi

This morning we set off for Moshi to visit Abdullah and his workshop at KCMC. Wenxian (the other student from MIT) and I were starving when we arrived, so we quickly stopped for breakfast. I tried mtori, which is kind of like a banana porridge with chunks of meat. Everybody else at the place was eating it so it seemed like it must be good, but I guess my stomach just wasn’t ready for meat so early in the morning!

The first prototype of our folding design had just been finished, so we were in Moshi to deliver the chair to Abdullah’s friend who would be the first to test it out for us. Abdullah has a really cool car that is outfitted so he can control everything with his hands because his disability does not allow him to use his legs anymore. I’m not sure how he got it, but he said that somebody helped him order it from Japan (hint Alex!) We packed Abdullah’s wheelchair and our own prototype into his car and headed off to the small village where his friend lives.

When I asked him how far it was to the village he just kind of laughed. It wasn’t the distance so much as the condition of the road that made it entertaining! I’m not even sure you could call it a road at some points because some parts were entirely covered in grass. Luckily it hasn’t rained in a few days so there wasn’t much mud, but the car had such a thick layer of dust on it by the end that it actually looked like it had been painted brown. We joked about making a video game that would be about driving on these Tanzanian roads. Forget Cruising World or Grand Theft Auto, try navigating the giant potholes and large rocks here!

The man testing our chair this week is named Richard and he seems like the perfect man for the job. He lives in a very rural area, as you can imagine from the description of the road to his house, and uses his wheelchair to travel at least 5 kilometers each day. He even pushes himself all the way to town sometimes which is over 10 kilometers each way! I had the opportunity to sit down and ask him many questions about his wheelchair usage (while Abdullah translated) which provided some great information. He’ll be using our chair for a week and then we’ll be back next Wendesday to get his feedback. And of course the atmosphere wouldn’t be complete without pigs and chickens running around behind us.

On the way back to town Abdullah surprised us by stopping for us to visit another friend of his who uses both a wheelchair and a tricycle. It was really interesting to talk to him and find out what he likes and dislikes about each. The tricycle is good for going into town because it is easier to propel, but it is really quite big so he must use the wheelchair when he works inside. He said that if a folding three-wheeler was available he would definitely want one, because then he would be able to take longer trips by folding his chair and putting it on the bus. Yay!

Abdullah is really such a great guy. When he visited MIT last semester I had the chance to meet with him one-on-one and I remember him being really shy and quiet. But now that we’re here in Tanzania on his home turf he’s really in his element, cracking jokes left and right! He’s in the process of finding a bigger space to move his workshop to because currently they are too cramped, and he told me that the new workshop will have two offices, one for himself and one for MIT! The only criteria was that I have to come back and help him decorate it. I think I can handle that!

The rest of Abdullah’s guys (Albert, Abdallah, and Samson) are also a ton of fun. We all went out for a drink after they finished work, but Abdullah had to leave early because he’s taking a class that he needs to qualify for admission to university—he’s hoping to start studying for his bachelor’s degree next year! They all wanted to know when I would be back again and I assured them I would be back next week. They really are so sweet! Everybody loves when I try to speak Swahili, so hopefully by next week I’ll have learned a few new words to impress them with.

The bus ride back to Arusha was, as always, an adventure. I was seated in the last row, right on top of the back wheels, so every time we went over a bump I was thrown in the air. I swear I flew clear out of the seat several times!

June 12, 2007

Quote of the day: “You’re hair, it looks like gold.” Are we looking at the same head of hair? Seriously? I think my hair is starting to get a big head from all these compliments haha.

I had promised my friends at Mobility Care that I would make them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one day, because they wanted to know what real American food was like. Today was our day! When we got off the dalla-dalla the Supa Bread truck was parked just across the street so I bought the biggest loaf of bread they had and we headed down the road to work.

I described all the intricacies of peanut butter and jelly that I could think of-- you can do a simple sandwich with just two pieces of bread, of if you’re like my brother you can use three and make a triple decker! If you’re packing the sandwich and are worried about it getting soggy, put peanut butter on both pieces of bread so the jelly can’t soak through. I could go on for quite some time! Daniel was my first victim to try the pb&j and he loved it! Next was Agnes who described it as “so delicious” and wanted to know more about sandwiches in general. “How many kinds do you have? Maybe 10?” Ah, if only I could take her to an American deli! The list of sandwiches is infinite I think.

Similar to the way an alcoholic builds up a tolerance to alcohol, I think I’ve built up a peanut butter and jelly tolerance. Everyone else was very full after one sandwich, but I swear I could have eaten at least two more! It must be because I’ve eaten so many in my lifetime. Mmmmmm.

The fabric for our chair hadn’t arrived back from the tailor because apparently she is sick, so this morning I decided to use my extra time to make a big to-do list. I took my notebook and sat outside in the sunshine, looking out on the huge banana trees and mango trees that enclose our little haven. It really is a beautiful place. The main part of Arusha is constantly buzzing with people and always seems busy, but 20 minutes on the dalla-dalla and a nice walk down a rutted mud road takes you to the wonderful, secluded workshop where I spend my weekdays from 8:30 to 5:30.

The three-wheeled wheelchair is advantageous because it’s kinematically constrained with the ground at all times—that is, it always touches the ground at all three points, whereas a four-wheeler can wobble back and forth like those desks at school that never seem to be stable. The road that we walk down to get to Mobility Care from where the dalla-dalla stops is pretty typical of the roads here (with the exception of the Arusha-Moshi and the Arusha-Nairobi roads which are paved) — rocks jut out everywhere and potholes the size of bathtubs sprinkle the landscape. So I decided to see just how well the three-wheeler could cope with this difficult terrain. I took Daniel for a spin in his wheelchair, which turned into me pushing him up the hills and then chasing him down. From my little experiment, I have to say that it really lived up to the challenge. The wide front wheel was able to pass over anything in its way and according to Daniel it was even quite comfortable! Then again he’s used to riding on the dalla-dalla so he might have a different scale for comfort.

On the dalla-dalla back to town this evening I was sitting on the end of one of the benches where I was sandwiched by an elderly gentleman who was standing up. I swear his jacket must have been made out of straw or something because it kept rubbing against my face, leaving a nice abrasion. Oh the dalla-dalla. I know I’ll miss it when I return to the nice spacious buses in Boston.

June 11, 2007- Back to Work

They love my hair here! I don’t know what it is, but everybody here seems to love my hair! And I’m not talking about the hair that I used to spend forever straightening at home. I’m letting it go on its own, and you can imagine how crazy my hair can get given this climate! When I’m finally able to post pictures you’ll know what I’m talking about.

One of the guys at the shop, Beat, had wanted to open a hair salon when he was younger, so he was particularly taken with my hair. When I told him that I had cut it just before I came here he was very upset and wanted to know if I had saved it, and if so could he have some. I love it! At one point I picked a piece of hair that had fallen out off my shoulder and was about to toss it on the ground when Beat stopped me. He took the piece of hair and said in his very careful, deliberate English, that maybe he could keep it so he could remember me after I had gone. From anybody else that would have been kind of creepy, but from him it was absolutely adorable. I assured him that we still had at least 50 more days together, and promised him that I would come back again soon.

We were waiting for the fabric for our wheelchair to come back from the tailor in town, so in the meantime we began brainstorming on the Vodacom project. Our original project for the folding three-wheeled wheelchair is still our main priority, but this Vodacom thing is too cool to pass up. So I’ll just have to do some more work on my own time.

Mobility Care, where I’m working, is just so wonderful. They have really nice black polo shirts with their logo that they wear on special occasions, and they gave me one to keep! So I suppose I’m officially part of the staff now? They also have the most wonderful brochures which I saw for the first time today (I don’t think they hand them out often). It has a beautiful picture of a woman in one of their wheelchairs buying some fruits at the market, and on top it says, “Go and live your life. Nenda na ukafurahie maisha yako.” It’s perfect.

A Weekend in Arusha!

2007-06-11T10:34:00.000-05:00

June 10, 2007- Day trip to Mulala

Earlier this week I had booked a day trip to Mulala with a local tour company, so this morning I set off on what turned out to be quite an adventure! My guide, Eric, was about seven feet tall and as skinny as a pencil, but he was very entertaining. We took the dalla-dalla up to the junction at the base of Mulala, at which point we had to switch into another car which just happened to be a Land Rover. But it wasn’t like one of those stretch Land Rovers they use for safaris where everybody has their own comfy seat. It was a Defender without the roof in the back, so people could stand, and they really packed us on there! I estimated that there were 35 of us standing in the back, but my guide thought it was more like 45. I honestly don’t know how they do it!

I didn’t know much about the place I was visiting so I didn’t know what to expect. Once we were packed in, we started driving up the most twisty, steep hill ever. It was absolutely beautiful though because it was flanked on both sides with banana groves and coffee trees that I could literally reach out and touch, they were so close.

After about 15 minutes of this bumpy ride I thought we had reached our destination. I was wrong. We got out of the car and now it was time to walk. And I’m not talking about a pleasant stroll on flat ground. This was a full out hike up the side of a mountain on a dirt road with potholes so big that I could lie down inside of them! We continued our ascent up this little mountain, passing small houses and many villagers along the way. There were many small children and they were all really excited to see me! As we were walking little groups of these small children would surround me and walk with us until they got tired. It was so cute!

As we were about halfway up this mountain, I found out that my guide actually grew up in this town, and his family still lives here. That explained why he was saying hi to every person we saw! Although his conversations with other villagers were good opportunities for me to rest my feet and guzzle water.

Just as I thought we had made it to the top of this mountain, we started going down again. There was a river on the other side called Ngalaliko River that he wanted to take me to, but the route was pretty much straight down! Two young boys came with us to clear the path which had been overgrown by the bush. When I finally made it down it was definitely worth it. It was so beautiful down there, surrounded by a thick forest everywhere, and not another person in sight.

Unfortunately, since we had come down the very steep slope, we now had to climb back up it. It was during this climb that I found out that Eric also guides treks up Kilimanjaro, so this was probably nothing for him! I was so happy when I made it to the top, but suddenly we went around a corner and there was another steep slope in front of us! At this top of this slope was a small house, which turned out to be the house that Eric had grown up in, and the place where all his young brothers and sisters were living. A small pack of little boys had followed us up here and they were very entertaining. I was taking pictures of them with my camera and they thought it was the funniest thing ever. Everytime I showed them a picture they would all fall into the grass laughing! I’m going to guess they’ve never seen anything like a digital camera before.

We were resting at Eric’s house enjoying the view when one of his sisters brought out steaming cups of milk for us. Now those of you that know me will know that I’m not a big milk drinker; maybe I’m lactose-intolerant or something. But it’s not polite to refuse food here so I had to take it. Later Eric took me to see where the milk came from, but it was unclear because there was both a cow and a goat tied up to the stake he was pointing at. Please let it have been the cow! It was time for lunch so I took out the lunch that had been packed for me, but there was no way I could eat it while I was surrounded by my pack of shoeless little boys. So I cut it up into small pieces and let them eat it, which they were very thankful for.

At this point even more brothers and sisters showed up. One of them, Magreth, was really excited to talk to me and practice her English. She’s 16 and absolutely adorable! She wanted to take me to see some monkeys so off we went, up another mountain and down the other side. Her English was really amazing and when I told her that, she replied saying that she thought mine was better. Well I hope my English is good! Before I left she asked if I would write her a letter when I went home, so I took her address and promised to print out and send the picture I had taken with her. Remind me if I forget to do this!

On the way back we stopped at the school where they have a soccer field. A big match was about to begin between the Mulala village and a neighboring one. The field was not in great condition, as it was basically carved out of the side of a mountain. The goals were made from pieces of wood and had not net, and there were no lines. But the people were so excited! I think the entire village was there to watch! Plus it was Sunday so since many people had just come from church, they were dressed in such beautiful clothing! I think I might be one of the first white people that has come to one of their matches, so I definitely drew quite a few stares. And I’m getting pretty used to being called “mzungu” which quite literally means “white person.” Haha

By now I was so exhausted I didn’t think I could walk another step, but it was time to leave Mulala and head back to town, so we began our trek back down. Eric offered o carry me if I was tired and I was so close to letting him. He estimated that we walked about 20 kilometers up and down these mountains, which only made me feel more tired! But when the 90 year old village grandmother started to pass me, I picked up the pace and we finally made it out. We took the dalla-dalla back to town and I probably would have fallen asleep right there in the car if it hadn’t been the dalla-dalla and I wasn’t surrounded by people, baskets, sacks of rice, etc.

The day wasn’t anything like I expected it to be (or like the guidebook said it would be) but it was absolutely amazing. I got to experience things that few visitors have the opportunity to do, and I truly felt immersed in the culture!

I should probably go out and get something for dinner because I haven’t eaten much all day, but I really don’t think my feet can carry me any further. Just standing up to take a shower was painful. I think Advil is sounding like a pretty tasty dinner. Tomorrow it’s back to work at Mobility Care and we have a lot to keep us busy so I’m looking forward to it.

June 9, 2007- Time to Explore

I met Daniel and his brother this morning and we headed off to the Karibu Tourism Fair. For the past 8 years Arusha has been hosting a huge tourism fair for all of East Africa. The idea is that all the hotels, restaurants, etc set up a booth, and then safari organizers can go around and talk to the owners and see which ones they like and want to include on their safaris. So the first few days are only for people “in the trade” but today it was open to the public, and it was mobbed!

It almost reminded me of the homecoming competition in high school when we had to decorate a hallway, because some people really went above and beyond in decorating their allocated tent spot. Some of the hotels from Zanzibar and sprinkled sand inside so it looked you were at the beach, and many of the tented lodges had set up their actual tents complete with canopy bed and everything! Even though there’s no way I could afford to stay at any of these places, it was really fun to talk to them as though I could.

And I was so excited to see an ambulance at the fair! It was there to give out information to tourists on travel insurance and stuff like that. They had set up all their equipment outside and were showing people how to use it, but alas none of it said LVAC so the search will continue for the Lewisboro VAC donated equipment. I had a lovely chat with one of the EMTs who gave me a tour inside and talked to me at length about her training and such. Plus she was really excited that I was also an EMT!

After the fair we headed back to town and relaxed outside for a bit. I had a little Swahili lesson with Fred, and then Daniel joined us and we went to another new restaurant for drinks. Daniel gets a different beer every night and lets me taste it first to see if I like it, but so far I’ve only liked one. I think I just don’t really like beer in general! But there is plenty of Coca-Cola Light to keep me happy.

Later that night I ventured out to meet my new friend Becca, who I had been put in touch with through my uncle (who is a friend of her mom’s). She’s from Westchester and the same age as me, so it was nice to be hanging out with somebody like myself for a bit! We went to a place called Masai Camp, which really wasn’t a camp at all, but rather a large open restaurant/bar where a lot of volunteers like to hang out. It was a lot of fun but I couldn’t stay long because my guesthouse locks its gates at midnight. I actually didn’t make it back until about 1 and the gates were infact closed, but I banged politely on the window and one of the owners came and let me in. I felt so bad coming in like that but he seemed to think it was quite funny!

The end of my first week here! Lots to report about!

2007-06-09T01:35:00.000-05:00

June 8, 2007- Off to Moshi!

This morning we headed off to Moshi to visit KCMC, the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, and KASI, the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured. It began with a very chaotic journey via dalla-dalla, as most days seem to start off! Everything seemed to be going well; we got on a nice, spacious dalla-dalla, and we were very comfortable. I should have known that it could not last because the words “spacious” and “dalla-dalla” never go together! Just as we were passing by the junction for the airport our bus stopped, and we were all ushered onto another bus that was stopped in front of us. Apparently, the two dalla-dallas were both about half full, so they decided to put all the passengers in one dalla-dalla, so the other one could turn around and start the next trip. Now we were totally cramped, sitting five or six across in a space meant for much less than that, and people standing in any other available space. I wish I had a picture of this! The thing with the dalla-dalla, is that people bring all of their things onboard with them; large baskets, sacks of grain and rice, bowls, jugs, bananas, small children. It’s really a sight.

When we arrived in Moshi I was struck by how hot it is! Arusha is surprisingly cool; I usually wear a sweatshirt for the morning and night. But in Moshi, I think I was already sweating before I even stepped off the dalla-dalla! KCMC is a huge medical compound, with a big hospital, a medical college, and a wheelchair workshop just to name a few. A man by the name of Abdullah Munish is in charge of the workshop there, and I had been lucky enough to meet him when he visited MIT a few months ago. So it was really great to see him again, this time totally in his element, buzzing around his shop. He is acting as a supervisor of my project, along with Daniel, and has so much great advice to share. Plus, he’s teaching me “street Swahili” so I can blend in as a local. He’s totally amazing—I’ll definitely write more about him in the upcoming weeks.

Abdullah’s shop is also working on a prototype of our design, so the main purpose of the visit was to see their progress. They’re almost done! They were having a few problems with the chair, similar to the ones we had in Arusha. Basically the chair was bending in the middle, near the third wheel. We racked our brains for what seemed like forever, and came up with quite a few good ideas. Abdullah has a friend who seems to be his designated “test rider,” so I’ll be going back again next week when the chair is finished to meet this guy and deliver the chair. Then we can start gathering feedback!

Next we stopped for a quick meal in town because none of us had eaten breakfast and it was already 2PM. I’m not quite sure how I managed! Then it was off to KASI where we had an appointment to meet Dr. Henry Nyamubi, the Director of the Association and a truly remarkable man. He was so pleased with the work we were doing and really encouraging. He kept saying “fantastic, fantastic!” KASI is really amazing, organizing rehabilitation services for disabled people, a school for disabled children, camps for new wheelchair users, and even special job training for disabled people.

Dr. Nyamubi was also excited to get our help on a new project he has. One of the biggest problems a newly disabled person faces is finding a way to get back into the workforce and generate an income for their family. One way to do this would be to turn the wheelchair into a base for a small business. Vodacom (one of the three big cell phone companies here) has recently made a huge deal with KASI to do just that. They have agreed to pay for 100 wheelchairs, that will be used as a base for a small business, selling cell phone “top-up” cards, chargers, etc. Everybody here has a cell phone—and I mean everybody—and you have to buy the minutes in advance. So basically you buy a top-up card from a shop, scratch off the number, type it in, and now you can use your phone to make calls! Dr. Nyamubi has enlisted our help in designing a wheelchair that could be used for this purpose. So it needs a safe place to store the cards (some kind of basket or bag or drawer), and a large umbrella to provide shelter and shade, and also to promote the items. I’m soooo excited to begin working on this and I’m honored that Dr. Nyamubi has even asked us to help! I think it could be really amazing!

His office was just across the yard from a pre-school class, where I met three adorable young boys, maybe 3 or 4 years old. They were very excited to be saying “hi, how are you?” and when I left they all were shouting “bye-bye, bye-bye!” I’ve found that wherever I go the children seem to be especially excited to see me—probably because they haven’t seen many white people before?

After this meeting I stopped at the ATM, and then as we were walking up to the bus station I was completely mobbed by vendors selling jewelry, paintings, postcards, etc. In Arusha there are also a lot of vendors, but if you tell them “no thank you” they leave you alone fairly quickly. But here in Moshi they would not stop! One guy even waited for me outside the ATM! His name was Jimmy Carter, but he didn’t seem to know about the former US president by the same name. Unfortunately I’m terrible at saying “no,” especially when they start telling me how poor and hungry they are. I ended up with a couple of souvenirs that I probably didn’t need, but at least I know that those people will be able to eat a good meal today. Plus, after I bought something from Mr. Carter, he decided that he should escort me through the busy intersection, even taking my hand and skipping along. It was actually quite cute.

Another highlight in Moshi was the Moshi Institue of Technology (also known as MIT!) They have a big billboard in the middle of town so of course I had to snap a picture!

Thankfully we took a larger bus back to Arusha; kind of like the same size as a coach bus, but without the plush seats and air-conditioning. I sat next to a very nice young guy who was studying at a college in Moshi. On the bus they kept playing American songs by artists like Snoop Dog and 50 Cent, so my new friend John and I sang along together for most of the ride. He was very excited that I knew most of the words! Plus I had my first Kilimanjaro sighting en route!

I was very happy to arrive back in Arusha, which is now beginning to feel like home. Awwwwww. Daniel’s brother Alfred, whom I had met a few days earlier at Pizza Arusha, joined us for a drink after dinner which was nice. I think I wrote before that he’s very passionate about becoming a doctor. Tonight he decided to start teaching me the names of all the body parts in Swahili, so if I ever get a Swahili-speaker as a patient on the ambulance I should be all set! Later a song by Shakira came on in the restaurant, upon which I found out that not only is Shakira one of his favorite artists, but he thinks I look just like her. Hmmm… not really seeing the resemblance, but I’ll take the compliment!

June 7, 2007- Day Four in the Workshop

After lots of good brainstorming last night, we had several solutions to the problem encountered with the frame yesterday, so this morning we were ready to get to work. We cut, we grinded, we welded, and we grinded some more. Essentially, the load on our mechanism was too much, so the steel was bending under the weight of the user—not good! We added an extra constraint along the bottom and it seems to have fixed the problem! We cut the fabric to make the seat and backrest, and Lucas will deliver it to the fundi in town who does the sewing for all the chairs. As soon as it’s here, we can officially sit in the chair and really start testing it! Conveniently, there is plenty of rough terrain to mess around on.

Today I was wearing a polo t-shirt (you know, with the little Polo logo of the horse) and Daniel asked me, “is this the mark of your tribe?” I quickly answered no, but in retrospect, maybe it is? Haha

Over lunch they had many questions today. First, Lucas was interested to know what “American culture” food was like. I gave it a bit of thought, and then delved into a lively discussion of hamburgers and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I also told them about the Fourth of July and how we have a big party, which they were very excited about. So if ShopRite has the fixings I need, I promised I would make them real American food on July 4th. I can’t wait! Beat was very curious about MIT and how students are chosen to go there. He also wanted to know how much it costs, but I really didn’t want to tell him!

In Arusha there are people lining the streets selling things; I guess you would call them vendors? Agnes wanted to know if people did that in the United States. The best analogy I could think of was Chinatown, but you try explaining the concept of fake handbags and rolexs! I really love our conversations over lunch, and I’m pretty sure they are enjoying them too. I wonder what we’ll talk about next!

Daniel and I have made a deal that since I’m here for 60 days, he will show me 60 restaurants (a new one each night for dinner). He’s certainly living up to the challenge! Tonight we ate at the African Queen Restaurant which was delicious as always. It’s just around the corner from my hotel, and it was hopping with locals so it must be good!

Tomorrow we’re off to Moshi so I’m sure I’ll have lots more to report then! And just as I said that the rainy season seemed to be over, it has begun to pour. Hopefully the power won’t go out again!

June 6, 2007- Day 3 in the Workshop

After a good night’s rest in the new hotel, I was ready to go this morning. We headed off on the dalla-dalla, which was very crowded, as usual. The people here are very friendly, so I suppose they don’t mind squishing together!

After work yesterday Agnes asked me what I would like for lunch the next day, so I gave her some money to get chicken, as she is a very good cook (and an excellent wheelchair technologist!) So this morning I was sitting in the office having a hot chocolate with Daniel and in walked Agnes, holding a live chicken in a plastic bag! Daniel assured me that this was a “natural hen” that took many years to grow as big as it was, and we were lucky to be having it. Those with weak stomachs may want to skip this bit…..because next Daniel took it outside to cut the head off, and I decided that it would be fun to watch. Bad idea! After it was officially dead, Lazaro picked the feathers off, and prepared it so Agnes could cook it. I wonder what will happen if I ask for beef tomorrow?

Progress on our prototype was very speedy today. I swear I blinked for a second and Beat had welded the entire frame! Unfortunately the steel is not holding up in one particular place, so tonight we will all think about the best way to solve it, and hopefully tomorrow we can fix it! Overall things move quite slowly here, which is a very nice change of pace from MIT. When we’re working, we work quickly and efficiently, but when we are resting, we really rest!

This afternoon we had a very nice surprise. There is an organization called Kilimanjaro Community Based Rehabilitation, which goes out into the local community to find people with disabilities, so that they can help them find and receive care. They offer a camp for children with disabilities, a place where parents of children with disabilities can meet together, and even administer hearing tests and fit hearing aids on the go. They brought a young boy today who has spina bifida, and needed a wheelchair. When they placed him in the wheelchair, he had the biggest smile on his face. I swear I’ve never seen anybody so happy! They had to make a few modifications to the chair so it would fit properly, so I played with the boy while he waited. My Swahili is very limited, and his English was non-existent so it made for a very interesting time! Right now I’m learning how to count in Swahili, so we practiced together.

There were two guys from Kilimanjaro CBR who brought the boy in, along with his father, and they were amazing. They were so smart and so dedicated to their work. It was inspirational to say the least. They have just built a center called House of Hope where they will base their services, and I hope that I can visit it someday soon!

Daniel is always entertained when I try to speak Swahili, so today he challenged me with some Swahili tongue twisters. Give this a shot: Kale kakuku kadogo kako kwako kaka. Seriously, try and say that ten times fast. Hell, try and say it one time fast! In return, I told him to try: how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! I shot a video of it too so remind me if you’d like to see it.

Lots of old posts... finally posted!

2007-06-06T10:32:00.012-05:00

As promised... here all the entries that I have been writing... and now I can finally post them! I found a nice internet cafe (I use the term cafe loosely) where I can plug my laptop in, just around the corner from my new hotel. Hopefully this should be enough reading for you all! Pictures will be coming soon!

June 5, 2007- Second Day in the Workshop

Today was my second day in the workshop and it was another great day. This morning Daniel met me early to help me move to a new hotel. The one I was in was good, but it was on a main road so it was very noisy throughout the night. I swear this city never sleeps! So this morning I moved to a Kitundu Guesthouse, which is cited in the Lonely Planet Guidebook so it must be good!

Then we went off to the market to buy some food to bring to the shop, because they have a big refrigerator but nothing in it! I got to sit in the front on the dalla-dalla again this morning which is really fun, because you have the best view. To my Land Rover fans out there, they are everywhere! I pass a dozen or so each morning, maybe more. I even saw a Land Rover that was being used an ambulance!

It was quiet in the shop today because Beat and Lucas were not there. They were off on business, buying some materials for the wheelchairs in Nairobi. But we did a lot more work on our prototype which is coming along very nicely. I think we should have it working by the end of the week and ready for testing. Right now business is very slow in the shop, so we have lots of time to work on our project.

Today Agnes made omelettes with potato for lunch. I must have been looking at it funny because there was no silverware, so I wasn’t sure how to eat it. Agnes found a spoon to offer me, but once I realized that everybody else was just eating with their hands, I dug right in! Today’s lunchtime conversation was politics. They wanted to know if I liked Mr. Bush or Mr. Clinton. Apparently Bill came to visit Arusha sometime in the late 90s and he brought his long American car, which I think must have been a limo? Wonder how he got that on Air Force One?!

For dinner we went to Pizza Arusha, which boasts “the best damn pizza in Africa.” It wasn’t quite like Bertuccis, but it was very good. I think even Daniel enjoyed it! He has been soooo helpful since I’ve been here. Our day starts in the morning when he meets me at the dalla-dalla, and it ends in the evening over dinner. Tonight his younger brother joined us which was a nice surprise. He had just been in Moshi at a meeting at the medical college. He wants to be a surgeon, even without watching Greys Anatomy! He was great company, but I have to say, it was very surreal talking about mitochondria and Newton’s laws with him over dinner!

Now I settled in my new hotel, which should be much quieter tonight. The only problem so far is the lack of toilet paper. Not sure I can go two months without it!

June 4, 2007- First Day in the workshop

Today was my first day working in the workshop, and boy what a first day it was! Daniel met me this morning and first we quickly stopped at a store so I could buy a new charger for my cell phone which seems to have gone missing. Not only did they have exactly what I needed, it was only 5000 T. Shillings (or about $4). Once that was taken care of, it was time to head to Mobility Care, via dalla-dalla.

The dalla-dalla is what they call the public transportation system here. Each one is a like a big mini-van that can seat upwards of 16 people, and it only costs about 25 cents each way. I wonder what the MBTA would make of that! All the dalla-dallas start in the middle of town calling out to people to get on board. They keep driving around town until they are satisfied with how many people they have, so if you get on an empty dalla-dalla, you might be idling around town for quite some time!

After about 15 minutes we got off the dalla-dalla and started to walk up the street to Mobility Care. It’s up a long, muddy road, but it’s a beautiful walk with coffee trees lining the sides, and it smells amazing!

The workshop is so cool! It’s a beautiful building with great machines and tools inside, and the other people are so nice! There are four people working there, my supervisor Daniel, two other guys Beat and Lucas, and one woman named Agnes. There is also a gardener who takes care of all the plants (hint hint Dad) and a security guard who watches the place at night.

Today we took things slow and just got to know each other which was really great. We showed them pictures of our idea and then we worked on making our first prototype. Wenxian had worked on it a bit at the workshop in Moshi, so we only had a few more kinks to iron out. Agnes made a nice lunch for everybody and we all ate together under a little thatched hut also on the property. Mobility Care has a beautiful piece of land, with banana plants, papaya trees, and even avocados growing on it! There was an avocado seed lying around in the grass, so Agnes helped me to plant it. So I’ll have to come back in a few years and see how big it is!

Over lunch we had a lot of interesting conversations. All the people in the shop are eager to teach me Swahili which is great, so I’m learning lots of words and phrases, and in turn I’m teaching them about the United States and little things about history which they like. Daniel was curious to know about “these red Indians living in USA” so that made for interesting conversation!

After lunch we got back to work, continuing with our prototype. We’re almost done with the most critical module and it’s looking good so far. They are very skilled with the machines, and can make the parts very quickly.

After work we all took the dalla-dalla back to town, and then Daniel, Wenxian, and myself went for dinner. I had samaki and chips which is fish with French fries.

Just after we returned to the hotel the electricity went out, but I was lucky to have my awesome wind-up flashlight courtesy of M+D’s trip to the LL Bean outlet. It has flickered back on a few times but I’m not sure it’s here to stay, so I’m taking it as an excuse to go to bed early! Goodnight!

June 3, 2007- First Full Day in Arusha

I met Daniel and Joseph this morning for breakfast. Maybe I just wasn’t that hungry, or maybe I was still jet-lagged, but I just could not finish my breakfast! Luckily Daniel was happy to help me out ;-)

After that we headed to this amazing craft village where I could have easily spent the entire day (and my entire life savings). I decided that I wouldn’t buy anything today, as I have two months to do so, but I started making a big list of things I want. It’s just so cool!
We made one more stop in town at the ShopRite, which is essentially a large supermarket. Ironically, this was the first place that I saw other tourists.

Next we went to pick up Wenxian who had arrived by bus from Moshi, and went to the hotel to drop his things. After taking care of that, we headed to a cultural museum where I learned all about the evolution of man. At least the Africans believe in evolution! Then we came back to the hotel for a small lunch, which Daniel would later tell me had really filled him up!

Daniel took us to an internet café just up the road from our hotel which was good, but they didn’t have wireless, so I had to use their computer. Which is why all these blog entries will be posted very late, and I have not been able to send pictures yet. Here I am in Africa wondering where the wireless internet is. Pretty funny.

I had asked Daniel if I could meet his family sometime, so off we went up through the mud to his house, where we met his wife and his one-year-old son also named Joseph. His wife was soooo nice! She didn’t speak any English, but I did my best with my limited Swahili and she was all smiles. And their son was so cute! I had brought some small matchbox cars, which he loved and raced around the room. We soon found out that Joseph loves cell phones and will do anything he can to play with one.

We enjoyed their company for quite some time, and then Joseph (big Joseph!) came to take us out into one of the villages. We visited a Masai village where we got to go for a ride on a camel which was totally awesome! Unfortunately, the other highlight of this village is it’s famous snake park. Yup, snakes. I was brave enough to walk around and look at the snakes behind the glass, but when it came time to put one around my neck, I think I was hiding behind a tree!

By this time it was getting dark, so we headed back into town for dinner. Daniel and Joseph took us to a nice restaurant that was part of a very nice hotel (La Bella Luna something?) where they had a live band which was very entertaining. Daniel knew one of the band members, so he was very excited to play for us. He kept calling me American Woman which made me want to break out into the Lenny Kravitz song, and I even went up and danced with him! Incriminating pictures to follow.

I’ve noticed that it takes a really long time for the food to come out, once you have ordered it. Maybe I’m just used to getting my food quickly though. In any case, it’s nice because you have lots of time to talk with your fellow diners while you wait. And then when the food comes, nobody talks, everybody eats.

I’m now back at the hotel, showered, and ready to go to bed! Tomorrow will be my first day at Mobility Care and I’m very excited! Daniel will meet us in the morning to help us with the public transport (the dalla-dalla) bright and early! Unfortunately I can’t find my cell phone charger anywhere so I’m a bit worried. I had it in my hand this afternoon and now it’s gone. Hopefully it will turn up in the morning.

More to come tomorrow!

June 2, 2007- Arrive in Kiliminjaro

It was the most amazing smell—so clean and pure. We finally landed at Kilimanjaro, an hour late, and then it took almost another hour to purchase my Visa and make my way through immigration. Luckily my bag was waiting for me, so I picked it up and headed out into the waiting area to find Daniel. There were about 30 people all waving signs of different safari companies and I have to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed. Suddenly, off to the side I saw a sign that looked familiar. “Tish Scolnik.” Wait a second, that’s me! There was Daniel waiting for me! After a very warm welcome, he introduced me to two friends of his—Zachary and Joseph—who had also come along to welcome me. Joseph has a car, so when Daniel needs a ride, he’s his main man.

We ventured out into the warm Tanzanian night, bound for Arusha. I entertained Daniel and his friends with my very limited knowledge of Swahili, and before I knew it we were in town. After a quick stop at the ATM so I could get some T. Shillings, we arrived at the place where I would be staying, The Annex Hotel. It’s a very simple room but it has everything I need, including my own bathroom and shower, all for under $10 a day (and that’s for a double!)

I asked Daniel about getting a SIM card for my phone, upon which he promptly pulled several from his pocket! I picked the prettiest one and put it in my phone. Then we added minutes by purchasing a card from the hotel reception. Crazy!

I was all set to just unpack my things and rest in the room, but Daniel insisted that I must be hungry and I think he was right! So off we went again, this time in search of a meal. Mind you it was close to 10:30PM by this time! After a short drive we arrived at a lovely local place, where I advised Daniel that perhaps he should just order something for me, as everybody was babbling away in Swahili and there was not another tourist in sight. Talk about cultural immersion!

The four of us shared a large platter of kuku (chicken) and chips (French fries). Before the meal started a man came around with a large pot of hot water which he poured over your hands so you could wash them (he did this again at the end which was perfect seeing as I had just eaten chicken with my bare hands). They were very excited for me to try a real African beer, so I indulged and tried the lightest one, Tusker, complete with an illustration of an elephant on the bottle. (I kept the cap as a souvenir).

I wish I had taken my camera with me! Our waitress was the sweetest woman who didn’t speak a word of English, but who (through translation) I found was super excited to be serving a tourist like myself. I even got a special handshake from her when the meal was over!

Now I’m back in my room, trying desperately to figure out how to dial internationally. Mom and Dad, I’ve been trying forever to call you but it doesn’t seem to work. Maybe I have the country code wrong? Nobody at the hotel here can figure it out, so it will have to wait until the morning. Hope you aren’t too worried!

For now I think it’s time for bed, even though it’s only 7PM at home. Daniel is coming for breakfast at 930, and Wenxian will arrive at 11 so I will have lots of company tomorrow!

Saturday, June 2, 2007

Welcome to Amsterdam! I finally arrived here at Schipol airport after a two hour delay in New York. I managed to fall asleep shortly after boarding the plane, and when I woke up an hour later we were still sitting at the gate! Then the captain announced that he didn’t know how much longer we would be, but if he had to make an estimate he would pick one hour. They had to turn off the engines to conserve fuel, upon which it became stiflingly hot. That’s when I met Incredibly Smelly Dutch Woman. ISDW was seated across the aisle from me, but decided to put her things in the bin above my head. Unfortunately for me, ISDW was wearing a cut off tank top, so every time she went into her bin, her incredibly smelly armpits stared me in the face. Luckily we took off after about two hours of sitting on the runway, and I was on my merry way to Amsterdam.

In about an hour I’ll be boarding my plane to Tanzania, and I can’t wait! I’ll write more when I get there!

Hujambo!

2007-06-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Hi everybody! I've been here in Arusha for a few days now and it's absolutely amazing!! I wrote some very long blog entries on my laptop, but to use the internet I have to go to the internet cafe, so right now I can't post them. But I wanted to write something to quick to let you all know that I'm alright and that I'm having an amazing time!!

Expect lots more to come soon!!

First Post!

2007-05-15T19:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog! This is the first of hopefully many posts to come, detailing my adventures in Tanzania this summer. I have to get through final exams next week, but it's pretty hard to focus when I have so much to look forward to! After a trip to Metropolitan Pipe, a few hours in the lab last night prototyping our design on SolidWorks, and a late night order to McMaster, we're ready to put it all together! We'll be machining and welding within the next few days (which I'm pretty pumped about!) so look for pictures of that soon!