15th September

It’s been ages – not entirely because I’ve ben having the most exciting time although I have been having fun.

The first visit to Pub Alberto was 10 days ago and was extremely good fun. I managed to end up giving my email address to rather too many Tanzanian men but fortunately they eother lost it or decided not to email – phew! I also impressed all the young folk with my bump ‘n’ grind which was hysterical.

Kat, Ella and Deborah left last Saturday which was sad. It also meant that the big volunteer house was practically empty especially because Brenda and AnneMarie and Maddie and James went to Zanzibar. I moved in last Sunday and it was largely a physically uncomfortable experience although it was nice to have company and the girls were so lovely. They also seem quite happy to put up with my agedness in fact they refuse to believe I am so old!

Lessons have been mixed. Have had some good moments and some where I have been tearing my hair out thinking that they will never get it.

At last I have finished my Swahili lessons. Mostly I have enjoyed them but sometimes two hours if intesive Swahili is the last thing you want to do at the end of the day.

The generosity of AnnMarie and Brenda has meant that we’ve had some fantastic moments this week. They are two absolutely adorable Northern Irish girls who did a lot of fundraising and preparation for their trip. Both of them managed to raise enough money to each build two new classrooms for their projects – for Brenda it’s actually a whole new school because the current classroom is a wooden shack/old flour bags combination which also serves as the local video viewing room. Neither of the projects actually managed to get finished whilst they were here (one of the problems is a distinct lack of sunshine this week) so I’m left with the rather large responsibility of getting photos once they are finally completed and handing over large amounts of cash to Tanzanian builders (complete with checking they are not rippig me off etc).

Anyway, in addition to raising lots of money, AnnMarie also persuaded her brothers to part with their old football shirts and we took those down to the Reggae Boys football team on Wednesday. Never have you seen such fine specimens of Tanzanian men! Also they play with one team wearing no shirts (because their shirts are all different colours) – I think this is something that should be adopted on a wider scale – more women would watch football if it was!

AnnMarie’s great aunt and her friends at her old people’s home had knitted lots of blankets and teddy bears so we all went down to an orphanage to give those out. OMG – how I didn’t manage to smuggle out some little brown children I do not know!

The orphanage was actually very well run and not at all depressing, there seemed to be a lot of staff – nuns and trainees and all the children were clean and seemed quite happy but they went mad for attention and cuddles especially from five white girls who were all too delighted to give them as many cuddles and hugs as they could handle. Apart from enjoying cuddling these very adorable children it was lovely to experience some real human contact – you forget how much you need a cuddle from time to time.

Last night there was a slight trauma because Maddie got really sick and ended up being rushed to hospital. She’s had stomach problems for a while and they had got so bad that she and James came back from Zanzibar early so they could go to the hospital in Moshi. They went yesterday and got some medication and she seemed much better but suddenly she got really sick. She was really hot, was having spasms in her arms and legs and was just screaming in pain. James asked me to go to the hospital with them – the reassurance of an old person in times of trouble! It was all very dramatic because one of the drivers was bringing some people back from a day out and we were just shouting at them to get out of the minibus as quickly as possible then we drove like maniacs to the hospital – not good over really bumpy roads. James carried her in and she was seen straight away. Turns out she was allergic to one of the drugs she had been given and had really dehydrated hence the cramps and spasms. After immense problems finding a vein she was put on a drip and things began to calm down. She was also given some valium which cheered her up considerably! All was well and she was kept in for a few hours to be rehydrated but apparently she got back to the house baout 10.30 and was as right as rain.

All this drama did rather out a dampener on the girls’ last night. So now all of them have left which is quite sad. I’m hoping it won’t get too lonely. I’m sure it’ll be fine because the ‘new’ people are nice although weirdly some of them are leaving this weekend too – it feels like they’ve only been here five minutes and I can’t believe yet another lot of new people are arriving this weekend. Thank goodness we only get new people every fortnight or it really would feel like a revolving door. I really am glad not to be staying in the volunteer house as I think people coming and going all the time would be really unsettling.

I am hoping that some of our group do manage to keep in touch. We’ve arranged a reunion in November which promises to be fun.

So now I am half way through my time here and mostly I can’t believe it’s going so quickly. I’m starting to get in a panic about not having enough time to do things which is obviously madness but there you go. Next weekend I have safari and I also need to organise myself for Zanzibar so I suppose I probably will have less time than I think but I’ve also got the opportunity to have a lot of ‘me’ time without feeling like I shouldn’t be with my friends. I’m enjoying being back in my room with a comfortable (ish) bed, a mosquito net that doesn’t have duct tape covering the various holes and a warm shower (albeit one designed for a munchkin). Goodness knows how I will cope with the luxury when I eventually get back from London.

4th September

More people left today – all quite sad. It’s amazing how quickly you become attached to people. I’m so glad not to be in the volunteer house as I think all this coming and going would really unsettle me.

Did some Maasai teaching today. It’s quite disconcerting teaching someone to read when there is a fuck off knife between the two of you. It has to be said that the Maasai, as a people, are much better looking than Tanzanians. Perhaps that’s why they get treated like second class citizens but I suspect it has more to do with good old-fashioned prejudice. One of the Maasai asked one of the girls (who is just too gorgeous) to be his girlfriend today. Rather excitingly she fancies him so it looks as though the hot night out to Pub Alberto on Thursday just got potentially more exciting.

I don’t know about Paul McCartney’s Frog Chorus being irritating but the real thing is driving me mad – every night outside my window – grrr!

Bloody melga bit my little finger which is also highly irritating.

2nd September

Some people have left already which is quite sad. I will certainly miss Debs as we’d lived together, were the same age etc. Had a rough day yesterday what with saying ‘goodbye’ and feeling hormonal and getting my knickers in a twist about life at home. But the young folk who are still here are trying to include me which is so sweet of them.

Today I’ve had a cracking headache most of the day which has been hideous. It just won’t seem to shift.

Met some new volunteers today which was nice.

Have a feeling I should be getting out there and seeing more of Tanzania but haven’t quite worked out what yet and don’t want to go too wild in the aisles on the cash front.

25th August

Today I went with Deborah and Chris and the teachers from their school to a village further up in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. (Update: the village was near Umbwe). It was Melchori’s (the male teacher) home village and it was just so interesting - a real step back in time to a really primitive way of living except of course it wasn’t a step back in time. it is how these people really live. The village is set in and totally surrounded by banana trees with coffee plants and some sugar cane, there was a river which ran through the village which was really lush and green.

We got there by dala dala which was a reasonably comfortable ride – well at least we got a seat – especially compared to the dala dala Deborah and I took this morning where we were virtually hanging out of the (open) door – eek!

Apparently the village is only visited by mzungus about once a year so we were a total novelty and word soon got round that we were there so people were literally coming out of their houses to look at us – especially the children – we looked a bit like the Pied Pipers of Hamlyn! We came across a school and went inside to see them do a lesson which was so sweet – the children were so nervous. They were speaking in English but you got the impression that they were just saying whatthey had learnt rather than understanding any of it which does seem to be a feature of the Tanzanian education system.

We then went to meet Melchori’s family and realised he really was local boy done good. His mother and two youngest sisters live in what can only be describes as a wooden hut with no electricity, no water – just a tiny hut dividied into a living room and a tiny bedroom where three of them slept on two beds. They were so welcoming. We soon realised thta most of the children who had been following us were cousins, grandchildren or somehow related. He then took us to meet his brother’s wife who runs the local pub which only served banana beer (which she also brewed). We took our lives in our hands and tried some (well I put the cup to my lips and that was about it) – it was wrong in so many ways: it was full of bits, it was made with bananas and local water and served in the most unhygenic and unwashed plastic beakers which got passed from person to person – health and safety it was not!

We also went to a traditional grass hut where a woman was cokking inside – very smoky and dark – her child was sleeping in one corner and a cow was lurking in another. Apparently she was fairly newly married and had to live in this hut away from everyone else for three months before moving into the marital home – don’t quite know where the child fitted in.

All in all it was totally fascinating. On our walk back from town, we got even more in with the locals as we decided to go to one of the bars we pass every day on our walks to and from town – we were literally the only mzungus in the village again and caused quite a stir with the locals which was amusing.

When we got back to the hotel the electricity had gone off and we were both filthy and desperate for a shower so we decided to stay put and got them to rustle up some chicken and chips (minimal vegetables have passed my lips today). The electricity eventually came on but we decided on an early night – I have to say even though I’ve had a shower I am still filthy.

23rd August

Lost my way a bit this morning – well was never really lost, just forgot to take the first turning. Anyway ended up seeing a hole bunch of Maasai doing stick-fighting which was quite exciting plus saw some vultures – can’t decide if they are better then manky London pigeons or not.

In the evening went out with the other volunteers for dinner. Rather amusingly 12 of them turned up in one taxi! Admittedly it was a big old-fashioned Peugeot but I don’t think it was designed to carry 13 adults especially as one of the boys is 6′ 4″! Debs and I also had an interesting cab experience. The porter at the Leopard hailed one for us which we thought was marvellous until we actually looked at this taxi. It’s windscreen looked like a tributory map of the Nile it had so many cracks and Deb sat in the front with a bottle of petrol – no cap on it of course. The indicators were permanently on (although they did switch between left and right for no apparent reason), this was probably a bonus as his headlights had about a 10W bulb so could hardly see anything. This would have been an advantage when we were driving down the track to the hotel as another car was coming towards us and neither was doing much to get out of the other’s way. In fairness to our driver, he might have thought it was a motorbike as the car coming towards us only had one headlight until its driver decided to put on full beam just a few feet away from us – NICE. To complete the Moshi driving experience, the taxi had no suspension to speak of so even on the tarmac road it was bumpy – on the tracks it was bone rattling. Given that we survived and it only cost 5000TSh, it was actually quite funny. (Update 5000 was actually a really expensive cab fare from town)>

21st August

So my first proper lesson. I managed to exhaust them and myslef by 11.30 – three hours is just too much. Hopefully they enjoyed it though.

The thing I was most proud of today though was that I found my way to where I was supposed to be without getting lost – hurrah!

In the evening I went for dinner with Debs and then for a drink with the other volunteers which was nice. As we were coming home, the rain started again which is a bit exhausting. Hopefully it won’t go on all night or it’ll be a mud bath again.

Had the most amazing view of Mount Kilimanjaro at sunset this evening – it really is the mosy surprising and amazing sight. Most if the time it is covered in clouds but when they clear it is incredible. On a less awe-inspiring note, I don’t think my feet will ever be clean – it’s perma-dirt!