January 2011
1 post
Nimo nyumbani (I am home). Or am I?
This is my last blog post of the Rafiki On Safari series encompassing my adventures and life in Tanzania, Africa. This post really doesn’t have much to do with Tanzania, but about me and the person I became by studying abroad.
When people ask me how my experiences studying abroad in Tanzania went, I respond with the cliche ‘the experience of a lifetime’ and tell some other...
December 2010
15 posts
Lake Eyasi and Indigenous Tribes
This post combines with the last post about Ngorongoro to complete the summary of my last week in the field.
From Ngorongoro we drove back through the countryside and bumpy roads to another campsite in the ‘Maasai landscape’ of Lake Eyasi. After setting up our tents, we chilled and enjoyed the comfort of the shade trees and the lush greenery of our campsite. Later we went with our...
Ngorongoro, Oldupai, and Laetoli
This update encompasses pretty much the last of my easy-living time in Tanzania, the time without final exams and tests that ensued upon my return to Dar.
After our time spent in the Karatu area, we drove to safari in our last, and my favorite, national park - Ngorongoro. Upon arriving in Ngorongoro after driving along the crater rim, we made it to our campsite with a view overlooking the...
FAME Medical Clinic →
Pictured on the front page is Dr. Frank, who founded FAME with his wife Susan. Really great story, so check it out!
Gibb's Farm Integrated Clinic →
You’ll have to scroll down a bit to get to the park about Lazaro’s clinic. This little description doesn’t do it justice. It’s one of those things that you have to experience to deeply care about.
Gibb's Farm →
Kwaheri Africa, Hello USA
As many of you probably already know, I arrived in Chicago this Sunday with only a few incidents. All four flights went by quickly and my last flight from Philadelphia to Chicago was the only one that had flown between the two places the entire day! Customs was a breeze except for a misunderstanding involving vanilla vodka and baobab seeds coated in raspberry flavoring. But before I get to...
On the home stretch, quite literally
Habari zenu? How are you all?
As I count down my last 3.5 days in Africa for the year, I can’t help but get butterflies as I gear up to finish all my last papers and presentations before flying out on Saturday. Four flights later, I’ll arrive in Chicago and then it’s back to Wisconsin! So until I get home, there will be no more blog updates to catch you up. After five exams...
November 2010
7 posts
Bibis (Grandmas), More Black Magic, and Sour...
Summary of the third week in the bush from November 1-7.
This week Ian and I interviewed many more people, including a midwife illegally practicing her skills for desperate local wives (the village outlawed the practice of midwifery because they wanted to encourage women to go to the dispensaries and health centers to give birth. Unfortunately, they didn’t take into account that most...
That Old Black Magic
This update will encompass our second week in the field from October 25-31. We started off this week with a meeting with all the translators to go over our research questions. I’m interviewing with Ian Watt as both of our projects relate to medical anthropology. My research project is called “Needles and Natural Healers: An Analysis of Maasai Perceptions of Traditional Ethnomedicine...
Jambo, Tarangire
This post is dedicated to our first full week in the Tanzanian bush. Firstly, we’re really not all that much in the bush. As in, our Zion campsite is situated about 2 kilometers away from a small city called Olasiti and is located on the road that leads to Tarangire National Park. The area itself is called Kibaoni and if you had to describe it, beautiful would easily come to mind. Not...
Weki Kwanza in 'da boosh' (first week in the bush)
Courtney, Caleb and I had a no less interesting trip going from Moshi to Arusha. The man who owned our hotel got a driver to take us into town where the driver drove us around until he found one of the larger city buses that was bound for Arusha. He negotiated the price for us and then made the bus stop on the side of the road so that it could especially pick us up. The bus then proceeded to...
The Rooftop of Africa
This morning we started off with one of the last opportunities for a hot shower (make that bathing in general) for five days. We met Martin and our assistant guide, Filipo, at our hotel and headed for the mountain. After registering and getting all of our gear sorted out among the porters, we set off with our backpacks and hiking poles up the first leg of our Marangu route to Mandara Hut. Since...
Kilimanjaro, etc (The First Week)
This entire week was spent completing a long succession of preparations to wrap up classes and to prepare for moving into the houses of host families and for our week break. We met our host families at a big dinner celebration at Dr. Roberts’ house. I’m living with two other girls in the Towo house. Baba (Father) Arnold and Mama Lightness both work at UDSM, Baba as a professor of...
Mambo tena (Hello again)
As it seems my last post was in late September, it seems I have some explaining to do. For the last six or seven weeks I have been pretty much out of contact with the modern world, or at least the world outside of my own bubble in Tanzania. The past month and a half have been easily some of the most amazing days of my life. Our last week in Dar (last week in September) was spent wrapping up our...
September 2010
5 posts
Don't Worry, Be Happy
Monday brought the arrival of our last week of intensive Kiswahili studies (not the end of our studies, but the end of having four hours a day of class) and our first ‘lion’ test. Aldin said that we would start with tests at the gazelle level and work our way up to the lion. He wasn’t lying as the test was near impossible. Thank goodness in Africa 70 % and above is...
Bagamoyo and Week Three of Class
Today started and ended as a very typical Monday with the usual breakfast at the cafeteria before Kiswahili class. Our group discussion time was again held at the cafe near the degree tree, as they easily have the best breakfast food, pastries, and cakes on campus. After lunch at the cafeteria, we found out that Research Methods had been cancelled, so the rest of the afternoon was ours. In...
Random Observations
1.Always appreciate running water, especially if you are lucky enough to have a hot water heater. Along this same line, never underestimate how much a shower taken with frigid cold water can wake you up in the mornings. Also along the same vein, the water is always hotter in the evening after the jua kali (fierce sun) has warmed it up.
2.Sean Connery’s character in the movie “A League of...
Hakuna Matata
This week was a typical one of our scholastic lives in Africa. Monday’s breakfast and lunch were eaten at the cafeteria before and after Kiswahili with the usual snack at the cafe next to the Degree Tree. A development of today was that our Kiswahili teacher, Aldin, is a socialist and a Christian. For those unfamiliar with Tanzania’s history, a president during the middle half of...
First Week of Classes
Firstly, apologies for any spelling errors in any of the previous posts. Checking grammar errors isn’t high on my priority list of things to do in Africa. Also, apologies for any repeat phrases like ‘full day in Africa’, this seems almost too surreal to be true that I have lived in Africa, halfway around the world from pretty much everything familiar, for two weeks, and...
August 2010
2 posts
First Full Week Recap
Our first full day of living in Africa was started by breakfast at the ACM house on campus with nearly all of the other program students. This was our first experience with an African breakfast and was definitely indicative of what was to come for future breakfasts: lots and lots of fried bread of various ingredients and shapes. Over breakfast, we were also introduced to two people who would...
London and First Glimpses of Tanzania
Today marks the first full week that I have lived in Tanzania, Africa. And what a week it has been! But no update would be complete without first telling of the journey. Our four day layover in London was a wonderful, interesting, and learning experience, to say the least. The day that we touched down in London-town, we hit the ground running by checking in to our hostel in the Piccadilly...
July 2010
6 posts
18 Days...and counting
So how exactly does one begin a blog about a future life-changing experience?
To be perfectly honest, this whole blogging thing is a bit new to me. This blog is meant to be a chronicle of my experiences studying and living abroad in Tanzania, East Africa. Most of the experiences mentioned here will probably be just day-to-day activities as we begin our studies of Swahili (or Kiswahili, whichever you prefer) at the University of Dar es Salaam and then move to our host family's place for a week before having our break (do I hear Mt. Kilimanjaro calling?), and then we're off to our fieldsite in Tarangire where we stay for six weeks in tents with access to Tarangire National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Laetoli (insert squeal of delight from a nerdy anthropologist here), and with interaction opportunities with some of the last hunter-gatherer and pastoralist tribes on Earth, namely the Maasai, before we head back to the University to complete our final exams, papers, and big presentation on our research while living with our host families. In all, we're going to be taking intensive Swahili classes, combined with courses in Research Methods, Human Evolution, and Ecology of the Maasai Ecosystem. Wow, just thinking about the fact that in 18 short days I will be living this reality, is a little mind-boggling. There are so many opportunities for things to go awry along this epic journey - I think I can safely say that it will indeed be epic - but of one thing I am sure, this is going to be an amazing experience unlike any that has happened, or will happen in my life, and I can't wait!
And so the countdown begins. But before touchdown in Tanzania, there's London-town (The Clash song "London Calling" never fails to sound in my head at the mere mention of London), Texas, and a visit to Duluth to think about. Not to mention the part about packing four months of academics, base camping, climbing, and life into two overly large duffle bags. There's also the end of summer work at the Leinenkugel Brewery, goodbyes to family and friends, several textbook articles and books about Tanzania to be read, and I suspect a couple more trips to the REI mecca in Bloomington to add in to the mix as well. Side note: if anyone has any recommendations for sweet places to visit in London, I'm open to suggestions! I've gotten several, including a performance of Les Miserables, but would love to hear more opinions of options.
I can't promise anything with this blog as far as structure. Entries will most likely be sporadic with the numerous power outages and limited internet connection. Maybe I'll structure it with songs, like "Africa" by Toto, or maybe around meals, like my first experience trying banana beer or the Maasai drink of goat or cow's blood mixed with milk, or maybe around experiences, like the rush of adrenaline when I climb Mt. Kilimanjaro? Who knows? There's a world of possibilities to explore!
National Website of the United Republic of... →
Joke Teller: What does a one-legged ballerina wear when she performs?
Listener: I don't know. What?
Joke Teller: A 'one-one'.
“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because...”
– Joseph Addison
