The thought of escaping the city heat and humidity of Dar es Salaam on the coast of Tanzania by taking a high speed ferry out to Zanzibar appealed to both Dave and me. We bought our tickets and a couple of hours later set foot in the exotic old town area of the popular spice island in the Indian Ocean. Almost immediately, we were swarmed with hoards of hawkers or "papasi" - (Swahili for "ticks") - trying to sell us everything the island has to offer: "Tours? Taxi rides? Suggestions for hotels? Restaurants? Entertainment? Beach resorts? Shuttles? Shopping? A different tour perhaps? Sunglasses? Food? Water? Cashews? Spices? Candy? Directions? None of the above? Ok, then I'll just walk with you wherever you're going..." (and get a commission from the proprietor of wherever I lead you, and hopefully a tip from you as well...)
These "enterprising" exchanges set the tone for the few days we spent in Zanzibar. In retrospect, we probably should have headed to the touristy gorgeous beaches in the northeast part of the island which were supposedly peaceful and less hassle. We didn't.
Instead we checked into a modest but pleasant bed and breakfast hotel in the ancient stone city, dropped off our stuff, and headed back through the narrow winding streets. For the next couple of days, we did our own walking tours, to the consternation of local taxi drivers. We visited two national museums and learned about the history of the island, its role in the spice trade from Indonesia and China, and the story of Princess Salame, who eloped with a German businessman and wrote a brilliant memoir bridging cultural gaps between East and West. We also ate several wonderful meals at various popular restaurants and had interesting conversations with young locals about language and job opportunities and differences between Islam and Christianity. We experienced a brilliant red sunset over the ocean against a backdrop of gentle swaying boats, hot summer air and mosquitoes. We ate grilled fish from vendors on the beach and drank frothy, chilled sugar cane juice with lime (sweetly delicious).
On our third and final day in Zanzibar, we decided to take a tour of one of the spice plantations. I looked forward to seeing how cinnamon, vanilla, and other spices grew. Mr. Mitu, the owner of the company, said we'd stop first at the huge open-air local market to buy ingredients for the lunch we would be served as part of the tour. I had a bad feeling about the location of the market, having visited the day before. I had felt conspicously white, rich, and guilty in the face of poverty. The driver parked the van away from the local action and the 6 or so of us participants on the tour chatted a bit while we waited.
I wasn't going to leave the vehicle but my long legs ached from too much travel in cramped spaces over the past 5 weeks. So I got out to stretch, leaving my bag- containing all my important stuff - on my seat an arm's length away. Normally I wear my passport holder but had tucked it into my bag to appear more discreet. A few minutes later, a strung-out looking guy sauntered over to the few of us chatting outside the van and started singing off-key the "Jambo Bwana" song. The normally upbeat and catchy Tanzanian welcome song in Swahili (whose lyrics I had learned) took on a sinister air. With the age-old trick of creating a diversion in one place to do something else in another, he waved a music CD in my face while he deftly snatched my bag and took off. Though I didn't actually witness the theft - he was slick- I realized immediately that my bag was gone. I frantically looked in all directions hoping for a glimpse of the man but it was too late.
36 years of international travel through 32 countries and I had never so much as misplaced my passport - or been robbed while traveling. I felt stupid and upset to have let down my guard. I was suddenly penniless with no identification, disconnected from the U.S. "mother ship." I wondered how much hassle and time it would take to replace my stolen passport; it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and we had plane reservations to return to California the following Monday. However, I did have the passport number, date, place of issue and a husband to verify my identification (and give me money!). As for my cash, credit cards, driver's license, camera, eyeglasses, spare eyeglasses, sunglasses, cosmetics and other lost items, my only choice was to let go. Mostly I grieved the loss of my travel journal and digital memory cards containing hundreds of irreplaceable photos. I also grieved for a world where people suffer and displace their pain on others.
After filing a report with the Zanzibar police, we sadly headed back to the mainland. By then it was early evening, too late for a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam. But first thing the following morning, we headed to the embassy and its clean manicured grounds. We were greeted courteously and sympathetically by African employees proudly wearing navy blue uniforms with U.S. flag badges over their shirt pockets. "So sorry, madam," everyone said kindly. "Come this way."
We were screened through airport-like security measures before being ushered to another building with offices behind bullet-proof glass. There we met the U.S. Deputy Consul, a young man named Joel. ( A good sign, I thought, the same name as one of my favorite nephews.) Joel, too, was extremely sympathetic, kind and professional. He understood the appeal and excitement of adventurous travel in developing countries but corroborated something I already knew: that crime often results from poverty, drug abuse, and feelings of hopelessness. The good news was that once I returned with replacement photos taken at a nearby shop, I'd have my new passport within less than 2 hours! I breathed a sigh of immense relief.
At 6 a.m. the next morning, we left for Nairobi on another long bus ride. It was good to be able to travel freely again and in a way, much easier with no valuables! We passed through the towns of Moshi and Arusha where we had begun and ended our Kilimanjaro climb and our safaris and visits to Maasai villages. We reminisced about the wonderful people we had met, the opportunities available to serve others, the amazing scenery and animals. We looked out the windows, read and dozed, still feeling fortunate to travel as extensively as we do.
7 or so hours later, the bus began to make a "flap, flap, flap" sound. The driver pulled over and stopped. I looked at Dave and said, "Sounds like the fan-belt to me!" Sure enough, it was! All of us got off the bus and hung around waiting for a mechanic to arrive. Local kids living nearby seemed entertained. I struck up a conversation with another traveler, a Tanzanian woman living in London who had returned to bring her sick mother to a good hospital in Nairobi; the beautiful henna designs painted on her hands had caught my attention. As we chatted, I mentioned that I had diagnosed the bus's mechanical problem as a broken fan-belt since I recognized the sound, having experienced the same problem years ago with an old car of mine. She laughed and told the bus driver, who approached me and asked if I were a mechanic and knew how to fix the bus! (Ha!)
A few hours later, we were back on the road again, arriving in Nairobi around 3 a.m. the next morning. We were just a block away from the hostel where we had stayed the first night of our arrival in Africa so decided it was a convenient place to spend the night.
Our last couple of days in Nairobi were very pleasant and relaxing. We finally connected with Marta, an inspirational, wonderful woman and grad school friend of our GPC pastor Steve. Marta, though American, has lived in Nairobi for 13 years and has worked in several professional capacities at Day Star University. We spent Sunday with her and 2 of her 3 adopted children. Together we attended a spirited Sunday church service at the Nairobi Chapel and learned about the tremendous growth of Christianity in Africa. We later ate tillapia cooked in spicy coconut sauce at an outdoor cafe run by American ex-pats, specializing in local food as well as good coffee and ice cream. The ambience was friendly and conducive to conversation and friendship. We asked for advice on how to best help "our" orphans in Rwanda and later met Marta's good Rwandan friend Jean Paul, director of World Relief in Kenya (who, I mentioned in an earlier blog, knew our other contacts In Rwanda and was able to offer offer some good suggestions and insights).
Finally it was time to leave Africa - with mixed emotions.
Dave and I had used frequent flyer tickets on different airlines for our trip, so we said goodbye to each other in Nairobi and reconnected later in Los Angeles. Since my plane from Amsterdam to LAX had been delayed, there was just enough time for a big hug and kiss and an exchange of luggage. Dave was driving back to Santa Barbara to work and I was continuing on to Albuquerque to visit my family there for a week. I lacked enough time to check a bag so I grabbed stuff that would fit into a carry-on and ran to catch my next flight.
I finally made it back to Santa Barbara just last night! I'm tired and still processing our African trip while getting ready for our next big adventure in just 2 weeks! We're off to New Zealand and Australia with our friends Cathy and Steve from Salt Lake for another 7 weeks!
So I'll sign off for now and wish you all a happy holiday season! Before we leave, I'll try to post some of my photos that weren't stolen.
Peace on earth, goodwill to all.
Love,
Judy
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Final thoughts on Rwanda; Re-entry into Tanzania
Hi everyone,
First I'd like to share a few final thoughts on our visit to Rwanda.
In addition to historical information and photos about the country's colonial period and events leading to the genocide, the museum in Kigali contains gruesome memorabilia: Photographs of the carnage, display cases of clothes found on victims' bodies (washed and suspended as they would've been worn), displays of recovered bones, and portraits of many of the dead, including an entire room dedicated to the lost children, who "should have been our future."
Part of the top floor of the museum is dedicated to education about other genocides, past and ongoing: Jews during WW II, Serbs and Croats, Armenians, the peoples of Namibia, Darfur, and others.
Later I saw t-shirts for sale in the museum gift shop with a new take on the quote "Those who forget the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them. " Their logos read "Those who forget the lessons of Rwanda ( written above "history" which was crossed out) are condemned to repeat them in Darfur" (added at the end of the quote).
Outside, the beautiful park-like setting and cemetery of mass graves provides a peaceful place for visitors to reflect. When I rejoined the boys later (they had taken a tour conducted in their native language), Sondra was sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. "I never want to come back here", he said.
In our search for how to best help him and Eric, Dave and I also connected with the Rwandan national directors for both Rwanda and Kenya of the Christian organization World Relief. Celestin and Jean Paul, also genocide survivors who lost many family members and friends, know each other well and offered further insight into the complexities of rebuilding the country. (By the way, World Relief has a website and offers opportunities for volunteers.)
We left Rwanda by bus to return to Tanzania and once again rode through gorgeous scenery of green rolling hills and small villages. It haunted me to think that the genocide had happened everywhere we passed.
Next Dave and I traveled by train for 3 days and 2 nights across all of Tanzania to Dar es Salaam on the coast. It was a memorable trip in a lot of ways - most notably the long delays - but also a great chance to see how average Africans live and travel. Definitely not the Africa seen by most tourists! As the only non-blacks on the train (until a Chinese couple got on a day later) we were a definite curiosity. People wanted to know who we were and why we weren't flying. Good question, I thought a couple of times myself, especially at one point when the run-down train came to a halt for no apparent reason.
During what turned out to be a 6 hour wait, I sought out other new friends from Rwanda further back in the train. I got a French translation for the Swahili explanation given over the loud speaker for the problem: Broken tracks that needed to be repaired! Laetetia from Kigali and I had met on the bus earlier that day after crossing the border into Tanzania from Rwanda near the dramatic Rusomo Falls intersection of the two countries. I had asked her for information (in English) about train schedules since Dave knew from reading our Lonely Planet guidebook that the trains ran somewhat infrequently. Laetetia had said she spoke French but not English so we struck up a conversation in French. I later learned that she and several women friends were also en route to Dar es Salaam where they planned to investigate small business opportunities for themselves. "It's impossible to save for the future when you only make a hundred dollars a month," she said. The women were exploring micro-enterprise and other opportunities for exporting women's hand-made clothing to foreign places. I wished them the best and said I'd be happy to help if I could as a U.S. contact.
On the train we also met another wonderful and intelligent Rwandan named George (wearing a "George of the Jungle" t-shirt!). He had learned to speak good English in Uganda after escaping the genocide. Now at 27 , he, too, was seeking better job opportunities in Tanzania, perhaps work in the tanzanite mines. His education (like that of so many others) had been interrupted during the war and he had been unable to return to school for lack of funds.
This seems to be a recurring problem throughout the world.
Even public secondary schools in many countries require tuition payment and uniforms. Though the amounts are small by US standards, they present insurmountable odds to often large families(or orphans) living on less than a hundred dollars a month. In Rwanda as of November, bank loans for university students have begun to be available for the first time. But that still doesn't help anyone who hasn't yet completed high school. I know firsthand that education is key to upward economic mobility. Without a degree, especially in developing countries rife with complex political problems and fewer economic (and other) opportunities, the cycle of generational poverty continues, sometimes resulting in despair and crime.
I mention this because later in Zanzibar, I was the victim of a major theft by someone who had turned to drugs and theft as a recourse to his probably pathetic life. At least that thought has helped me deal with my stolen bag containing my passport, a considerable amount of cash, my new Canon 5D professional digital camera and 28-105 mm lens, 3 memory cards full of photos taken from Rwanda onward, my eyeglasses, my travel journal, and all my cosmetics!
To be continued...
First I'd like to share a few final thoughts on our visit to Rwanda.
In addition to historical information and photos about the country's colonial period and events leading to the genocide, the museum in Kigali contains gruesome memorabilia: Photographs of the carnage, display cases of clothes found on victims' bodies (washed and suspended as they would've been worn), displays of recovered bones, and portraits of many of the dead, including an entire room dedicated to the lost children, who "should have been our future."
Part of the top floor of the museum is dedicated to education about other genocides, past and ongoing: Jews during WW II, Serbs and Croats, Armenians, the peoples of Namibia, Darfur, and others.
Later I saw t-shirts for sale in the museum gift shop with a new take on the quote "Those who forget the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them. " Their logos read "Those who forget the lessons of Rwanda ( written above "history" which was crossed out) are condemned to repeat them in Darfur" (added at the end of the quote).
Outside, the beautiful park-like setting and cemetery of mass graves provides a peaceful place for visitors to reflect. When I rejoined the boys later (they had taken a tour conducted in their native language), Sondra was sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. "I never want to come back here", he said.
In our search for how to best help him and Eric, Dave and I also connected with the Rwandan national directors for both Rwanda and Kenya of the Christian organization World Relief. Celestin and Jean Paul, also genocide survivors who lost many family members and friends, know each other well and offered further insight into the complexities of rebuilding the country. (By the way, World Relief has a website and offers opportunities for volunteers.)
We left Rwanda by bus to return to Tanzania and once again rode through gorgeous scenery of green rolling hills and small villages. It haunted me to think that the genocide had happened everywhere we passed.
Next Dave and I traveled by train for 3 days and 2 nights across all of Tanzania to Dar es Salaam on the coast. It was a memorable trip in a lot of ways - most notably the long delays - but also a great chance to see how average Africans live and travel. Definitely not the Africa seen by most tourists! As the only non-blacks on the train (until a Chinese couple got on a day later) we were a definite curiosity. People wanted to know who we were and why we weren't flying. Good question, I thought a couple of times myself, especially at one point when the run-down train came to a halt for no apparent reason.
During what turned out to be a 6 hour wait, I sought out other new friends from Rwanda further back in the train. I got a French translation for the Swahili explanation given over the loud speaker for the problem: Broken tracks that needed to be repaired! Laetetia from Kigali and I had met on the bus earlier that day after crossing the border into Tanzania from Rwanda near the dramatic Rusomo Falls intersection of the two countries. I had asked her for information (in English) about train schedules since Dave knew from reading our Lonely Planet guidebook that the trains ran somewhat infrequently. Laetetia had said she spoke French but not English so we struck up a conversation in French. I later learned that she and several women friends were also en route to Dar es Salaam where they planned to investigate small business opportunities for themselves. "It's impossible to save for the future when you only make a hundred dollars a month," she said. The women were exploring micro-enterprise and other opportunities for exporting women's hand-made clothing to foreign places. I wished them the best and said I'd be happy to help if I could as a U.S. contact.
On the train we also met another wonderful and intelligent Rwandan named George (wearing a "George of the Jungle" t-shirt!). He had learned to speak good English in Uganda after escaping the genocide. Now at 27 , he, too, was seeking better job opportunities in Tanzania, perhaps work in the tanzanite mines. His education (like that of so many others) had been interrupted during the war and he had been unable to return to school for lack of funds.
This seems to be a recurring problem throughout the world.
Even public secondary schools in many countries require tuition payment and uniforms. Though the amounts are small by US standards, they present insurmountable odds to often large families(or orphans) living on less than a hundred dollars a month. In Rwanda as of November, bank loans for university students have begun to be available for the first time. But that still doesn't help anyone who hasn't yet completed high school. I know firsthand that education is key to upward economic mobility. Without a degree, especially in developing countries rife with complex political problems and fewer economic (and other) opportunities, the cycle of generational poverty continues, sometimes resulting in despair and crime.
I mention this because later in Zanzibar, I was the victim of a major theft by someone who had turned to drugs and theft as a recourse to his probably pathetic life. At least that thought has helped me deal with my stolen bag containing my passport, a considerable amount of cash, my new Canon 5D professional digital camera and 28-105 mm lens, 3 memory cards full of photos taken from Rwanda onward, my eyeglasses, my travel journal, and all my cosmetics!
To be continued...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
4 days in Rwanda
Hello again,
We've spent several emotional days here in the land of the mille collines (thousand hills). Observing the beauty of this verdant, lush, and peaceful countryside makes the atrocities of the 1994 genocide of Tutsi people by their Hutu neighbors, friends, and sometimes relatives, seem unimaginable. In just 100 days, 1 million people - including children and babies, as well as people of all ages - were tortured, bludgeoned, shot, or hacked to death. Thousands of women were raped by men with HIV to ensure that any possible future generations would not survive.
Every person living in Rwanda today has been affected in some way by the genocide. The word didn't even exist in the native language (Kinyarwanda) ; it had to be borrowed. The whole country still suffers to some extent from post traumatic stress disorder as counseling is not widely available.
We attended a church service at an organization called Solace Ministries, an NGO committed to serving orphans and widows of the genocide. We were privileged to hear several survivors' gruesome eyewitness accounts of horrific murders of family, friends, and strangers, and testimonies of faith and survival by God's grace. The experience was powerful and moving. It humbled me when they told us that because of our visit to them in Rwanda, we were close to God's heart, that our presence assured them that they had not been forgotten by God. Afterwards, a young Rwandan praise band/choir sang (including Refiner's Fire in English) and danced and the whole mood lifted.
The international community is now pouring billions of dollars into the reconstruction of this devastated place. There are areas of Kigali that look sleek, modern and high tech, much more so than any of the other places in East Africa we've visited on this trip. Hope slowly seems to be appearing, like a Phoenix rising from its ashes.
We were also able to connect with John Sondra and Eric, the two orphans Dave befriended 2 years ago, and we were welcomed as old friends. We are working to help them know how to best proceed with their university educations. They are wonderful young men, now aged 22 and 23. We visited the impressive (and grim) Genocide Memorial with them. Eric had been there before but not Sondra or myself so it was pretty overwhelming.
We are currently in Zanzibar, at an internet cafe with a terrible connection. So I'll sign off for now and try to continue again soon!
Happy Thanksgiving this week!
Love, Judy
We've spent several emotional days here in the land of the mille collines (thousand hills). Observing the beauty of this verdant, lush, and peaceful countryside makes the atrocities of the 1994 genocide of Tutsi people by their Hutu neighbors, friends, and sometimes relatives, seem unimaginable. In just 100 days, 1 million people - including children and babies, as well as people of all ages - were tortured, bludgeoned, shot, or hacked to death. Thousands of women were raped by men with HIV to ensure that any possible future generations would not survive.
Every person living in Rwanda today has been affected in some way by the genocide. The word didn't even exist in the native language (Kinyarwanda) ; it had to be borrowed. The whole country still suffers to some extent from post traumatic stress disorder as counseling is not widely available.
We attended a church service at an organization called Solace Ministries, an NGO committed to serving orphans and widows of the genocide. We were privileged to hear several survivors' gruesome eyewitness accounts of horrific murders of family, friends, and strangers, and testimonies of faith and survival by God's grace. The experience was powerful and moving. It humbled me when they told us that because of our visit to them in Rwanda, we were close to God's heart, that our presence assured them that they had not been forgotten by God. Afterwards, a young Rwandan praise band/choir sang (including Refiner's Fire in English) and danced and the whole mood lifted.
The international community is now pouring billions of dollars into the reconstruction of this devastated place. There are areas of Kigali that look sleek, modern and high tech, much more so than any of the other places in East Africa we've visited on this trip. Hope slowly seems to be appearing, like a Phoenix rising from its ashes.
We were also able to connect with John Sondra and Eric, the two orphans Dave befriended 2 years ago, and we were welcomed as old friends. We are working to help them know how to best proceed with their university educations. They are wonderful young men, now aged 22 and 23. We visited the impressive (and grim) Genocide Memorial with them. Eric had been there before but not Sondra or myself so it was pretty overwhelming.
We are currently in Zanzibar, at an internet cafe with a terrible connection. So I'll sign off for now and try to continue again soon!
Happy Thanksgiving this week!
Love, Judy
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Update from Uganda
It's Saturday afternoon, Nov. 10th, 2:30 p.m., Ugandan time. Dave and I are having a restful day back in Kampala after spending 2 days away . We ventured out once again by bus, this time to the colorful town of Masindi, 5 hours away, which we used as a base for our visit to Murchison Falls.
Murchison is home to hippos, crocodiles, pumbas, chimps, elephants, birds, and giraffes! This place was a highlight of Dave's trip here 2 years ago, something he enthusiastically recommended that we recreate. We were able to hire Sam, the same driver Dave used on that last trip here, a local who has had his own business driving foreigners for the past 4 years. Sam lives just outside the park with his family of 5 children and 5 siblings. As he skillfully negotiated the remote roads, he shared some stories of his life here. A couple of years ago, the Lord's Resistance Army (the Lord is the rebel fighter Kony - not Jesus!) was a huge security threat to visitors in the park. Civilians, not military personnel, were being targeted and murdered. And shortly before Dave's last visit, a Brit - Steve Willis- who had lived and owned a restaurant and safari camp in the park for years, was shot and killed. That same day, Sam was driving visitors around the park and encountered a very distraught giraffe. The agitated giraffe stopped the car and motioned his head in the direction of Steve's murder. One of the tourists had binoculars and looked through them at a distance. He saw the murderous rebels advancing by foot. Thanks to the giraffe's warning, Sam was able to make a quick getaway and escape any harm. (Security in the park is excellent now, and the rebels have since moved to the Sudan, much to everyone's relief - except the Sudenese, I'm sure).
Another story Sam shared was how during dry season, poisonous snakes have entered his home! He has a sharp "snake stick" to kill them! (And the whole family knows how to use it!!) A neighbor's 3 year old baby was killed a couple of days ago by a snake he tried to pick up.
Traveling is always such a revelation. I am continually awed and humbled by the difficult lives our friends in developing countries lead and am always grateful to be a part of volunteer efforts to help. On that note, I look forward to sharing volunteer opportunities with some of my high school students next year when I return to teaching at the end of my sabbatical. I'm excited to have been selected for a new program called O Ambassadors - O standing for Oprah - which is a new collaboration of the Angel Network and Free the Children to encourage concern and volunteerism in the world by U.S. and Canadian elementary and high school students and teachers. The goal is to help alleviate poverty and promote peace in the world, part of Millenium Goals. Before I left Santa Barbara, I applied to be a teacher/mentor for a club program at San Marcos and was pleasantly surprised to be selected! O Ambassadors attempts to teach students (and teachers) about the lives and cultures of various people of the world. It encourages ways we all can help the global community. I listed West and East Africa on my application as first areas of interest and have been consciously scouting possibilities for future volunteerism - especially in orphanages and in cross cultural situations.
Many of you are aware that I traveled to Ghana in June with 4 other members of Goleta Presbyterian Church to begin a long term relationship with a church in the remote town of Patriensa, encouraging micro enterprise and solar initiatives. And in Tanzania, Dave and I connected with a number of Masai tribes and a brilliant young Masai director named Eli who heads an organization called Ilkidinga which needs volunteers to work in Masai villages. Through Eli, we attended church services at his Catholic church which seeks a sister church relationship with an American Catholic Church. We also met Dora, the director of the Living Water orphanage which also seeks volunteers, especially teachers. Any interested adults out there?
Sorry to get sidetracked! Anyway, we did have a wonderful time at Murchison Falls. First Sam drove us to the head of the beautiful and powerful falls on the Victorian Nile, the source of some of the best river rafting in the world. The gorge the water passes through is only 6 m; Lonely Planet guide says it may be the most powerful surge of water in the world. We were also treated to a view of the bottom of the falls from a 4 hour ride on an aging tourist boat full of foreign visitors (many Dutch, Steve H. , so you could've "talked the lingo" - though they all speak good English!)
I was thrilled to see many birds, crocs and hippos from the boat, though disappointed that the new driver didn't go as close to the animals as the driver of Dave's boat 2 years ago. I consoled myself, however, with memories (and photos) of our outstanding week long Tanzanian safari, where we saw ALL the "big five" in the various parks we visited - black rhinos, elephants, a leopard, a cheetah, and many lions (including 2 up close after mating, where they were hanging out lazily near the road!!) - plus hundreds of beautiful giraffes, zebras, baboons, monkeys, and rare birds!! Truly an awesome experience.
I have yet to fill you in on the details of the Kilimanjaro climb but will later. Some of you already know that I made it to the top of the crater's edge, became mildly hypothermic, and was forced to call it quits without reaching the "true" summit. I did, however, receive a silver certificate from the park since Gilman's Point is considered a worthy achievement, the first of the 3 highest points on Kilimanjaro. It's only a couple of hundred meters short of Uhuru Peak, which Dave, of course, reached. I must say under the difficult circumstances, I was thrilled to make it to Gilman's. I saw many people turning back on the way up from altitude sickness (and could hear people puking in the dark; the climb begins at midnight while the scree is still frozen). I actually stood at close to 20,000 feet - the highest I'd ever climbed - at the edge of the highest point on the African continent! And a bonus is that I've lost at least 5 pounds without trying as part of Dave's "boot camp"!!
More later. Thanks to those of you who responded to my last log! I loved hearing from so many of you. Please continue to write to me and to keep us in your prayers. Thanks! Off to Rwanda tomorrow.
Love,
Judy
Murchison is home to hippos, crocodiles, pumbas, chimps, elephants, birds, and giraffes! This place was a highlight of Dave's trip here 2 years ago, something he enthusiastically recommended that we recreate. We were able to hire Sam, the same driver Dave used on that last trip here, a local who has had his own business driving foreigners for the past 4 years. Sam lives just outside the park with his family of 5 children and 5 siblings. As he skillfully negotiated the remote roads, he shared some stories of his life here. A couple of years ago, the Lord's Resistance Army (the Lord is the rebel fighter Kony - not Jesus!) was a huge security threat to visitors in the park. Civilians, not military personnel, were being targeted and murdered. And shortly before Dave's last visit, a Brit - Steve Willis- who had lived and owned a restaurant and safari camp in the park for years, was shot and killed. That same day, Sam was driving visitors around the park and encountered a very distraught giraffe. The agitated giraffe stopped the car and motioned his head in the direction of Steve's murder. One of the tourists had binoculars and looked through them at a distance. He saw the murderous rebels advancing by foot. Thanks to the giraffe's warning, Sam was able to make a quick getaway and escape any harm. (Security in the park is excellent now, and the rebels have since moved to the Sudan, much to everyone's relief - except the Sudenese, I'm sure).
Another story Sam shared was how during dry season, poisonous snakes have entered his home! He has a sharp "snake stick" to kill them! (And the whole family knows how to use it!!) A neighbor's 3 year old baby was killed a couple of days ago by a snake he tried to pick up.
Traveling is always such a revelation. I am continually awed and humbled by the difficult lives our friends in developing countries lead and am always grateful to be a part of volunteer efforts to help. On that note, I look forward to sharing volunteer opportunities with some of my high school students next year when I return to teaching at the end of my sabbatical. I'm excited to have been selected for a new program called O Ambassadors - O standing for Oprah - which is a new collaboration of the Angel Network and Free the Children to encourage concern and volunteerism in the world by U.S. and Canadian elementary and high school students and teachers. The goal is to help alleviate poverty and promote peace in the world, part of Millenium Goals. Before I left Santa Barbara, I applied to be a teacher/mentor for a club program at San Marcos and was pleasantly surprised to be selected! O Ambassadors attempts to teach students (and teachers) about the lives and cultures of various people of the world. It encourages ways we all can help the global community. I listed West and East Africa on my application as first areas of interest and have been consciously scouting possibilities for future volunteerism - especially in orphanages and in cross cultural situations.
Many of you are aware that I traveled to Ghana in June with 4 other members of Goleta Presbyterian Church to begin a long term relationship with a church in the remote town of Patriensa, encouraging micro enterprise and solar initiatives. And in Tanzania, Dave and I connected with a number of Masai tribes and a brilliant young Masai director named Eli who heads an organization called Ilkidinga which needs volunteers to work in Masai villages. Through Eli, we attended church services at his Catholic church which seeks a sister church relationship with an American Catholic Church. We also met Dora, the director of the Living Water orphanage which also seeks volunteers, especially teachers. Any interested adults out there?
Sorry to get sidetracked! Anyway, we did have a wonderful time at Murchison Falls. First Sam drove us to the head of the beautiful and powerful falls on the Victorian Nile, the source of some of the best river rafting in the world. The gorge the water passes through is only 6 m; Lonely Planet guide says it may be the most powerful surge of water in the world. We were also treated to a view of the bottom of the falls from a 4 hour ride on an aging tourist boat full of foreign visitors (many Dutch, Steve H. , so you could've "talked the lingo" - though they all speak good English!)
I was thrilled to see many birds, crocs and hippos from the boat, though disappointed that the new driver didn't go as close to the animals as the driver of Dave's boat 2 years ago. I consoled myself, however, with memories (and photos) of our outstanding week long Tanzanian safari, where we saw ALL the "big five" in the various parks we visited - black rhinos, elephants, a leopard, a cheetah, and many lions (including 2 up close after mating, where they were hanging out lazily near the road!!) - plus hundreds of beautiful giraffes, zebras, baboons, monkeys, and rare birds!! Truly an awesome experience.
I have yet to fill you in on the details of the Kilimanjaro climb but will later. Some of you already know that I made it to the top of the crater's edge, became mildly hypothermic, and was forced to call it quits without reaching the "true" summit. I did, however, receive a silver certificate from the park since Gilman's Point is considered a worthy achievement, the first of the 3 highest points on Kilimanjaro. It's only a couple of hundred meters short of Uhuru Peak, which Dave, of course, reached. I must say under the difficult circumstances, I was thrilled to make it to Gilman's. I saw many people turning back on the way up from altitude sickness (and could hear people puking in the dark; the climb begins at midnight while the scree is still frozen). I actually stood at close to 20,000 feet - the highest I'd ever climbed - at the edge of the highest point on the African continent! And a bonus is that I've lost at least 5 pounds without trying as part of Dave's "boot camp"!!
More later. Thanks to those of you who responded to my last log! I loved hearing from so many of you. Please continue to write to me and to keep us in your prayers. Thanks! Off to Rwanda tomorrow.
Love,
Judy
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Greetings from Uganda
Dear family and friends,
I got the idea of creating a blog using this host from a young friend we climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with a couple of weeks ago. She assured me it was an easy site to use. So far so good!
I hope you'll enjoy reading occasional logs about the 5 week trip Dave and I are making in East Africa. 2 and 1/2 weeks have already passed since we left Santa Barbara on the 18th of Oct. - and a lot has happened! Since we've had limited access to internet (and slow, sketchy connections at that) I've only managed to check mail and jot off hurried notes to a few of you. Thanks to those of you who have responded and kept me informed about happenings at home. Those of you who travel know how welcome personal news can be when you're far away and in remote places.
I guess I'll start from today and work backward, making our news more current.
We are currently in an internet cafe in Kampala, Uganda. We arrived here yesterday afternoon after a 14 hour, all night bus trip from Nairobi, Kenya. It was kind of an eery trip, undertaken on extremely bumpy roads, some unpaved and most unlit, into the heart of dark Africa There are few street lights anywhere here, except in major cities. Our driver would follow big trucks with bright tail lights so that our way was paved into the night.
Dave had purchased the last 2 reservations on the bus, which happened to be two seats in the rear, over the tires. (So we went big-time "bump in the night"! ) Arriving in Kampala around 1:30p.m., I was more than ready to find a place to stay, get a hot shower, some food, and a good rest while prone. This did happen a few hours later, but not until we had checked rates of the U.S. dollar against the Ugandan shilling, changed money, and hiked around town with backpacks
for a few more hours. Finally we took a shared taxi to the "Backpackers Hostel", a lovely and quiet spot maybe 5 or 6 miles outside of the center of this bustling, modern city. ( Dave had stayed here alone on his trip 2 years ago after climbing Mt. Kenya and venturing off on his own after Bar and Dave returned to the U.S. ) Anyway, after checking into a private bungalow and cleaning up, we headed back out for supper. We were so tired that we only ventured a couple of miles from the hostel where we found delicious grilled food stands run by a young local boy named Moses. We also drank some icy Bongo, a favorite local yogurt drink, like cold, thick kefir. It was delicious.
After a good night's sleep, we made a plan to do internet today plus a bit of sightseeing before visiting Murchison Falls tomorrow, where we'll see lots of hippos, crocodiles, and elephants. (More later about our previous week-long safari in Tanzania!). We've hired a driver to take us to the park. First, though, is a 3 hour bus ride to the town of Masindi, where we'll start.
To be continued!
Best to all,
Judy and Dave
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