Going off the grid for a while...

As we get ready to fly out of Dar es Salaam and head to Kilimanjaro, I have said my final goodbyes to most of my friends I have met and turned in all of my technology. I will be phoneless and internetless for the next 10 days while I am climbing Kilimajaro and I am on safari. I wanted to leave you with my schedule so while I am not in contact you can try to imagine where I am and what I am doing. 

We fly to Moshi, Tanzania tomorrow at 4pm and stay in a hotel for the night...and then the adventure begins and here is the itinerary that we were provided by our tour operator:

Tuesday, November 29th

Arrive at the Kilimanjaro or Dar es Salaam International Airport. You will be met at the airport and transferred to the Springlands Hotel or similar hotel in Moshi for your overnight.

Wednesday, November 30th

After breakfast and a briefing from your guide, leave Moshi at 9 AM, drive for 45 minutes to the Marangu Gate on the eastern side of Kilimanjaro, register with the national park, and begin hiking at 10:30 AM. In the rainforest, look for towering Eucalyptus trees, bird life, and Colubus monkeys. At these lower elevations, it can be wet and muddy, so gaiters and trekking poles will help. Shorts and t-shirts should be sufficient, but keep your rain gear and warmer clothing handy. Stop halfway for lunch, and reach the Mandara Huts at 2 or 3 PM. Unpack, rest, and have some tea or coffee. A 15 minute side trip to Maundi Crater is a good way to see the surroundings including Northern Tanzania and Kenya. Dinner is served during the early evening at 7 PM. Bathrooms with running water are available.

Thursday, December 1st

Wake to a 7:30 AM breakfast, and pack for your next trek. Break camp by 8:30 AM, hike for an hour through rainforest glades, then follow an ascending path through heathland where you can look for giant lobelias and groundsels. Continue up into open moorlands where small shrubs are the main vegetation. Stop halfway for lunch, where you can enjoy amazing views of Mawenzi. Arrive at the Horombo Huts by 3 PM, where you can see Kibo’s summit. Rest, unpack, and prepare for dinner. Bathrooms with running water are available. 

You may start to feel the effects of altitude here, and to aid your acclimatization, you can choose to spend an extra day resting at Horombo or climbing to a basecamp below Kibo’s sub peak Mawenzi.

Friday, December 2nd

Wake to breakfast as usual, but if you wake early you can get some great photos of the sunrise. The first part of the day’s hike climbs through the dwindling heathland that blends into a moonscape as you enter the sweeping saddle connecting Mawenzi and Kibo. When you stop for lunch, and later when you cross this surprisingly large saddle, you can examine the summit climb up Kibo that you will be starting in just a few hours. Be careful to notice any signs of altitude sickness. There is no running water at the Kibo Huts.

Saturday, December 3rd

Wake at midnight to a light breakfast, then prepare for your summit ascent. The goal is to climb before dawn so that you can reach Uhuru Peak shortly after sunrise. Leave at 1 AM, switchback up steep scree or possibly snow, and reach Gilman’s Point on the crater rim at 5,861 m/18,640 ft between 5 and 7 AM. Here, views of the fabled crater and its icecaps greet you. Another 2 hours of hiking along the crater rim near the celebrated snows takes you to Kilimanjaro’s true summit, Uhuru Peak, by 9 AM. This is Africa’s highest point, and you would have to travel more than 3,000 miles toward the Himalayas to find a higher peak! Be sure to have your picture taken at the summit to show your friends. After your summit stay, descend back to the Kibo Huts, have lunch, rest, collect your things, and re cross the saddle to the Horombo Huts. Eat dinner and get some well-deserved sleep! 

You do the beginning of this climb in the dark with headlamps or flashlights. It will be very cold until you start descending, so you will need all of your warm layers. This is, by far, the most difficult part of the trek. Slowly slowly, or, “pole pole,” and an optimistic attitude will get you there!

Sunday, December 4th

Wake as usual, pack, and descend through the moorland to the Mandara Huts. Have lunch there then continue your triumphant recessional down through lush forest to the park gate, which you should reach around 2 or 3 PM. Remember to tip your guides, cooks, and porters since you will be leaving them here. A vehicle will take you back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi, where it is definitely time for celebration!

Monday, December 5th

The drive from the Springlands Hotel to Lake Manyara National Park takes about 4 hours. After having a picnic lunch in Manyara, you start a late afternoon game drive, which is the best time to view animals in this park. When you approach it from the east, the Rift Valley escarpment looms on the horizon forming an impressive backdrop to the lake. In the tall trees of the ground water forest, monkeys leap from branch to branch, and on the escarpment, elephants stand in the shade. Other animals frequently seen are zebras, impalas, monkeys, giraffes, buffalos, hippos, and others. Overnight at the Highview Hotel or the Twiga Campsite – full board.

Tuesday, December 6th

The drive to Serengeti National Park via Olduvai Gorge takes 3 to 4 hours. Olduvai Gorge is an archaeological site located in the eastern Serengeti plains, in which early human fossils were first discovered. It has an amazing landscape that resulted from the same tectonic forces that created the Great Rift Valley millions of years ago. Then in the late evening, drive to and overnight at the Ikoma Wild Camp or Seronera Campsite  - full board.

Wednesday, December 7th

After breakfast, venture into the Serengeti’s wilderness corners for a full day of game viewing in the park. With a picnic lunch beside you, take your leisure while exploring this world heritage site, where earth’s largest concentration of plain game still roams free! In the late evening, go to the Ikoma Wild Camp or Seronera Campsite for rest, dinner, and overnight.

Thursday, December 8th

After breakfast, drive to Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive inside the crater. This is the best place in Tanzania to see black rhino as well as prides of lion that include the magnificent black-manned males. There are lots of colorful flamingoes and a variety of water birds. Other game that you can see includes leopard, cheetah, hyena, other members of the antelope family, and small mammals. In the late afternoon drive to Highview Hotel or Simba Campsite for Dinner and overnight.

Friday, December 9th

The drive from the Highview Hotel to Tarangire National Park takes two hours. This park is spectacular in the dry season when many of the migratory wildlife species come back to the permanent waters of the Tarangire River. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, elands and Oryx gather to stay in Tarangire until the onset of the rain when they migrate again to good grazing areas. In the late afternoon, drive back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi.


Saturday, December 10th-12th
We fly from Kilimanjaro to Stonetown in Zanzibar.


Tuesday, December 13th 
We will catch a ferry back to Dar es Salaam and catch our plane at 11:35pm, arriving home at 3:35pm on Wednesday, December 14th.

See you soon friends and family! xoxo

Tutaonana Morogoro

As my time comes to an end here in Morogoro, I am saddened to say goodbye but proud to see the change we have made in the lives of the people we have worked with. As my first development project, this experience helped me dispel myths and stereotypes about international development and Africa. Although this experience has shown me I am maybe not ready for a career in international development, it has also reignited a spark and a drive to follow my true passion of advocacy. Whether that will be advocating for children, women, people living with special needs, visible minorities, LGBT individuals, or any other person or group in need, I know that I will continue to support others in a capacity to help them see the best in themselves and life. Every day is a gift.

We met a little 11 month-old in a remote village in the mountains and her little hand would not let go of my HIV awareness dog-tags. It was almost too much.

My experience here in Tanzania has been invaluable. To put into words how this experience has and will continue to affect my life and decisions is a very hard thing to do. I started this blog with a famous quote by Gandhi, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” and now I understand the quote in a whole new meaning. 

 We were the first group of volunteers in YCI's new office in Kilakala, Morogoro and we decided to leave our mark and provide our youth, staff and future volunteers with a sense of who we (YCI) are, why we are here and the beauty of what we do. Julie and I with the help of Duncan and local youth painted a mural to welcome people into YCI's space and offer them not a sight but a feeling of what our home is about. Using a book from home as inspiration, we painted a mural in the hallway. We chose a tree as it is a symbol of growth and strength. A tree alludes home and they are recognized as a sign of life. With its deep roots and exposed limbs trees teach us to hang onto to where we came from and to use that as a base for reaching out into the world and experiencing what life has to offer. As a sign of health, environment, and growth (education), our tree represents our values and where they meet and blend with those of Youth Challenge International. Volunteer. Innovate. Change.

Julie and I hard at work painting our mural

Painting complete and ready for clean-up

Our youth helped us with the opposite wall of words related to YCI and why we are here!

 On Thursday, we held an open house to welcome our partners, volunteers, peer educators, and community members to our new office and express our thanks for their help and open arms. It was a great opening/send-off that included smiles, laughter, and an impromptu dance-off between our drama group, peer educators, and us white people. While the first two groups performed with amazing talent naturally, we decided to make a last minute download of Cotton-Eyed Joe and showed our African friends our “special” moves. They laughed, some children cried.

I got to play with Christian at our open house, one last time. He is too cute and will be missed.

With our hearts on our sleeves we had our last dinner with Mama, Nasreen and Dula and I was very happy to hear one of my duck friends were not the main course! I also said my good-byes to those loyal, web-footed friends of mine I spent so much time getting to know. I will miss Mzungu, Mumble, Gloria, Thing One, Thing Two, Bruce Wayne, Ashes, Julie and Duncan. While I lost Joe, Michelina, and Bobby Joe to the stomachs of the meat-eating members of our household, I will remember them as good friends who sacrificed their lives for the satisfaction of Duncan and Julie’s cravings for meat.

Duncan, Mama Jasmine, Me, Nasreen, and Julie. My Morogoro Family.

The people I have met along this part of my journey will forever have an impact on my life as I will continue to reflect on my time here in Morogoro. I have had the privilege of working with some amazing youth during my time here, who want nothing more than to better themselves, their communities, and their country. From the lessons in selflessness of Frankie to the motivational drive for change of my girls’ club in Chamwino, I hope to bring my new found respect and love for life home to Canada and to share it with all of you.

I want to say thank-you to all of you who helped me get here, those who supported me while I was here, and to those of you who will take this opportunity to examine your own life and maybe reflect on just how much we have, and how very little we need. As I say my goodbyes to underprivileged children and youth and I see how happy and grateful they are for how little they have, I am on the brink of tears out of true enlightenment to life and why we exist.

Joseph and I comparing skin colour, hand size, language and culture and yet we laugh, smile and tickle the same way.

I leave Morogoro having learned so much from so many but the one rule I will live my life by is to love unconditionally, no matter what. Family, friends, people, community, country, health, sun, rain, moon, animals, food, water…and the list can go on. Love life unconditionally and no matter how long you live for it will be a life of purpose and satisfaction knowing that every day you lived and that you were grateful for that because that is enough.

Tutaonana Morogoro, meaning we will meet again.

For now it is goodbye.

Asante.

Rafiki yangu, your friend,

Ben

Girl Power

 YCI has been working in partnership with Faraja Trust Fund for a while now and in past volunteer phases our volunteers have worked with the Faraja Girls’ Club in Chamwino. For our time here we didn’t really have any direct programs planned involving the Girl’s Club but after we met this unique group of girls and they expressed such an interest in learning from us and helping their community, we couldn’t resist.

Anna (she's fierce), Myself, Mwanahawa (President of the Girls Club), and Joyness (YCI local volunteer)

The Faraja Girls Club is made up of twenty female youth from the Chamwino community. These girls are intelligent, motivated and passionate. Not all of them completed school and some are living in hard conditions but their dedication to meeting once a week and working with little resources to benefit women and their community is something to admire.

Me and my girls after their Small Business Training

 One area CIDA and the Global Youth Partnership is focusing on is Environmental Sustainability. I conducted a knowledge assessment of the girls in the club and discovered there was not only a lack of knowledge pertaining to the environment but also a lack of awareness regarding the link between our environment and our health. The girls recognized that they knew little and made it very clear they wanted to know more.

I designed a workshop on the environment and environmental sustainability. The girls participated in the active learning seminar to increase their knowledge of our earth, air and water and how our environment affects our livelihoods, health and community. 

Environmental Sustainability Workshop - unfortunately we would have more pictures but our photographer dosed off during the training.

After the training was complete, I proposed the question to the girls, “how would you like to use your new knowledge and how can we help you succeed?” They expressed an interest in a community event of some kind so that they could share this information with their family, friends and community. We planned to hold a community clean-up event for November 11, 2011 (Remembrance Day), which was just another day here but for me it was an even bigger reminder of how much freedom I have today thanks to the dedicated and selfless men and women of the past. It is because of the freedom we have in Canada that I am able to be here, helping others, a world away.

The girls expressed an interest in making signs, banners, posters, etc., to promote the day’s events. We supplied them with everything they needed to do so and as the “cherry on top,” we had t-shirts made up at a local shop for the event. These girls are amazing young women and they will make a difference in their community and country. Gender roles in Tanzania still present a gap of inequity between men and women and empowering these ladies to “change” (not themselves but their community, country, and beyond) is an awesome experience. The t-shirts had “Girls Club” on the front with YCI logo and on the back, “Mazingira Bora, Maisha Bora,” which translates to “Better Environment,  Better Health.”

 

The girls, one 7 months pregnant, some dressed in fierce heels, collected 15 bags full of garbage from the area around their community with the help of us and local volunteers. As we picked up garbage, neighbourhood children came running and joined in, community members expressed their gratitude, and the girls gleamed with pride.

Never thought I could be so happy picking up garbage!

Neighbourhood children joined in and made the experience that much more successful!

It was a team effort - Girls Club, YCI and local volunteers

The Girls and their garabage, or triumph it depends on how your look at the world.

I am going to miss my girls from Chamwino but I know they will continue to help themselves, their family, their friends, their community and their country. To have so little and to dream so big is something we can all gather inspiration from.

A Day in the Life

So, I am pretty far into my experience here in Morogoro and I thought I would share what my typical day looked like for all you people back home (who have probably started scraping the frost from your windows in the morning on your way to school and work).

I usually wake up at 5:30-6:00 to sounds of the local roosters and the bright sun that shines through my window. I start every day by greeting Dada Diana as she feeds the ducks, prepares our tea (homemade black tea with freshly picked/crushed lemon grass) and washes the dust from the entire house. I like to take my time in the morning, sometimes taking my tea (and my malaria pill) outside to enjoy the morning sun and watch the clouds dissipate from the peaks of the mountains. I “enjoy” the standard breakfast of a freshly baked bun and Blue Band (it’s a margarine like spread, a couple ingredients away from plastic, subtitled “medium fat spread” on the container) with my second cup of tea and then get ready to head to work.

Sometimes when we are really lucky, instead of bread and butter, we get fresh fruit (papaya, finessi (jackfruit) and banana). To the left you will see our homemade tea with lemongrass and my anti-malarial.

Julie and Duncan rise a little later and sometimes I tend to walk to work alone, enjoying my time to enjoy the sights along the way. I find people are a lot more friendly if I walk by myself, as they are a lot less shy to say “Mambo?” or “Habari za asibuhi?” to one lone white person than a group of three English speaking mzungus. I walk past the chickens in the brush of the forest with their chicks tossing fallen leaves aside to forage for food and sometimes meet the odd cow or goat along the way. I have my favourite duka (store) that I like to stop at for a “Maji Kili Kubwa” (big bottle of Kilimanjaro water) and sometimes a fresh and ripe “Chungwa” (orange). The store clerk usually sees me coming down the road and greets me from a distance as “Hey Mista Beni” (most Swahili words end in vowels and so people tend to add an a, e, or i to the end of my name, it’s charming). He tries his best to say the few words he knows in English and I use my limited Swahili to find out how his morning is going. From there it’s a short walk down the dusty red road to my office.

When I get to work I am greeted by our boisterous grounds keeper, Babu Boko (Grandpa Boko). After unlocking the gate with a great skeleton key, it is very necessary to walk through the three rooms and open all of our windows to let the little morning breeze carry away the stale hot air from the night. Depending on the programming for any given day, sometimes if we don’t have training or programming, this is when I will take my quiet time alone in the office with our shared internet stick and only fully working computer to answer emails from back home and update my blog. Julie and Duncan usually join me in the office shortly after and we start our work day.

YCI's office in Kilakala, Morogoro

Julie and I in our office probably the first week in TZ. Still new at things. Notice how short the door frames are. Now imagine how often I hit my head passing from one room to the next.

Unless we are hosting a training session or have meetings in town, we usually use the mornings as planning time, taking advantage of the lack of activity. From there we might have to run errands in town, which range from getting photocopies made, to buying water/snacks for training sessions, or connecting with local groups to discuss our projects. A trip to town is a 20 minute daladala ride, 300tsh each way and if you are planning to head into town you make sure you are able to run a bunch of errands because it is a journey to get to town, get around town, and return back to the office.

Duncan and I hard at work planning, in our quaint office built for three.

The daladala "stand" downtown Morogoro Town.

 We try to go home for lunch as much as we can but with our projects we usually only make it home twice a week. When we don’t go home for lunch, we usually go for “Wali na maharage na mboga” (rice, beans, and greens), my favourite. There is small house around the corner from our office called the Lome Tea Room. The girls there really know how to cook beans and rice and they are super friendly to us when we need to eat (usually in a hurry).

A couple days a week we travel to Chamwino to facilitate the WASH clubs with the three primary schools and our peer educators. This means we are finished in the office by 12:30pm, we go and grab a bite to eat and start our journey to Chamwino. Chamwino is two daladalas away from where we work and the daladalas that drive out to Chamwino are in worse condition than those we regularly take to and from town. If we are taking a lot of supplies to WASH clubs we can grab a cab; let the bartering begin. Taxis here do not run meters and you have to agree on a fare before you start driving. Automatically, most taxi drivers see us and set the fare extremely, outrageously high. I fire back an amount in Swahili and instantly their facial expression changes to “oh, maybe I can’t take advantage of these mzungus.” We argue and barter until a fair fare is settled, then we head out to the “peri-urban” community of Chamwino.

Julie, Joynec, Me and Frankie in the back of a taxi on our way back from Chamwino.

When we don’t have WASH clubs, we facilitate training sessions at our office or hold group meetings for both our girls’ club and drama group. Programming usually occurs in the afternoon/evening; closing our office at around 5:30-6:00pm. Our walk home usually includes conversation reflecting on the day’s activities and admiration and awe over the view of the mountains. For some reason, they never get old. On the walk to work, we walk away from the view but the walk home, as the sun sets is stunning and marvelous. 

This is Christian, one of the neighbourhood children from around our office. They often sneak in our gates and try to see what the mzungus are doing. Christian likes to play in our dirt pile and he showed up with this John Deere shirt the other day. Too cute.

Julie and Duncan on our walk home from work.

We call out “Hodi” from the other side of our gate or we call dada to come and let us in. As we walk to the house from the gate we try our best to converse with dada as she escorts us back up to the house, greeting my duck friends along the way (we have 9 now and yes I have named them all). By this time Mama is home from work and Nasreen is home from school. After greeting everyone and debriefing on our day, we all head off for some needed quiet time, which always includes a shower (cold but needed). As you sweat during the day you skin becomes a magnetic for the red dust that floats in the air when a car or truck flies past you. We all come home looking like we have just received a Jersey Shore spray tan.

Once clean and refreshed, I visit with mama, read my book, play with the ducks, help Nasreen with her homework or try to check some e-mail before sitting down to dinner at about 7:30pm. Between Mama and Dada, we are spoiled when dinner comes. Although dinner is simply a starch, a main dish and a piece of fruit, they somehow blow our taste buds away with their different seasonings and spices. Nasreen usually picks me a fresh hot pepper for my dinner, and laughs when I tear up in the heat of the pepper. 

I forgot to wash my hands after cracking my "pilipili" (hot pepper) open at dinner and I touched my eye. Nasreen thought it was the best thing in the world but it was probably one of the most painful things I have experienced.

Julie and Duncan tease me that I am like an old man because after dinner I usually get ready for bed, crashing at around 9:00-9:30pm. Getting up early and not stopping all day is draining and I enjoy getting my 6-8 hours of well deserved/needed sleep. I usually journal/blog or think about home a little bit as I fall asleep to a few favourite playlists on my ipod (one in particular is very nostalgic and leaves me with a smile on my face as my eyes close for another day away from home).

Blogging before bed under my mosquito net of course.

Escape to Zanzibar

Youth Challenge International currently has volunteers working in three different regions in Tanzania: Arusha, Morogoro and Zanzibar. As you probably read in my previous post, we all traveled to Tanzania together and spent a few days getting to know each other before we split up and traveled to the three very different and equally unique project locations. On our last night in Dar es Salaam, we agreed that we would try our best to meet up half way in Zanzibar to reunite and spend a day or two on the Indian Ocean.

From Left to Right: Makho (Manager in Morogoro), Duncan, Julie, Shaib (Manager in Zanzibar), Avishka, Adriana, Christine, Tasha, Me, Nicole, and Linda (Manager in Arusha) - Taken our second day in Tanzania before we split up

The girls in Zanzibar (Christine, Adriana, and Tasha) were able to set everything up for a great weekend on the north coast for us, as team Morogoro and Arusha took care of our own travel and transportation to the island.

Our journey started by wrapping up programming last Thursday afternoon and catching a three hour bus ride from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam. Julie, Duncan and I landed in Dar at about 7pm and caught a taxi to our hotel, the Jambo Inn. By Canadian standards it would probably be considered a really nice hostel but either way it was cheap and exactly what we needed (three beds and great Indian food).

Our three beds and mural covered room at the Jambo Inn

I awoke to the call of prayer at about 4:30am, as Duncan and Julie slept right through. We all had breakfast and left for the ferry by 7:30am. This past weekend was the Muslim holiday/celebration of Eib, and because 95% of the population in Zanzibar follow Islamic law, we were advised to get an early ferry over to the island. The ferry was a gorgeous boat and there was no question as to whether or not we were going to sit on the upper-deck. We left the port of Dar es Salaam, one of the busiest ports in the world, and set sail for Stonetown/Zanzibar City.

Julie and I on the top deck of the ferry

The Tanzanian Flag

For those of you who don’t know:

Zanzibar is one of three islands off the coast of Tanzania, in the Indian Ocean. Zanzibar (Unguja) is the largest of the three and has a rich but dark history as a central location for the slave trade. Zanzibar was one of the main exporters of spices and slaves from Africa. At the peak of the slave trade there was more than 50,000 African slaves traded out of the island every year through the different slave markets. Now Zanzibar is a World Heritage Site and known best still for its exports of spices but also for its amazing white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.

Coming in to Stonetown

The view of the city from the water was mesmerizing.

We made it through customs and set out to meet up with the girls. From my experience, Stonetown reminded me of an old European city, with its tall buildings, all connected and you have little sense of direction once you venture into the maze of narrow streets. We met an older gentleman who offered his assistance to guide us to the House of Wonders, which was our rendezvous point.

Duncan and I walking the streets, every street quickly looking like the last.

One of the world famous, hand-carved, Indian inspired doors of Stonetown

The architecture was gorgeous.

 Reunited with team Zanzibar, we spent an amazing afternoon exploring Stonetown and had an excellent lunch on a rooftop restaurant called the House of Spices. The Arusha girls (Avi and Nicole), having been the farthest away had to fly in for the weekend and landed at around five o’clock. Once we were all together again we had a daladala drive us to the north coast of the island, destination Nungwi Beach.

Lunch at the House of Spices - Christine, Adriana, Duncan and Myself

Our appetizer was a nice touch and had awesome presentation, definitely picture worthy.

Adriana, Nicole and Myself - Reunited and it feels so good...haha

Arriving after sunset and in the middle of a power outage, the driveway to our hotel/resort was lined with palm trees lit up by torches hanging from the walls. It looked like a movie set or an episode of Survivor. We were escorted by torch light to our thatch-roofed bungalows and then taken to the beach for dinner on the sand!

We slept two to a thatch-roofed bungalow - they were simple, cheap, yet luxurious and exotic!

Myself, Nicole, Tasha, and Julie at the beach-side restaurant

Day two on the island was a lot less activity as we all pretty much headed for the sand (lathered up) and attempted our very best to get rid of our farmers’ tan lines we had accrued over the past five weeks. This being a tourist destination, and not one of our local program locations we were able to show more than our arms and face to the sun.

Nicole and I taking a stroll along Nungwi Beach

Adriana, Myself, Nicole, Christine, Duncan's towel, Julie, and Avi trying to get rid of tan lines.

To the right, the locals call the "really expensive mzungu hotel" and to the left, paradise.

The sand was like baby powder, or possibly whiter and softer; the water, I can’t even describe; the sun was hot and the heat was dry; and the people were more than welcoming and friendly. We spent the day in the sun, and Nicole and I met a friendly tour guide on the beach named Captain Iceman. We talked politics, history, sociology and eventually we talked about his boat. He ran a sunset cruise down the coast in a traditional Zanzibar Dhow boat that would take us out for an unreasonably cheap price by Canadian standards. Instead of taking a taxi to dinner and drinks down the beach we chose to support Captain Iceman and had him cruise us down the coast, at sunset to our destination for the evening. We had dinner, drinks and definitely a lot of dancing to both Bongo Flava and Top 40 hits from back home.

Boat ride in the Dhow on the way to Kendwa (best "taxi" ride ever).

My buddy Nicole and I posing for the camera.

Our sunset and our boat leaving after dropping us off at the beach.

Our daladala picked us up in the morning and on our way back to Stonetown, the rain clouds moved in out of nowhere and we were met with flooded roads and streets at every corner. From the daladala to the awning of a local shop, maybe five feet, we were drenched from head to toe, inside and out. We said our goodbyes as we caught our ferry and the girls headed off to the homestay and the airport. 

After a two hour ferry boat ride from Stonetown back to the mainland, a taxi to the bus in Dar es Salaam, a four and half hour bus ride to Morogoro and one last taxi home, we were still damp from the morning's downpour, tired and ready for bed.

Such a great weekend for the memory books and I am definitely sharing this experience with some amazing individuals.

Avishka, Adriana, Nicole, Christine, Myself and Julie - And Duncan behind the lens again

A Lesson in Selflessness

When we landed in Morogoro, we took a long taxi ride to our homestay, traveling through Morogoro town and down dirt roads as we headed to our homestaty. We came to the big red gate that has become very familiar to us now, and a smiling young man opened the gate for us and welcomed us in. As our taxi drove through the front gate, Makho simply pointed and said, “That’s Frank, he is a local volunteer with YCI.” Little did I know, I would have the pleasure of meeting and working with an amazing person that has yet to put himself before any other individual. 

Our second day here, we found a ripe coconut in our yard and Frank peeled it, cracked it open, and grated the nut out so that we could taste "real tanzanian nazi/coconut"

From the moment we arrived, Frank Kilongola (AKA Frankie or Frank Star) has been a priceless support to us in our time here in Morogoro. From helping us build a bed (so I didn’t have to stay on the floor) to ensuring we had phone credit and his phone number on speed dial, he made sure we had everything we needed to get settled in our new home, lifestyle, environment, community, workplace and country. Sacrificing his time to help us get orientated to Morogoro and life in Tanzania, Frankie took us for a guided tour of the city, providing us with helpful hints and tricks along the way to ensure our health and safety.

Myself and Frank in town running errands for a training session

Frank is the type of person that constantly offers help and aid even when most would not see an opportunity to lend a hand. Casually walking from home to work, he notices you have two bags and he has none, he will politely ask to help and share the task by taking a bag from your hands. This may sound trivial, and even as I type I feel like something is lost transferring my anecdote to page but you get a true sense of how selfless an individual he is. Everyone is equal in his eyes and I have yet to experience anything different.

Frank has been volunteering with YCI for seven months now and still recognizes his commitment by coming in everyday. Not only does he work for us on a volunteer basis but he also commits to a paid job with a local mobile phone company as a sales rep. Working several jobs is nothing new to me as you all know but for a person to commit almost a full work week to help us succeed in our local projects is admirable. 

Myself and Frank riding the Daladala. Frankie was laughing about the fact that these mini-buses were definitely not built for people my size.

You get feel of the impact Frank has on people very quickly as you walk through our neighbourhood (KilaKala) or even downtown Morogoro. Every corner you turn, there is another person smiling and yelling “Mambo Frankie.” He smiles at everyone he meets, and quite frankly, all the time. Even when we were at 6500ft above sea level, having climbed for six hours, in 30 degree heat, breathless, Frank was ahead of us smiling and singing to us to keep us motivated to continue. I think this is when Julie finally broke and asked him “do you ever not smile?!” Frankie automatically began to laugh and said “Of course I do…. Maybe once or twice per month?” If we can all learn one thing from this amazing young man is the power and influence a smile can have on your own well being but on others’ as well.

Frank helped us out with the Play Day for the Home Based Care children. The kids love his loud, dramatic personality.

Everyday you hear people complaining about their life or the people in it. We don’t appreciate what we have or the people in our lives as much as we should. How many times a day do we judge people? If we look at the world through Frank’s eyes, I truly believe that he sees everyone as equal. I am not innocent of this and everyday I spend with Frank, I grow and develop by recognizing my negative thoughts, assumptions, and stereotypes. To this day, I have yet to hear Frankie judge another person or complain about anything. 

Thinking back to our climb to Bondwa peak, I remember when we were only one quarter of the way up the mountain (not very far) and we were in direct sunlight with a temperature over 30 degrees Celsius. We were sweating and breathless already. We came across a young boy pushing his bicycle up the dirt road carrying multiple bags of bread and other staples for his village. Instead of merely walking by, Frank got right in-behind him and helped push his bike and supplies to the top of the road without hesitation. That is when I realized I had met someone who was truly noble and selfless. 

Even as we continued up the mountain and through the jungle, he knew I really wanted to see monkeys, so he climbed a tree and made the best monkey noises he could. Some people might see this as a goofy childish act but for me it further demonstrated his altruistic personality as he is always keeping others in his thoughts and making sure people around him share in his love of life.

Frank the monkey

I have only known Frank for four weeks but already I can see he will have a lasting impression on my life and those around him. His kind acts and genuine personality can be a lesson in selflessness for all of us.

Asante Sana Frankie!