Tuesday, 13 November 2001
Here I am in Tanzania and I am staying with my
friend John. It was a long journey overnight on
the bus and I had never end of hassles before
I even got on! Today I have had to travel 4.5
hours just to go to the bank! and then 4.5 hours
to get back!! Needless to say I was having a panic
that I couldn't get money out here either. Tomorrow
we go to Mgumu to stay with John's family and
then after that I head back into Kenya to UCRC!!
I hope I don't have hassles at the border. Musoma
is nice and quiet and yesterday John showed me
around the market etc and I took lots of photos.
Tuesday, 20 November 2001
I am now in Kisumu in Kenya on my way to UCRC
but have only just arrived from Tanzania. After
a few days in Musoma (Tan) I went with John to
Mugumu where his family live. I had a fantastic
time, but spent two days in bed sick as a dog.
No no not malaria, it was some awful flu/chest
infection thing and I have been coughing up my
lungs ever since. HOwever the good thing was that
I had JOhn's family here to look after me and
help me get better.
They are really lovely people,
with overwhelming generosity (especially for people
with so little). I have now been accepted as a
family member and genuinely felt this. Mama John
(what I call his mum) works at the market selling
tomatoes and onions and making beautiful reed
mats. Most of the mats are the size of a table
and take 3 weeks to make. She sells them for $6
only. It is a hard life, but there are always
smiles and tea, and hearty food and I did not
desire for anything (except a new set of lungs).
Pia, our impression of Mugumu was so wrong, and
I am really glad I went back there and met so
many excellent people.
I have spent many many many many hours on local
trasnsport (aaahhhh, I will never complain about
Australian transport again). The roads are awful,
no suspenion in the cars/buses/crazy minvans (matatus)
and you usually have half a seat and zilch leg
room. It is character building!!
I am sad to say that my coca cola
addiction has not abated (but at least I am not
drinking diet coke) Coke is easier to get than good
water. I have tried ugali and eaten a lot of rice,
matoke (green bananas - suprisingly nice), paw paw,
mango, pilau, chapatis (yum) and drunk alot of tea.
I think I have even lost some weight (probably coughed
it all out!)
Visiting John's school was really great and I have
some good pictures to show you all where some of
your money is going. I think you will be very surprised
to see there are almost no facilities. As for the
duplicating machine, UI have arranged for it to
go to Nairobi anjd the school will come and pick
it up in December. They are VERY happy to recieve
something so great since their machine is totally
out of order and they have to walk a few miles to
get any kind of copying done (imagine exam time).
Saturday,
24 November 2001
Well here I am in Ugunja, Western Kenya at
UCRC (Ugunja community resource centre) and
have met up with some fantastic people, both
Kenyans and Mzungus (white foreigners) I am
staying at the house of Aggrey the director
along with other mzungus and it is very comfortable.
I am actually preparing to leave unfortunately.
It takes at least 3-4 days to get used to
the pace of life in this small village of
about 6000 and now I have been here that long
it is time to go. I spent so many days travelling
on local buses from A to B, that it shortened
my time here. I have been staying in the property
of the coordinator of the centre with a few
other volunteers and I have spent some time
with him (Aggrey) talking about how GISa could
be used here. Nothing runs quickly here. I
mean maybe I could get a few hours work done
in one day. But I realise that GIS is so transferable
over the internet that I can continue this
work at home. Having said that, it was ABSOLUTELY
essential that I came here to really suss
it all out and see where my skills could be
used. There is no way I could have a good
idea of the situation here without first hand
knowledge. I think I have some good ideas
of things that can easily be done by me when
I get back to Australia. And one of these
includes some training manuals for Kenyan
volunteers to learn GIS and begin to apply
it to the pertinent issues.
Today I spent a while hand washing and trying
to wash my hair (a challenge here for sure),
then after I arrived in Ugunja I went to the
store and met up with my little rafiki (friend)
Nicki. He is about 2 and so cute, he always
comes up to me and sits on my lap, looking
at my hair and face and all my mzungu features.
Above: Streetside market
A seller came up to me and sold me 8 bananas
for 5 shillings (about 20 cents) and I gave
one to Nicki. He ran back to his parents
who are selling samosas and hot chips in
the market and had a very large smile on
his face! He has a car which he brings to
me each time and I make car noises and he
giggles uncontrollably at the mzungu being
so silly!!
Yesterday was market day here in Ugunja
so the place was buzzing with stalls selling
tomatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, tyres,
torches, watches secondhand clothes, maize,
yummy snackie things, basins, soap, traditional
medicies, small fish, talapia fish, dried
fish, shoe. Everything you can imagine and
at bargain basement prices (much more interesting
than Crazy Clarks)
So tomorrow I get a matatu (crazy driver,
broken Nissan minivan, 10 passengers too
many!) to Kisumu, where I stay for one night,
then get the early bus back to Nairobi on
Tuesday. On Thursday I fly out back to Jo’burg,
stay one day and one night and then back
to Sydney.
Tuesday,
27 November 2001
Here I am back in Nairobi in the city of chaos.
Noise, cars driving everywhere, matatus honking,
screaming out, music blasting, pollution and
pot holes as big as a person. You can't wander
around this city without watching where you
walk and trying to avoid potholes, sleeping
people, rubbish, cars and street vendors on
the sidewalk. But you know I don't actually
mind it here and it is a big contrast to Ugunja.
So I have a couple of days here to tie up
some loose ends and then say bye to Kenya.
Today is the first day I have actually had
any tummy problems. I have plans to visit
some markets if I feel better and stock up
on a few neat gifts (that is if I can get
them, through customs). Last night I had a
girl from the states staying with me and we
went to a Thai restaurant. I am pretty sick
of local food which consists of ugali and
sukuma wiki. Ugali is a mixture of maize flour
and water and is mixed to form a kind of tasteless
cake. The texture is pretty awful and hard
to swallow. Served with this is sukuma wiki,
a vegetable which is an indigenous spinach
and cooked in water with onion. Together these
aren't all that appetising.
Another food which is someyimes served is
chapatis, like pancakes. They are actually
quite yummy and they are served with beans
in a small amount of broth. Food here is pretty
basic and I found myself wandering the market
looking for veges and fruit. A couple of the
other volunteers live in their own dwelling
and are able to cook themselves. I think this
is the preferrable option. Another thing they
lovee here is very sweet very milky tea.
Above: Chilis dried and ready for
cooking
I learnt so much at Ugunja and would highly
recommend it to anyone wanting to experience
something totally unique. I can't wait to
tell you all about it. Some of the people
I met were so excellent and I will be counting
down the days until I can get back to here
and be part of this community again.
Friday,
30 November 2001
I am now in Jo'burg and have arrived at
the same hostel I stayed before. Tomorrow
I have the enormous task of getting this
duplicating machine to Tanzania, since I
had to leave it here when I arrived earlier
in the month. There is so much red tape
here it drives me batty, and no-one seems
to have any idea of what happens outisde
their own country (not least within it!!)
especially in regards ot transport and such
matters.
Above: Asiatic Lion
Above: back in Sydney, Australia
There are some people who donated some money
to the Songe Farmers School and the Ugunja
Community Resource Centre (UCRC). Firstly
a HUUUUUUGGGEE thanks to those people. I
will be having a slide night with drinks
and nibblies to say thankyou, so stay tuned.
In the meantime if anyone is interested
in looking at some photos of the Ugunja
community you can have a look at this website
- http://www.kozka.com http://home.iprimus.com.au/kozka/Resources/FrameSet.htm
Also if anyone feels so inclined and wishes
to donate some money to the UCRC (http://www.users.bigpond.com/ucrc)
please look to the contacts pages where
you will find a bank account details. No
pressure, it is entirely up to you.
Thursday, 6 December 2001
I'm back in Australia now and on familiar
soil. I think the 'down' is coming really
soon. I am already back in the routine of
work and the same old stuff is happening there.
Having been back for a week or so, it has
given me time to reflect about some of my
experiences overseas. Although it was a short
time it was so fulfilling, never let it be
said that you can't experience much in a short
time. I believe it is definitely the WAY you
experience, rather than what you experience
which makes it fulfilling. I know many of
you have travellled to all sorts of places,
both within your own countries and outside.
I would however like to offer some advice,
which comes directly from my reflections.
* wherever you can stay local, get out of
the cities as quick as possible and head for
the towns/villages.
* eat local. THis takes some time to get used
to and I don't say you are gonna like it.
It does however give you an appreciation of
local lifestyles and prompt you to look more
readily into the food production of that region.
This might prompt you to talk to local people
about something they know all about, it is
a good conversation starter. Eating local
is also MUCH cheaper.
* befriend people from a range of backgrounds,
not just ones you can relate to. It is usually
the people you don't click with instantly
that you can learn the most from.
* don't make promises unless you are absolutely
sure that you WILL keep them. It is easy to
feel inspired whilst there and then on your
return, whilst still inspired, get bogged
in the normal activities of your life. A promise
made by a foreigner in developing countries
is often remembered for years, you may be
the only foreigner that person has spoken
to, and those promises can mean alot.
* don't forget to always have a supply of
toilet paper! Most important!!
* ask questions, try asking them in the local
language. If anything you will prompt a good
laugh and break the ice. You might not understand
the answer, but you are more respected for
trying.
* learn the protocols for greeting older people
and respected community members.
* laugh a lot, especially when you feel out
of your depth. If you can take a step back
from the situation and imagine yourself at
home relaying the story to your friends whilst
laughing, then it can't be that bad.
* use the guidebook as just that - A GUIDE.
Community members are often the best source
of information.
