June – August

Late June
Mtwara and Lindi
http://picasaweb.google.com/janey.brodigan/MtwaraLindiTraining#

So this feels like an age away as I’ve been back there and to other places since, but really I should write about it.. at least the good stuff. So what was good?
Being proven wrong; As mentioned in the previous ‘post’ our work there is to support Upper Primary English training in the form of a 3 day workshop. I thought this trip would be a waste of time; too little in the face of great need down there. What we were remitted to organize just seemed so small and insignificant and really not worth doing. And maybe that still stands, but from a purely selfish point of view I learned a lot, met some great people and felt like I made a positive difference to the training.
Great road trip from Mtwara to Lindi; off roading in the 4x4 as the road was being repaired. Spotting some great birds and cruising through some pretty remote villages.
Enjoying the camaraderie of my 3 Zanzibari colleagues: Aboud, Sufiani and Khator.
Meeting Brian, the owner of a beautiful hotel out in Mikindani. Being treated to nice supper and fine company.
Live cockerel in the back of the truck to tasty soup in my stomach within 90 minutes.
Meeting Catherine and her Mtwaran family: husband, Magnus and their lovely adopted children; Caro (4) and Gooddluck (12)
Discovering the joys of ‘The Young and the Restless’ (long running US soap opera). Hmmmm. Not much to do in the evenings!

Mid July
Moshi
http://picasaweb.google.com/janey.brodigan/MoshiTrip#
Hopping onto a bus for a 10 hour bus ride north up to Kilimanjaro. Highlights:
Marvelling at the mountains on the way up
Chatting to lovely Indian-Tanzanian lady and eating kebab together
Seeing John, my VSO friend based up in Maragu, a little town at the foot of the mountain
Being chilly; log fires, red wine, 3 blankets on the bed and socks!
Waterfalls

Zanzibari Wedding
http://picasaweb.google.com/janey.brodigan/ZanzibarianWedding#
Wow.. I was dreading this.. thinking I’d be stuck god knows where unable to leave for house because of:
politeness
lack of transport
But, unlike many UK weddings (!) it was fabulously functional! Strictly speaking I was just invited to the dinner; the ceremony had taken place the day before.
So, anyway.. I was invited by my Zanzibari friend, Fat-Iha, an exceptional English teacher at my nearest school, to attend the wedding dinner of her ex-student. The car collected us around 6pm and took us North out of town, down a sandy path and stopped. We walked the rest of the way through the village to the house. The men were outside and in we went.

We joined a room full of resplendent women and a few babes in arms, obligingly being quiet. We sat on the floor and talked and waited until the bride came in; she was stunning in a yellow gold dress and veil.

Then the food arrived, literally doled out by friends and family; a mound of Swahili bites and snacks. As I was marveling at the prospect of eating such a pile there followed a plastic bag and the women promptly deposited the items in the bag to take home, choosing a small nibble to keep them happy. The intention is that the wedding feeds the extended families of guests as well as those invited. Nice thought.

The extraordinary thing about the bride was that no one spoke to her; she sat on her throne of cushions, surveying the scene, unable or unwilling to eat while all her guests chatted and nibbled around her. When I asked why no one was speaking to her, my friend replied, “Well we’re eating,” Hmm!

The food was swiftly followed by the entrance of the Groom to excited ululations, which to my amazement I suddenly found I could do! He stood looking bashful next to his impressive wife while pictures were taken.

Then we left! In, fed and out again in under 2 hours! Splendid.

Birthday
As I was spending my birthday in the far flung reaches of Southern Tanzania, I had a rather pleasant series of protracted birthday events:
Birthday beers and goat at the classy ‘Prince Chris Gardens’ otherwise known as Mikindani, ‘under the coconut trees’. It’s a nice local joint deep in the heart of the labyrinth of Stone Town. I was joined by some of my town friends and quite an international event it turned out to be: Anna (Austria) and Dis (Tanzania) and other VSO’s Marius (Scotland), Maurice, Gordon, Anthony (all from Kenya) Alice and daughter (Uganda, via UK and elsewhere) Mary (Philippines), Lisenka (Holland) Tim (England). The Americans couldn’t make it. Nice eve.
Safari Blue. My birthday present from Dad was to invite some friends (Marius, Mary and Lisenka) to do a Dhow trip: we were picked up and driven to the South coast; boarded a Dhow (Traditional sail boat) and motored out to he next island; saw dolphins on route; lay and played on beach; ate amazing lobster / Sea food lunch; went out to the sand bank for more play time; snorkeled and put the sails down and sailed back to shore. Magic! Just a great day!
In Mtwara, on the day itself, I was invited by Catherine to dinner at home; lovely kids, nice folks, good food, a beer and a kanga for a present (local fabric- one can never have enough!). Lovely.
On my return, my good friend Micelle took me out to dinner, which was a real treat.. dining on the beach under the stars.. we even had nice wine and did some crazy dancing!
Next day we returned to the beach and, thanks to Mum I had a good old local scrub, traditionally given to brides before their wedding: Sandalwood, rose water, ylang ylang, jasmine.. all in a good black exfoliating mush! Was great fun!
All in all.. 32 seems a pretty fine place to be! J

Mtwara Revisited
So, back again for a week of finishing our work down south. More of the same in terms of training.. all good!

Arriving a the remote Teacher Centre at Libobe was acutely awkward; cars are a rare sight in these parts and I felt a kind of embarrassment at what my friend Marium, Head Teacher of a Primary School there, refers to as ‘these luxury things’.

The undoubted highlight was not having the car or enough cash to taxi out to the remote Libobe Teacher Centre on the last day. So, I went with Marium, who was one of our trainers, on the bus in the hope that the driver would take us the final 10kms off the main road for a little extra. However, it turned out the ‘little extra’ was more than I had in my pocket. So, off we jumped, literally at the end of the road, leaving me thinking, “Err.. what next?” Marium promptly signaled 2 young men on bikes and before I knew it we were off whizzing along the dirt track, perched on the parcel shelf! It was brilliant! There’s so much more you can notice when not in the car. I guess it also made a difference not arriving in a 4x4, at speed, spewing up dirt in my participants’ faces as they arrive on the back of bicycles!

I’m really hoping to get back there for a visit; I met some wonderful people; Marium for one and Modesta, another beautiful and talented teacher. I would love the opportunity to meet their families and visit their schools.

Writing this, I am in Pemba doing training of trainers here. We’ll be back to finish delivery to teachers in October. I leave for home tomorrow and go through the whole process of training on Unguja. Then, hopefully it’s a final, follow-up visit to Lindi and Mtwara.

So I’m looking forward to these last couple of months. Hoping I’ll get some traveling in.

Busy busy J