quick trip out of TZ...to Rwanda and Uganda!

Hey all! So the last week and a half have been the most jam-packed, exciting, and fun part of East Africa yet...yes, some friends and I took some time off work and decided to bus over to Uganda and Rwanda for a bit. It was absolutely amazing.

The team consisted of me, Claire (Aussie), Graham (UK), Amanda, and Kendyll (both Kiwi). We headed off on Wednesday afternoon from Moshi, TZ through Kenya to Jinja in Uganda. This took about 20hrs on two buses and added 4 stamps to the old passport. We rented bikes as soon as we got there and biked around town and the hills. The town is known for being an adventure capital as it is based at the head of the Nile River and hosts class 5 river rafting (of which I did not take part, mom, as I know i do not have proper insurance for that!). Its a very cute town and much less touristy than Moshi, so you are not attacked constantly by people trying to sell you things. Everyone speaks pretty good english as well and they are amazingly nice and helpful.

After one night in Jinja, we headed to Kampala, the Capital city and stayed there for 2 nights. We went out horseback riding on Lake Victoria and then made a day trip down to the equator (Uganda is one of only 10 countries through which the equator passes through). They had a cool little set up where you can really test the question about flushing a toilet in each hemisphere. Ans: Northern it flows clockwise, Southern: counterclockwise, and on the equator: it just goes straight town, no turning at all...

After this we headed to Rwanda, and spent an entire day in transit. The bus from Kampala to Kigali (Capital of Rwanda) is about 8 hr. We took a night bus and got there in the morning. Claire had decided to check Gorilla trekking off her bucket list, we we headed straight out to do that. We were really lucky its slow season as usually the $500+ tickets sell out months in advance...but we got one for the next day. So we grabbed another bus (2 hr) out of Kigali and headed to the countryside of Ruhengeri. This town borders the Volcano national park which is famous for its string of amazing volcanoes approx 3000-4000m high as well as the Gorillas (this is where Diane Fossey did her studies). We crashed as soon as we got there and curled up in blankets...this was a first in East Africa as usually we sweat ourselves to sleep.

The next morning we were up at 6 and headed to the park. The Kiwi's had decided to stay in the city (Kigali) and Claire was preparing to head out for Gorilla trekking. Me and Graham decided to go hiking (as we couldn't afford the Gorilla trek). We got to hike an amazing volcano and as it is slow season, we got to have the guide all to ourselves! Total altitude: 3800m+, the highest I've ever hiked before...my cheaper version of Kilimanjaro! It was a lot of fun and really hard. Also, there is a reason it is slow season...its muddy muddy muddy! We spent half the hike coming down on our butts and were covered completely by the time we made it back. Really cool experience though.

After two nights there we headed to Lake Kivu, which borders the DR Congo (we could see it on the other side). This is a beautiful town and kinda like a resort town for rich Rwandans. Many super nice hotels and pools...we stayed in a church for $1.50 a night. We spent the day wandering the beaches then got the guts up to check out the DRC, which was only a 2km walk from town. After peaking over the boarder, we decided to ask about visas (just curious mom, I swear I was not going to actually go in...) It was interesting though, cause they only give you a visa for the city as each city is pretty much run independent, so to move around you would need a ton of visas, and UN protection!

A night there and it was time to head back to Kigali (the Capital). We had had a lot of fun but it was time to go to the Genocide Memorial. It was an amazingly well done museum and included real photos of people lost as well as info on other Genocides around the world. They had 1/4 million people in a mass burial on the site of the memorial. Very moving.

At this point the mood was very somber and only Graham and I continued onward (agreeing to meet up with everyone at the hostel that night). We took a bus out of town about 45 min to a church memorial where another 5,000 people had been killed. It was so extremely real. Most western memorials are always slightly removed, behind glass casing, well organized, and deliberately thought out. This just was. They had clothes piled up on either side and in the rafters and almost 1,000 skulls just sitting on a shelf in the back. You could clearly see some of their causes of death.

We were very glad we had saved this for last, as we were ready to head home after that. The next morning we left Rwanda and went to Kabale, Uganda for a day. Claire had gotten sick so we couldn't travel too far just yet. This town revived our spirits with its beauty. In the south/west portion of the country, its labeled the 'Switzerland' of Uganda. Rolling hills fully terraced from top to bottom line the edges of a lake filled with little islands. It is all green and beautiful. Three little kids came up to play with us so we did cartwheels and farting sounds (yes, a very universal past-time) with them, overlooking the lake. It was a much needed refresher and we all felt much better after.

The next 2 days were travel home to Moshi. We all had work on Monday and had to fight to get back in time. We left Kabale at 5am on Saturday morning and were on buses almost 34 hr straight (literally running between buses). It took 4 buses and another 4 stamps to get back, we had 5 hr sitting on a bus not going anywhere (broken, police ck points, ect) or driving up and down main street for 2 hours to fill the bus (we don't drive until we are full...ahhhhh!!! a very frustrating trip).

But we made it back to Moshi just in time for dinner (of which we were very thankful) and then all jumped in the shower and went straight to bed. Now its back to teaching and we are all happy to stay in one place for a while. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip and I was so happy I got to go with such good travel buddies.

Best to all and thanks to our guardian angels that looked over us during our travels...

oh how internet time flies

Hey all, this will be a very quick update but the past easter weekend was too great not to comment on. On Wednesday two other volunteers and I went to a funeral for one of our students grandfathers. It was amazinging done and very emotional. The amount of color everyone wore just made me so happy...pink, purple, green, red, and shapes and patterns of every type. The family in mourning wore white, and I really liked that. On Thursday, we went to the neighboring Arusha and listened in on the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda, where they continue to question witnesses about the events of the 1994 genocide. Its conducted by the UN and is translated into english for people who want to watch. It was really interesting. For more info check out ictr.org. Classes are currently on spring break, so life at the hostel has been calm. Easter was really fun, with a 16 person family dinner and more dessert than imaginable. Everyone had to make something from they home country, and then you had to try everything...I got a pretty bad stomach ache by the end. But it was really fun. Yesterday we played beach volleyball, Africa style, which meant a sprinkler and a net that was actually a strung up mosquito net. It was really fun. Today is really really rainy, but its good that the rainy season has finally come as the corn crops were very dry. Today a few of us are heading to the fabric market as the fabric here is beautiful and its pretty easy to get clothes made just for you...Hope everyone else had a good easter as well and ate lots of chocolate!

Life as I know it

Life as I know it has been amazing so far. Last week I started teaching the girls at KYGN (Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need). I am trying to get an idea of what level they are currently at, and then we will move forward with finding the area of a circle and other such exciting things.
The most exciting thing of last week was my chance to go on Safari! And it was everything I had hoped for. The trip lasted 4 days, and 3 nights of camping. I went with a hodge-podge of other travelers, which as expected turned out great. The group was composed of two Germans, two Canadians, and me. It was really nice having a small group and only one car, meaning that most of our time in the parks were just us and the animals. We went to three national parks including Ngorogoro Crater and the Serengeti. We were lucky enough to see 'The Big 5', which included leopards, lions, rhinos, elephants, zebras, and more. I got some really nice pictures as some of the animals came close enough to touch!
I've been back in Moshi since sunday night and have been teaching again. The girls are really good and its a process to pass the language barrier. Last week I had a day off and got to go up to the small town of Shimbwe to see the work being done by Mengeni Woman's group. It was an amazing town up in the foothills of Kilimanjaro and the project is really having a beneficial impact on the town with their focus on health related issues.
The trip up and back from Shimbwe was the highlight of the week. The rainy season showed its first signs as we were walking the narrow footpaths to one of the patients homes. The drizzle turned into a pour and soon my silly flipflops were more of a hindrance than a help. They came off and we were soon running barefoot down the hills to find refuge in a friends home. The rains continued for over an hour before we were finally able to walk through the mud back to the Dalle-Dalle stop (mini-bus, main form of transport). The 2pm dalle-dalle was just leaving (the time was about 2:45) so we caught that back to Moshi. It was a very entertaining ride, and everyone kept looking at my bare, very muddy legs, and laughing. It was a really great day :D
That's all for now, hope everyone has a great Easter :D

this little town of Moshi

I have almost met my goal of blogging once a week, but time here flies by so fast. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone at the hostel (Hostel Hoff, about 20 ppl) and they are a really fun group to hang out with. I have explored the greater downtown Moshi and all the amazing art you can buy, I'm going to have to get rid of something to pack it all when I leave...
I've been exploring all the projects for the last week and finally get to start teaching my math class this Wednesday. As I've never done it before, I'm pretty excited.
This last weekend me and some friends from the hostel went hiking in Macheme (sp?) near moshi. It was very nice and calm, walked through a bunch of little towns and saw some amazing clothes. So many colors and flowers its incredible. We got to try fresh passion fruit and even sample some banana beer, quite good actually.
Sunday was day of rest, reading and hanging out with the tortoises and lizards. As my book list continues to expand with every conversation, I must make time to read to keep up!
As I continue to settle into the routine, its beginning to feel like a home away from home, and since all the people at the hostel are there for a long time, its really nice because they begin to feel like family. (we are excited for April fools day...)
I will post again within a week. Hope everyone at home is good and safe. Best, Kerry

I've arrived safely in Tanzania...

SO first off, i would like to thank my mom for all the trust she has given me, cause i need to honestly say i was crossing my fingers when i arrived by myself at the airport in Kilimanjaro at 8:30pm hoping that someone would be standing at the exit with my name on a piece of paper...and they were!!! So Yuma picked me up and drove me the 40 min back to Moshi and i am now safely staying at Hostel Hoff (google it to see how amazing it is). Everyone is there for extended stay and volunteering locally at schools and an orphanage. Even though I got there late, they had saved a plate of dinner for me...very sweet. Denis took me on a tour of the town today and already the differences between TZ and Equatorial Guinea are huge! First off, there is more than one newspaper, more than one radio station, and I can actually walk around by myself without being hassled by the military...its grand! Everyone here is very friendly (even in the airport, no more fingerprinting :D) and I aleady have met a lot of people. I even ran into a couple of guys i met on the airplane, so it already feels like a small town.
So this week i will be figuring out what project i want to work with and get started on that. this weekend, Denis and I already planned to go to Arusha (1+ hr east) to see a basketball tournament that is happening there and has countries from all over east africa. I've also already met 2 different people from different tour companies, one local and one from Australia, so hopefully i'll be going on safari soon, as March is the best (right before the rain hits, but before the tourists). Denis and I also have already planned for an unknown date to go to lake Victoria for a week (which will be much cheaper and more informal than a safari, basically, tour by local bus...the best way I've found to see a country).
So far the people associated with the hostel speak english, but apparently that is not too common, so i'm trying very hard to learn swahilli. hmmm, what else have i learned? well, from EG i've learned to ask questions, and i'm very excited about that. so from my million and a half questions to Denis, i've learned: there are 26 regions in TZ, which is then divided into a lot more districts, economy is based a lot in tourism but also from mineral goods (like tanzanite, found in TZ and used in cell phones), TZ's futbol team is pretty good, but Zambia is the best, and my phone will work in all of east africa, so that is good. my number is: 0-789-534-144 (fyi, this blog is officially my journal because my computer died and this internet cafe is now all i have).
So that is my last 12+ hours, I hope all is well for my friends and family, i miss you all!!!
Kerry

Heading off for new things....

Hey all,

So i didn't realize i hadn't written for a while...my bad. Anyways, tonight I say goodbye to Equatorial Guinea, hello to Europe for a little while, and hopefully by tomorrow night I'll be in Tanzania. I'll be staying in Moshi and will continue by posts as I travel there for the next three months...I gotta run, love you all!

Changing views

First off, major credit for writing two blogs in one week, I'm getting better. This one will also be quick but we have wireless internet right now, so I had to post something. We have been on the Hess oil company compound the last few days. We gave them presentation about our program and it went really well. I have been able to talk to some very knowledgeable people about the petrol industry and its affects on EG...and I have learned a lot. There are a lot of stereotypes about oil companies that I definitely had coming into the program and those stereotypes have proved to be very inaccurate. Hess is really doing some amazing development projects on the island and the impact on the country is really amazing. Yesterday we drove east toward the heart of the country and explored along the way, eating very strange food and getting amazing pictures. Today we went to survey for bushmeat in the local markets. Unfortunately we ran into an unexpected holiday: International Woman's Day. It's a huge deal and all the city celebrates. Thus, the markets were pretty closed. We did find some bushmeat, some turtles on their backs to keep them from getting away but to keep them alive and fresh. Some turtles without shells (these are forest turtles). Some Hornbills, Duikers, and luckily no monkeys, though one of the ladies working said they had already been sold. We got yelled at for taking pictures, ate some more crazy food, and got a hint of the celebrations. We fly back to Malabo Monday morning at 5 am in order to get back for class at 10 (though I doubt anyone will be able to stay awake through it). School is winding down and work is becoming majorly overwhelming. But by my next blog, it will all be wrapped up and the next phase will be coming fast. As always with trips like this, its amazing how fast it goes: Jan 8th: Fly to EG, Feb 8th: Research at Moka, March 8th: International Woman's Day in Bata...April 8th: ???