My last few weeks in Africa

Written by Jodie Condell - Tanzania 2008 Detours Volunteer

I know it has been a while since I last wrote an update on what I have been up to but time here is so precious (as it is anywhere in the world really) and I have been working away on many little projects, including trying to stay a little bit longer, which i fear is a project which is providing a lot more difficult here than it is back home.

What have I been up to, well where do I start really? I have met some amazing people from all over the world and continue to Love, Love, Love the adventure and Life I'm living here. So, finally I'm used to the bucket shower experience and actually I don't mind it at all. Mum, Dad and jess (and anyone that knows how long I usually spend in the shower) you will not believe it, I don't even bother getting the water heated for me and I use only a small bucket a day to wash in, so I'm definitely making up for all those lost hours in the shower.

Actually on that note I decided I really wanted to understand and live like my Tanzanian family so....... I offered the other day to go on the water mission. What an experience. We walked to the water source (which thankfully the one at the school is working so its only five minutes away, cause it would have been a killer of a mission walking 25 minutes up a hill to get there) so we took about 23 buckets and filled them all up and then we carried them one by one back to our house. The wire handles cut into your hands and I have quite the classis to prove my hard work, now i know why the women carry these things on their heads. Actually i tried to do that but ha ha ha ha it was not particularly successful and the closest I could manage was up oin my shoulder which everyone thought that was crazy and they all were quite amused. So this went on for an hour and a half and I was well and truly able to feel my muscles (for the next three days in fact) but i will tell you I have a fine fine appreciation for water use these days and I have become a massive tight arse when it comes to washing and showering.

As far as home life, Ugali is proving more and more difficult to digest and I continuously feel bloated and cramped but thankfully sally has arrived and has the same issues so we suffer together. The other night I caught the local daladala to Ngaramtoni where I did some shopping off the side of the road. it cost me about five dollars for all the fruit and veg i needed and an extra couple of dollars for some more knives, so yeah everything is ridiculously priced. I cooked diner for the family on their little fire out the back (pasta and vegetables) and they all loved it so that was awesome.

I have also been spending some time in the kitchen with Mama B learning how to cook their trasditional food, so now im caclled mama Africa at home. Lango is so grateful and the other night he said that no other vollies have ever helped out with the cooking and collecting the water and he really appreciates the help I have been giving his wife. He loves how hard I work and I know ity means a lot to him that im trying to understand their culture. So that's really nice to hear that. Anyway its just me trying to make the most of this once in a lifetime experience, imagine coming all this way to have everything done for you?????

I am learning a lot about the culture and the way people live but what I find hard is how hard the kids work and there is no appreciation for it, they are continuously yelled at and hit for the most silly things like getting their homework wrong, so I have started top spend some time at home with Branco to help him with his math homework which he really struggles with, I find him nervous around the house and scared to do anything wrong which i don't blame him cause both mama b and lango are quite the perfectionists and like things just the way they do them.

We took one of the girls from the village the other day and bought her into town and spoiled her rotten. We took her to the markets and then to a really nice hotel where she saw a pool and people swimming for the first time in her life, it freaked her out at first and she would not go near it but she came round in the end. Then, it took her about half an hour but she tried out an elevator as well and we introduced her to pizza which she loved. Then we bought her a banana split and the coldness of the ice cream scared her so she spat it out and wouldn't go near it again. Back in the village there is no electricity so even soda's on the rare occasion they get them are hot. Anyway all in all she had a fantastic day before returning to the hard village life of household duties and school and being yelled at.

I'm learning about the locals as well in town and how they live. A couple of my friends who work in hospitality have not been paid for 3 months and there is nowhere they can go to complain. Most of them have no drivers licenses or passports and travel is not even a consideration for many anyway. Its funny i was having a chat to one of my friends about what he wants to do for the rest of his life and you know what he had never even thought about it, every day as it comes is pretty much how it goes here and that is how simple life is.

I went on safari the other day, accidentally - It was a last minute spontaneous decision that was more based on a miscommunication than anything but wow wow wow, so worth the experience. A group of eight of us went camping and then to lake manyara and the experience was amazing. Camping was so much fun and we went to the panoramic camping site in the afternoon for some drinks and just chilled, we all chatted and sang and carried on and basically had such a nice time with such a great group of people. On safari we saw hippo's, giraffe's and an elephant came right up to the car, we could have patted it if we wanted to. There were zebra's and warthogs and baboons and wildebeests and there is nothing in the world like seeing them in their natural habitat - Never again will i pay to go to another zoo. The terrain and scenery was diverse and so so beautiful, the first part was like driving through a rainforest then out onto the open plains with mountains in the background and a massive lake lined with pink flamingos. Its really impossible to explain something so free and beautiful but that's as good as it get, I was so so happy relaxed and content and I'm really looking forward to checking out the ngorangora crater and the serengeti - maybe see a lion or two.

The next couple of weeks are all about teaching and sponsorship for me but then i have plans to go to Zanzibar and chill on the beach for a week and then go on another safari and then trek off to Uganda for 10 days to do some white water rafting and maybe see a gorilla park if funds allow, the girls with the dollars will be doing a bungee jump and then we will go for a horse ride. So yeah that's the plan at this stage - Are you all feeling jealous right about now??

Anyway I'm really out of time but just wanted to give you a bit of an update on a few of the things i have been up to. will fill you in as time allows.