Turning 30 years old in a third world country is a unique experience-one I will always remember. Birthdays to me are very special, especially big ones. I am sure you can all think back and remember turning 30 or 21 or 16 or 50-they are big years, ones marked by responsibility, the feeling of becoming yourself, the ability to look back and see where the road had led you so far, dropping you here at this moment, right now. I have just stepped out of the van marked “Lindsey in her 20s”. I can see it now parked on the curb as I enter into the new, shinier car, the one with new features, better a/c, a sunroof, and a good sound system. The windshield is cleaner, the gears shift a little smoother, and the brakes are strong and touchy. I have a lot to be thankful for. I have had amazing experiences, opportunities, friendships, loves, and jobs. I have met so many cool people along the way, sharing stories, jokes, tears and hardships. I know me better than I ever have before. As Jonah would say, “I am the oldest I have ever been,” but I feel young and strong and confident. Thank you to all of those who sent me birthday greetings, phone calls and love. In my pictures and in my stories this time I will share with you the last couple of weeks at the school, celebrating on Zanzibar, and life in Tanzania (notice the man on the back of the motorcycle carrying a mirror-I could devote a whole roll of film to awkward, dangerous and amusing items stacked, carried or hauled by motorbikes or bicycles-one of my favorites is a man peddling a bike, with a guy on the back holding a bike!). There are some pictures of my house here in Morogoro included as well that a guest took-I always forget to take pictures of my own dwelling as I see it every day. Enjoy!
The return trip to Zanzibar was easy as pie compared to my first visit. The night before I had a reunion with my friend Toby, who lives in San Fran when he is not in Tanzania. A mutual camp friend had connected us on my last trip and it was nice to see him again. He is here doing a solar panel project in the Dar Es Salaam area. So on Saturday I met up with Sandra and her friend, Willamika, who has been volunteering at a hospital here in TZ, studying different kinds of bacteria and diseases. Since I first arrived I have been looking forward to the Sauti za Busura Festival, (Voices of Wisdom) a five day music festival honoring East African musicians, performers and dancers. We missed the first 2 days of the fest but were delighted on Saturday and Sunday night to see acts from Tanzania, Pemba, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique ( we also missed the last day as it was held on a beach far from Stone Town and we had to get back to work). It was a proper festival held in the old Fort of Zanzibar. The music was incredible, the live dancing so amazing I cannot put it into words and the crowd was like any festival crowd-diverse, beautiful and there solely to dance and bask in the beauty of music. Sandra, my housemate, loves to dance as much as me so we danced through the music fest and then went to late night clubs and danced until dawn. In the pictures you can see some of the performers. The Ugandan dance company was by far my favorite. They are a group of young street kids that have come together forming a troupe of incredible and talented dancers-I couldn’t keep my jaw off the ground! African dancers are also thespians and they include so much theatre in their act, so it was very entertaining, funny and astonishing to watch them dance. They can shake their butts as if they were not attached to them at all-as if they are an arm or a leg-even our students are really good at this. In the photos you will also see an Ethiopian woman dancing with some white band members. If any of you recognize them it is because they are good friends with all of us Vermonters. After the Debo Band performed I spotted their tuba player in the crowd and asked where he was from in the states. The band is based in Boston, but many of the crew is friends of Bread and Puppet and the Bremintown Gang-it was quite strange and wonderful to be talking Vermont on the exotic island of Zanzibar. Their band studies in Ethiopia, though all but four of them are from the states. We danced with them well into the wee hours of the night.
For my actual birthday I celebrated with my dear friend Yasmin, who I had met at Christmas and Sandra. We drank spiced Masala tea and Yasmin gave me Zanzibarian gifts and a beautiful card made by here 13 year old son. The rest of day was spent traveling. The Indian Ocean and the Tanzanian winds swept me off the island via the boat where the sun shown down on me on the back open end of the ferry. The ocean was calm and I enjoyed the peacefulness and beauty that it brought on my day of birth. Then Sandra and I sweated our way through Dar in a crowded dalla, made our way onto a bus, nearly suffocated the three and half hours back to the mountains of Morogoro and took a cab back to our dear sweet home where Polly was waiting with rice and beans, a bottle of wine and a birthday cake-in the photo I am on the phone with my mama, making a wish for my new year.
The next day the students of SEGA School honored me with a birthday party that consisted of a dance party, tons of cards and congratulations, and cakies-little muffins. They are such sweet girls and I will miss them dearly. It really was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I am really going to miss the life at SEGA School. It is amazing to watch the students improve on their English every day. They are beautiful girls with a ton of motivation and spirit. They have been through so much and now someone has given them a chance. They laugh a lot and it is no nice to hear.
30 new students have succeeded to be chosen to come to SEGA as well. They are now the day students while the other girls live here at the school. They arrived, shy and nervous, in street clothes and with little to no English. They were chosen same as the last group based on poverty, and the desire to continue with their educations. Many have no parents; others that do are not able to afford to send their children to school. They become house girls or continue on to be worse. Every year Polly plans on increasing the amount of students and therefore the actual size of the school. So far we only have 2 classrooms and one dormitory with only 30 beds.
The new students have already had a chance to work in our garden. They are hard working, eager to dig and become part of the SEGA farm. The older girls are now able to help them. It is really cool to see them using the skills that they have learned.
The rains have come-violent, dark storms, powerful thunder, incredible lightening and of course mud. I got caught in a storm the other day and watched in amazement and a slight bit of horror (I was driving) as the roads became rivers, the puddles increased to lakes and the day turned suddenly to night. Earlier the same day a group of International students (ages 11-17) from Dar Es Salaam came in 2 busloads to check out our gardens. The school is a French medium school and the children come from many different places, though only one spoke Kiswahili while the rest spoke French and some English. Our girls were very nervous to meet them, but ended up having a great time getting to know them. Unfortunately the dark clouds and winds blew us from the gardens so we retreated inside out of the fast falling rains. I sent the French students and their chaperons off as I feared they would get stranded here since I know how quickly the roads turn to mush, trapping all kinds of passing vehicles-I once saw a Dalla filled with people stuck on our road and another time I witnessed a motorbike and its two passengers land directly in a mud puddle-pole sana! After the French kids went away a fellow teacher and I braved the roads ourselves and drove to the safety of our homes. But anyways, the rains here mean so much more than muddy roads. Almost every square inch of Morogoro without a house or a road on it is being hoed, dug, plowed, and planted. It is corn planting season and everyone-everyone-is planting corn the traditional way. It is coming up all over the place! I have watched the farmers make a small scuff with the hoe, plant the seed, cover it, walk a few feet, scuff, plant again, walk..on and on. The problem is that they are not truly cultivating so the roots will be shallow and easy to dry out. The traditional methods often burn all the grasses that have been cleared away. They never use cover crops or green manure or really any manure or compost. It also makes it difficult to try and teach Tanzanian students and teachers a completely new and more complex method when they are surrounded by and only know the old ways. But every day I try. We are also planting our own corn crop. We have continued to plant and to dig other crops as well. We have planted an additional 20 banana trees, 2 citrus, 10 papaya, a jackfruit, an avocado, 2 passion trees and a mango.
I have decided to return home to Vermont a month earlier than I had planned, so I have about 3 weeks left here in Tanzania. I will definitely write again before I leave. Thank you for taking the time to read my stories-this is only the beginning!
Much love,
Linz
