Ok, Last Time...
Last time mugging...but I can't make any promises...
Ameet's posterous
Safari Pictures Spillover...
VOMIT! speaking of which, i travelled to Dar last Thursday (3/6) on the ferry, aka the barf boat. This trip was particularly rough, and people were yakking everywhere all over the place. The boat smelled like puke, little black plastic bags of vomit lined the aisles, and all you could hear was people hurling into said bags. yea it was gross, i was extremely happy when we reached Dar.
The cheetahs Mlulu spotted in the middle of nowhere. Mlulu radio'ed this out, and there were about 10-15 cars there in a couple minutes, but none when we arrived. It was awesome.
Whatcha looking at, harte beast?
Safari Njema.
A couple weeks ago, my parents and sister came through TZ and we went on Safari through Lake Manyara, the Serengeti, Ngorogoro Crater, and Tarangire. Some quick thoughts/observations:
Lake Manyara:
Cool, until you get to The Serengeti
The Serengeti:
The real deal. Incredible landscape, awesome wildlife, truly spectacular.
Ngorogoro:
Pretty sweet, can see pretty much everything you see in Serengeti, but much smaller. Sorta felt like being in an empty swimming pool....with rhinos...
Tarangire:
Awesome landscape, wicked birds, and more elephants than you can imagine. Ay, and baobob trees!
Here are some pictures from the adventure. I tried my best to edit the collection, apologies for the lack of photographic skills, i tried. This new image editor on posterous is sweet.
...can't get all the pictures to load, last 10 or so on their way...
Gigantic Baobob tree in Tarangire.
Our car and driver, Mlulu. Mlulu was recommended by Andrew, and was awesome. He spotted the Cheetahs out of nowhere in Serengeti, and our radio was off the chain "Mlulu, huko wapi?" (Mlulu, where are you?) I ended up meeting his whole family and getting some delicious Mbuzi (Goat) when I returned to Arusha.
Wish I got a better picture of this bee eater, alas.
Dung Beetle
look closely there's a lion hunting a zebra. in actuality, there were 3 lionesses hunting this zebra, it was gnarly. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery right here, so this is the only snap I got.
Serengeti, we were there during the Wildebeest/Zebra migration, looked like an awesome party to a zebra at, minus the lions knocking off a zebra or two each day.
Zebras, rubbing up on each other in Ngorogoro.
GHC in the News: CNN and The National Press Club
Barbara, holding it down for GHC in DC...
CNN:
National Press Club:
http://press.org/video/player.cfm?type=lunch&id=20067
credit to Autumn for finding the CNN clip, thanks!
safari pictures to come soon...
Asante, Pemba.
Pictures to unload! I just returned from Pemba, the second largest island the Zanzibar archipelago. I'm not going to say much, but Jafari I were there for work, and it was beautiful.
- Jafari getting on the airplane from Unguja.
- The streets of Wete, where we stayed.
- The evening skies of Wete.
- View from my room, DSTV cable included.
- Pregnant schoolgirls are a problem in Zanzibar, and all over Tanzania. This poster from the UN tries to educated and empower girls to prevent the problem.
- Our driver, he's awesome. He's been a government driver since he was 13. Legit.
- Long day, last facility for the day...
- Wete, from the port.
- Jafari and I, rubbing our kitambes (tummies).
- Jafari and I, being cool.
- Hoseana and Jafari, chatting at the port.
- Hoseana at the facility in Bogoa.
- View from the road back to Chake Chake.
- Kids, i dunno what that one is doing...hmmm...
- Who you gonna call!?! i dunno if anybody is going to understand the reference...some of you may...
Zikomo, Malawi
Hello!
Sorry friends, tis been a long time, apologies, I've been busy/lazy. Anyways, in April, I went to Malawi for roughly 10 days, a trip that commenced with my flight from Dar being cancelled, but I made it to Lilongwe, and that's all that matters (although i did have to travel Dar --> Zanzibar --> Nairobi --> Lusaka --> Lilongwe, whistle tips go woo woo!).
The trip was a whirlwind, starting in Lilongwe, driving up to Mzuzu, then minibussing out to Nkata Bay, jumping on the Ilala Ferry to Ruare, hiking 15km back to Usisiya, taking a matola back to Mzuzu, then back to LLW, minibus to Liwonde, and finally to Blantyre! Oof, sounds like a lot, but twas a blast, with the highlight being Ruare for sure. More on Ruare! Ruare is a pretty isolated community that's only accessible through 6-7 hour Ilala ride or hiking 15 km from Usisiya, but there's a lodge there that's essentially paradise. There was no power, and nothing to do but eat, drink, and jump off the balcony into the lake. Yea it was legit.
...and i did NOT see madonna!
Anyways, check out the pictures. Enjoy.
Picture recap:
- Route map of the trip...
- Church in Ruare, it was pretty neat-o.
- On the hike to Usisiya. One of the many groups of children that would great us through each village. Kinda funny, you could hear one kid yell "Mzungu!!" and a couple seconds later kids would run from everywhere to see. It was a little much after a while, but not bad at all actually.
- Emily kicking on a rock in the waterfall in Ruare.
- Me and Jeff in Blantyre at Kamuzu View.
- View from the balcony, before leaping into Lake Malawi.
- The lodge, sort of. There is a view of one of the cottages behind that rock. The deal was, jump off the balcony, swim to the rock, climb the rock, then leap back in. Twas good fun.
- View of the road from Kamuzu View.
- Sunset from Kamuzu View. Couldn't really get a good picture, this is my best attempt.
- The Ilala and I. Courtesy of Emily.
- View of me from the matola. Also, courtesy of Emily.
This is Why I'm Hot.
I'm hot cuz im fly, you ain't cuz you not. Profound words, Mims, I feel ya.
Anyways, the last 2-3 days have been a roller coaster, starting with the power returning on March 8th around 630, then turning off around 730, and returning around 10 (i think?). The following day was highlighted with the power being functional for an hour or two, then being cut for thirty minutes or so; I got the feeling they were fixing some sections of the grid. Background! With the grid being inactive for 3 months, quite a few sections of cable were stolen for the copper, fortunately our home was not affected by the larceny.
So yes, the power was sporadic yesterday, then Zanzibar really let me have it when a surge of power came through and fried my computer. Oh glorious day. Not to mention, this happened 5-10 minutes before a a fairly important call; Zanzibar has really forced me to roll with it, so I rolled.
At this point, the power was working in certain areas of our house, but completely unpredictably, i.e. Jafari would flip a switch in his room downstairs, and the fan upstairs would turn on...We think the preceding could be due to fallen power cable in our front yard. Yes active power sitting in our front yard. Background! A truck took out a power cable a couple weeks ago; we've informed the appropriate parties a few times, it is what it is.
The unpredictability of power within our house was only a temporary issue, since 30 minutes later, the power went out completely for 4 hours or so. This was the most unnerving since it was too late in the day for anybody to be working on fixing the grid. Anyways, it returned.
I found a fundi with a voltmeter who tested my power source, and broke the good news that it was indeed dead, which meant the computer was likely safe. He also had an adapter that matched the specs of mine, so problem SOLVED!
Anyways, the real difficulty in the situation is how drastically and quickly life here changes, without warning, raising hopes, then crushing any sense of them. The ups and downs are really difficult to deal with, but it's cool, it goes.
Photo credit goes to A. Bengtson. She said something extremely funny, I swear. Still smiling, with the lights on.
It's so Bright!
The power has returned, 2 days shy of 3 months! Rejoice! Wonder how long it will last...
Mugging, Again...
GHC + Rwanda + Aka Banga = Best Trip Ever
Hello hello,
I should write more about the GHC retreat in Rwanda, but I'm not really feeling like writing too much, so perhaps I'll include some extra pictures; everybody wins.
So yea, back in January we had our Global Health Corps midyear retreat in Kibuye, Rwanda, and I stayed a few extra days along with Jeffrey (Malawi), Emily (Malawi), Andrew (Tz), and Angie (Tz). Put tersely (can i say that?), it was incredible, Rwanda is an amazing place. We spent 3 days in Kibuye on Lake Kivu and could see the red haze from the volcano in Goma reflect off the clouds, it was surreal. Oh yea, and i fell into the septic hole for the outhouse, then slipped on a rock and fell in the lake with all my clothes on and my phone in my pocket, good times.
We also had a chance to check out the Partners in Health sites in Rwinkwavu and Burera. In Burera, PIH is building a new hospital, and it looks like it's going to be nicer than any hospital I've ever seen in the west. I will have to say, as I walked through the construction site, I did have my doubts. It's the classic scenario: build an incredible structure that can't be maintained or be populated with staff to provide services. However, it does seem like PIH is laying some good foundation to help make sure the hospital can provide quality services for years to come. I may sound like I'm trashing the hospital, but I really really REALLY want it to work. Too many things have failed in development for one reason or another, and this could be a shining spot to guide how development can work and be successful. Anyways, that's a lot about that.
We also hiked Bisoke, a volcano in the volcano national park. We made it to the summit, and it was awesome. Alright, I'm a liar. We didn't even make it half way up. The rain was a serious impediment, as the "trail" turned into river/mudslide.
And Kigali. the capital. The place is incredibly clean, there is barely any traffic, and the people are warm and friendly. the police have radar guns and issue speeding tickets, our taxi driver got one, 100 US Dollars. The experience was surreal, I felt terrible for the guy, it was probably at least two days worth of work.
Alright, i said i'd keep this short, and i didnt, so im stopping, but if you want to know anything else about the trip, holla atcha boy in the comments, and i can write another post. the genocide memorial in kigali was emotional like whoa. Felt like i needed to make sure i got something in about it.
Alright, pictures!...photo credit goes out to Angie on some of these, i ganked her pictures.
-Sunset over Lake Kivu, spectacular.
-Rwinkwavu, the main PIH site.
-Sunrise over the hills. There is not one flat spot in Rwanda, it's beautiful. This was on the way to Bisoke.
-Isaac putting on a show, also on the way up to Bisoke.
-Volcanoes!
-Bisoke, the one we attempted to climb. Doesn't look so high, but it was rough. There are gorillas there, we some some dung, no gorilla.
-Soline, Melissa, and Isaac taking a breather on the way up.
-Andrew, Katie, and I. Katie's getting down. She's all street, don't mess.
-Goodluck and Jafari. It was a real party on that boat. Good times.
-Ian and I, after i fell in the lake after i fell in the pile of human excretions. Good times?
-Before the hike.
-After the hike. Defeated.
-Cody, one of the architects in Burera, showing us around the hospital site. He came out for new years in zanzibar and he lives in SF.
-A fun bunch...
-Me, getting ready to go, enjoying my last few moments in Kigali. Bummer.
..SNAP THAT'S A LOT OF PICTURES!
