Over mij/mijn reis

Karibu! Hello everybody!

It took me quiet some time to upload my blog because the first few days my internet was really bad and sometimes it didn’t even worked at all.

So wednesday I arrived in Tanzania, Arusha. Quiet the experience you might say. I went on the city tour, all though I think you can also call it ‘city run’ because my coordinator does this so many times a week he kinda rushes through it. He is also a local here wich means for him this is all so natural. While walking (speedwalking) through the city I tried to look around but I was a little bit busy trying not to get run over by the dala dala (local busses) or piki piki (motorcycles). The culture shock is huge and is something I need to get used to. The other volunteers tell me it will take like 2 weeks before I feel like ‘home’. In the city I saw woman walking around with baskets filled with bananas on their head, something like you only see in movies. Baby’s who are crawling on the dirty floor, young children, not even teenagers, begging for something to eat. It’s been really hard and confronting for me to see things like this even at my first day. Also everybody stares at me like I have some kind of nasty disease or something. Although I may think it can also have to do with the fact that I’m like, white ????.

When I got back at the lodge I met the other volunteers, all of them are so friendly. I also have a German roommate who is the best. She helped me out with everything.

On my second day I was still free from work, so was my roommate due to a condition to her knee, so we decided to go for a swim. And before I knew it i was sitting on the back of a motorcycle, trying not to fall of, holding on to a person I’ve never met before smelling like sweaty bananas. Could’ve been worse right? So my first experience with the piki was over and I already felt a little more relaxed.

On friday i started at my project, where I’ll be working in a shelter house with teenage girls with a troubled background. Some of them all ready had a baby who also lives there. You can say I kinda had a really tough day. Not only is it like more than an hour traveling to get there, using 2 different dala’s and walking a lot, also there was a really bad situation happening after I was there for less then an hour. Let me start by saying that people here believe really badly. Most of the people are Christian.

 So when I was at my project I noticed there was 1 girl, only 13 years old who hadn’t been to school today. I was wondering why so I decided to take a look. When I came in her room there was another volunteer who said she found the girl on the floor beneath her bed. When she tried to woke her up there was no response. We put her in  the bed but still she wasn’t waking up. I tried everything but she was unconscious. When I asked my boss what we should do, his response was quite clear: the 13 year old girl was possessed with the devil, something that happens frequently here. The only thing we could do was pray for her and hope that she will wake up in  some hours or even days. I think you can imagine my struggle there right? I sat with her for some time when my Dutch  coordinator Leonie showed up. I told her what happened and that if it were up to me I would like to take her to the hospital. At this point the girl had been down and unresponsive for hours all ready and I was really worried. When we got at the hospital they woke her up with pressing real hard with their knuckles on her chest. Something I should keep in mind. After the examination it turned out she was all right but was “faking”the whole time. Hard for me to believe though because she pied on herself and when I tried to open her eyes and shine with the lighter her eyes just rolled over to the back of her head. I don’t think something like that can be played.

Of course most girls at my project have such a balanced and troubled background that it can be she really was playing, but until I do like a little bit more investigation I can’t really say.

So yeah you can say my first day at work was one to remember.

Yesterday I went to see an old Masaï market. The masaï is one of the oldest tribes in Tanzania. They even have their own language and don’t speak swahili. They are known for selling cattle, mostly goats and cows. As we arrived we could see them slaughtering the goats. There were even dead goats laying on the floor with their heads chopped off , blood streaming down the road. It was horrible to look at. Besides cattle they also sell fruits and veggies, typical masaï blankets, spices that they use as medicine,...

So my first 4 days have been interesting, heavy and emotional. Yet I do have a good feeling about this place. I think I can really make a difference in a long time term at my project.

For now I think you all know the big stuff but I’ll keep u all posted on how my days have been!

Kwaheri!

Lottie