July 27, 2009 - Brrr, it’s Winter here!

At 5am we were awakened by an Islamic morning call to prayer, broadcast over a loudspeaker in the area. It was bit early for us, so fortunately we were able to fall back asleep afterward.

Had breakfast at our hotel just before 9am…fresh fruit (watermelon, mango, and banana), omelette, toast!!, passion fruit juice, and of course milk coffee; here they use ‘Africafe’ brand of instant coffee made in Tanzania. This was a much bigger breakfast than what we’ve been used to.

It is very cool here right now…although it is Winter; apparently it is cooler than it should be at this time of year. I don’t know what the temp is, but would guess it was around the 15C range…quite a contrast from the sweltering conditions in Northern Uganda last week. I wore my fleece sweater all day and tonight our hotel room is quite chilly. We sent our clothes to be laundered but won’t get them back til tomorrow as everything is hand washed and line dried and all I have to sleep in tonight is a t-shirt. But I think it will be fine once under the covers, especially with the mosquito net down, which kind of warms things up.

After breakfast and a few quick stops…foreign exchange bureau and gas station…it was off to Karatu where the CPAR office is. On the road, about 20 mins. from Arusha, we had a tire puncture, which Mohammed took care of quite quickly.

It is very interesting driving on the highway. We saw Masai people, in bright (red and blue) robes and walking sticks herding their cattle. We saw a couple of giraffes munching on tree leaves. The scenery is breathtaking…savannah dotted with trees; lots of them, but they are spread out and there are mountain ranges in the background of some views. In that area it was a bit like parts of Alberta where it’s very flat with the Rockies in the background.

(Above) Masai

Then we drove thru the Rift Valley, incredibly beautiful and lush, which extends from Ethiopia to South Africa. Karatu is on the other side of mountain at the end of the valley. There is a lookout point at the top of the mountain where you get an amazing view of the valley and Lake Manyara. Definitely a tourist hotspot…there is a public bathroom (with flush toilets!) just across the road from the lookout point and MANY craft shops, advertising bathrooms as well…ha ha.

Speaking of bathrooms, we learned today that Tanzanians prefer the “squat” toilets to the porcelain bowls and when given a choice will choose them. The squats are actually more sanitary by design. It’s a bit of a skill to use one of those and keep your balance though. I got pretty adept at it on our last trip but this time haven’t had as many occasions to use them.

There is a new highway from Arusha to Karatu that has reduced the travel time by 4 hours! The road was funded by the Japanese government. We arrived at the CPAR office early in the afternoon. We met some Engineering students from a university in California who are developing a solar power system that can bring power to rural areas. Today they were in a village and had a successful first trial. When we saw them back at the office later in the day, they were so pumped by the experience, it was great to see. There are others here from Ottawa; a nurse and her nursing students who are spending the month in a secondary school doing health training and education. We haven’t met them yet but likely will as we are staying at the same hotel. I am so impressed that all these young people are so enthusiastic about helping people over here…there is hope for the future!

Speaking of hope for the future. Barack Obama is big stuff here!! His face is on colourful wraps for sale along the highway and t-shirts. Actually I noticed the t-shirts in Uganda as well. I took a great picture of a rack of the wraps from the car. I’m not sure if I can upload them while I’m over here…if not, I will when I get home.

(Above) Wraps (Kengas) with Obama’s picture

We had lunch with Jean, the CPAR Tanzania Country Director and Japhet, the Program Manager and then they took us to see the Umatu Resource Centre for women living with HIV. To fund their outreach programs, they have and continue to develop income generating opportunities that are filling a need in the community (e.g. breadmaking, renting the hall in the Resource Centre to groups for educational training/meetings). The Centre was funded by a group of Canadian donors that wanted to give back to the community in conjunction with their climbs of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The Umatu Resource Centre is a real success story.

I am so glad we brought the travel guitar with us. Earlier this evening I was plunking out the chords for a new song I’m writing about the draught in Uganda that I told you about in earlier posts. It is very dry and dusty around Karatu too. While it is the dry season, unfortunately they didn’t have a good enough rainy season so farmers are struggling here too.