Adventures of Arusha Town

Adventures of Arusha town

9/29/09

I’ve been acclimating to life here in Tz, learning my way around the town and practicing my greetings. I haven’t been brave enough yet to try a dalla dalla (mini bus) on my own into town, so I’ve been walking everywhere. The other options for transportation are of course car taxis, motorcycle taxis and bicycle taxis. I’m dying to try a piki piki (bicycle taxi)! They ride so fast down the street all you hear is a whiz as they fly by. It does help that the road is going downhill. Here is a picture of Mt. Meru which sits just behind the neighborhood I live in and provides a picturesque scene for me as I walk home. Mt. Meru used to be taller than Kilimanjaro, but blew its top off and is now the 5^th highest mt (I believe). This is the scene I walk home to each down with the beautiful purple blooms of the Jacaranda trees!

9/30/09

Today was a big day! Not only did I take a dalla dalla-twice, but I also caught a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) into town! The dalla dalla was of course packed to the max-It’s between the size of a minivan and a full size van and can seat about 3 and ½ people comfortable on a bench, but they always cram 4 grown adults on the bench, and have two-three people standing by the door. Of course they tried to overcharge (I’m white, therefore I’m rich and can afford to be ripped off- right?!) but I was proud of my bargaining skills.

After a morning full of running errands, I had to go back into town to meet Lyne to exchange paperwork for my residency permit. So to save my poor legs from walking all the way into town-again, I caught a boda boda. Personal and public safety is not a highly valued concept, and very few people wear helmets. I’m not sure I’ll ride on one again, as I like the way my head looks, but at least I tried it once. Plus my eyes were tearing the whole way!

On the job front, I’m setting up meetings with local organizations to continue the hard work Asa did as the previous Program Development Officer. Getting to know the community partners is essential especially when new volunteers seek placements in January. Visions is also a partner with Books for Africa. Both Asa and Sarah, the program development officer in Moshi, have been working hard for many months to assess schools’ needs for books and figure out logistics of distribution. Moshi will be expecting their shipping container, which holds 2000+ books, soon. Arusha will receive theirs in the near future, as soon as I figure out exactly what type of books to fill the container and to which schools they will be delivered. Asa has already done most of the grunt work for this part, and its only a matter of finalizing the details (sounds easy enough…right…).

As for the social scene, Jackie and Kala have been gracious enough to bring me into their circle of friends. Several nights I’ve gone out for dinner and drinks with their posse. It can be quite wild here-often people don’t go out til late and stay out til the early morning. I’ve always been a night owl, but I’ll have to remember to put that owl to bed, for work comes awfully early!