After the second day, going into town I have decided - arusha is an insane city. i have come to the conclusion that it is a china-towne on drugs and will be avoiding it like a plague. the outskirts are amazing and the people are something inspiring. from here -out we will be taking dalla dallas or cabs directly to where we need it... the city is just a lot :)
Last night - we were picked up by a dalla-dalla (all 15 of us in 1 van) and asked them to take is down the winy, rocky road back to our volunteer house. they then picked up two more and we were all squished on laps, barely breathing as we scraped the bottom of the van towards safety.
today, we stopped by our drivers house. slowly watched woman and children cleaning there clothes in the river and met family after family living in 1 room houses and carrying their Jerry cans back from the river. the children look at you with wonder and aspiration. just saying hello and waving puts a smile on their face. he was so honored we came to see his family, meet his son brooklyn and his wife.
the hardest thing to continually watch so - far is the rock quarries. during the week, hundreds of women (massai, etc) and children sit on large rocks with machete-style hammers and chop the rocks into smaller bits to sell. there is a huge rock quarry right by our volunteer house. it's heartbreaking to know, this is all they know...
the food which is prepared for us, is delish although veggies and rice with tomato sauce (i know, this is extremely similar to what i eat pretty much everyday) might get a bit old. breakfast consists of the specialty, fried dough, bananas, fresh pineapple and white toast.
i am amazed by the beauty of these people. the colors of their skirts match the colors of the wild life. the woman carry everything on their heads, from bananas, laundry, shopping bags, etc. i wish i could share these pictures with everyone, but have not had a chance, or really know how to upload them - but have already gone through an entire SIM card. Onto the next!
so far - my favorite culturally learning is swahili time. they start their days at 6 am (when the sun comes up) and that is essentially 12am, as it sets and rises at the same time everyday. so our 1pm is their 6 am. Therefore - if you ask someone to meet you at a certain time, you'll need to clarify american time or swahili time - otherwise you will be waiting for a WHILE. and you do, all the time... time is definitely not of the essence.
until next time...
Last night - we were picked up by a dalla-dalla (all 15 of us in 1 van) and asked them to take is down the winy, rocky road back to our volunteer house. they then picked up two more and we were all squished on laps, barely breathing as we scraped the bottom of the van towards safety.
today, we stopped by our drivers house. slowly watched woman and children cleaning there clothes in the river and met family after family living in 1 room houses and carrying their Jerry cans back from the river. the children look at you with wonder and aspiration. just saying hello and waving puts a smile on their face. he was so honored we came to see his family, meet his son brooklyn and his wife.
the hardest thing to continually watch so - far is the rock quarries. during the week, hundreds of women (massai, etc) and children sit on large rocks with machete-style hammers and chop the rocks into smaller bits to sell. there is a huge rock quarry right by our volunteer house. it's heartbreaking to know, this is all they know...
the food which is prepared for us, is delish although veggies and rice with tomato sauce (i know, this is extremely similar to what i eat pretty much everyday) might get a bit old. breakfast consists of the specialty, fried dough, bananas, fresh pineapple and white toast.
i am amazed by the beauty of these people. the colors of their skirts match the colors of the wild life. the woman carry everything on their heads, from bananas, laundry, shopping bags, etc. i wish i could share these pictures with everyone, but have not had a chance, or really know how to upload them - but have already gone through an entire SIM card. Onto the next!
so far - my favorite culturally learning is swahili time. they start their days at 6 am (when the sun comes up) and that is essentially 12am, as it sets and rises at the same time everyday. so our 1pm is their 6 am. Therefore - if you ask someone to meet you at a certain time, you'll need to clarify american time or swahili time - otherwise you will be waiting for a WHILE. and you do, all the time... time is definitely not of the essence.
until next time...
Jess,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say that this is so inspiring and beautiful. Keep on writing... its amazing!
Love,
Pam.