Mountains, Volcanos, Safari and St Jude's Day

Today was St Jude’s day which is obviously not quite as widely celebrated as the Irish’s patron saints equivalent but does have an annual tradition at St Jude’s. It started yesterday afternoon when students practiced hymns while the rest of the staff began chopping the veges, meat and sorting the rice for the next days feast. Keeping with the theme of St Jude being the patron saint of the less fortunate all of the students bring in an donation to be given to those less fortunate than them. This ranges from Chickens to a bag of maze flour to a bar of soap. Morning mass was followed by a big feast and then an afternoon of performances by classes from both Usa River and Moshono campus to see which class was the St Jude’s day winner. Any day both campuses come together is always a lot of fun and really gives perspective on how many students and staff for that matter are involved in running St Jude’s.

A couple of weeks ago Ali and I had nine days away and with with time running out in Africa we attempted to cram as much in as we could.

The first stage was a three day trek of Mt Meru. Mt Meru is Kilimanjaro’s smaller sibling at 4566m meters which we look up to above Arusha everyday. The first two days were relatively easy treks through grasslands, rainforests, to above the tree line and up to Little Meru at 3800m. It had mostly been foggy for the first two days up the mountain but a few hours before our early morning summit it poured with rain and cleared the cloud cover. In the almost full moon we could see a clear view of Kilimanjaro all morning and only had to use our head torches for just a little while. The rain also meant that it snowed on much of the peak which made it icy. We set off at 1:30am with the aim of reaching the summit at sunrise. The guides all ensure that you go as slow as possible to best adjust to the altitude so the accents took five hours over some pretty awkward terrain at times. Without to many complications we both made it to the top and observed the amazing sunrise with Kilimanjaro as a silhouette. Decent to top camp took about three hours where we had a quick sleep a bite to eat and pretty much ran back down the mountain to meet up with our vehicle back to St Jude’s. One night at St Jude’s and we were off again.

Next we were off on a four day safari through Tarangirie, Serengeti and finally Ngorogoro Crater. Tarangirie was very dry before the short rains. There were elephants everywhere all over the place almost every where you looked. The fact it was the first park of the trip it was fantastic. The next day we drove the five hours to the Serengeti catching a glimpse of the crater on the way before the Serengeti planes open up and they really do seem to go on for ever. We saw quite a bit of game on route to our camp site. The first herds of the migration had already reached down that far so it was amazing to see the huge number of Zebra and Wildebeest grazing together. On the game drive the next morning we had some serious luck, it seemed like every corner we drove around we ran into a new pride of Lions. The best moment was when three lionesses from another pride kept approaching another. A male with some fresh wounds and lionesses chased them away several times making allot of noise. Ngorogoro was probably never going to live up to the Serengetti which was amazing but although the game was not as frequent it was still great. We saw an elusive Black Rhino close up to round off the big five. The night before the crater we were welcomed to the camp site by an elephant drinking out of the water tank and awoke to the noise of zebra grazing right next to the tent.

After a game drive in the crater we met a mate from rugby and two of his friends in a town and set off with them camping for the weekend. The main purpose of the trip was to climb Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano on the edge of the rift valley and the Ngorogoro highlands. It was great to get off the tourist circuit with just Gian as our guide who had been out in area many times from when he was young. We drove as far up the mountain as we could and set up camp there. The volcano was erupting for twenty days straight at the start of the year so most of the vegetation has been killed off under all of the ash. We set off at midnight with a Massai we hired watching the car and camp. It turned out to be a lot more demanding than Meru was but well worth it when we got to the top. The sandy soil made it really difficult and any rock is either brittle or has a thin layer of ash on it. At the top you could see down into the ask cone where laver was bubbling away which only glows at night as the laver is so cool, only 500ºC or something. We reached the top about 6:30am in time for sunrise and could see the silhouettes of both Kilimanjaro and Meru, but the rumbling, heat, smoke and bubbling coming off the volcano was the best part even if a little unnerving. The way down was effectively straight and at times easy running down through the ash and at other times really hard slipping down over rock on your back side. We climbed up about 1500m from camp to about 2800m at the top and it took ten hours up and down. We drove down to a camp site where we were the only ones staying and pretty much slept for the rest of the day. We made a short rip that evening down to Lake Natron and walked out to see the Flamingoes for which it is famous for. On the Sunday we walked up an hour and half to the end of a canyon. The whole way up there were waterfalls coming from springs out of the rocks with oasis like palm tree vegetation around it. The water was beautifully clean so we took our time swimming in the many holes and waterfalls all the way up while the baboons were spectating. Lunch in the near by Massai village and some game on the way back to the main road really topped off probably the best two days of the break.

Only six weeks of school left and less until James and Ric arrive which is all bizarre. Testing for new students is still going on which means six day weeks but will hopefully get a chance to get away for a weekend soon. Next big plan is Kilimanjaro in early December.

Hope all is well.

A lot has happened in the last month or more, what with the traveling, testing and visitors. So here is the run down.

Ali and I set off on a holiday for two weeks the same day as the opening ceremony which set an unfortunate precedent for watching the Olympics but the alternative was just as good. We made our way to Uganda via Nairobi and spent a week there. Our first stop at Jinja on the Nile and lake Victoria was definitely a highlight due to a days whitewater rafting. We went over six level five rapids and flipped on half of them and at the end of the day stayed at a great campsite which looked straight down the Nile. We spent a night in Kampala and then traveled down to the Ssese Island on Lake Victoria. We set a new personal record en-route with the amount of people in a vehicle with us. On the way there we had 26 people, 5 babies, a chicken and ample luggage in a mini-van. On the way out they added another person, a chicken and a goose. It was great to see Lake Victoria from a quiet fishing village. An unexpected little Moroccan Restaurant run by a crazy but friendly Moroccan expat served some of the best fish I have ever tasted. Next stop was Kabale and more specifically Lake Bunyoni. Apart from being beautiful the local markets were unlike others we had seen. All of the mama’s brought their produce up the lake on canoes. So for most of the morning canoes were coming up and down the lake with produce or buyers coming up the lake to the markets which set up on the shore. We then made our way down to Rwanda which was a beautiful drive as we started to get into the hilly country which typifies Rwanda.

After the dirt track which Uganda provides to the boarder the first glimpse of Rwanda is the beautiful autobahn esk roads which continue throughout the country. We made our way to Ruhengeri, our staging point for our Gorilla trek. We were very lucky to find permits for the gorillas with about a month before we left, most sell out at least three months ahead. We started from the National Park Office where they place you into groups of eight for each of the groups of gorillas. We were allocated the ‘Hirwa’ group and were shown photos of all twelve gorillas in the group. It took over four hours to trek up to where the trackers had found the group which, longer than usual. Some in our group were getting angry at the length, difficulty and at times safety of the walk but from our point of view we were just getting value for money. We found the group at the bottom of a gully with the two hundred kilo silverback reclining in a ditch sunning himself. We could only see him and a couple of mamas at first but gradually they all came out of the wood work. The kids were all playing around the mamas while they were grooming the silverback. You are only allowed to spend one hour with them and it felt like ten minutes. At one stage a tracker was clearing some branches away just a meter or so from me so we could see some of the mamas a little easier when the silverback jumped out of his slumber rushed the tracker and stood over him. It all happened extremely quickly and at the time looked like he actually struck the tracker, but we assured he just stood over him and that it almost never happens. In the end it is hard to explain how good it was but it was well and truly worth it.

After Ruhengeri we headed down to Batare via Kigali. Rwanda is so small and the infrastructure so good that it takes no time at all to get anywhere. We visited the national museum at Butare and the first of many Genocide Memorials at Gikongoro. We spent our last three nights in Kigali and on the way back up we passed the Tour de Rawanda which we first saw near Ruhengeri. From Kigali we did a day trip south to Ntarama and Nyamata to visit two memorials and visited the National memorial and a few other sites within Kigali. The national memorial was a really interesting site with a lot of information to take in. The other memorials we visited outside of Kigali were a really visual reminder and almost giving a visual reality to the different statistics that you so often read. It was impossible to really understand what went on or to be able to relate to the feeling for any Rwandan but it was great to walk away with far more knowledge of the events over a long, long time, not just the early nineties.

We got back to school on a Friday morning and walked straight into the second week of testing. Testing is on every Friday from the end of August through until sometimes December or when they find the amount of kids for next years enrolment that fit the academic and socio-economic criteria. It starts with a reading test then a written test, documents check, a home visit, a two week probation period, another home visit and a parent committee check. We are involved in the Friday testing and home checks. The first Friday we got back we processed around three thousand kids of who almost all had family out the front of the school. If a student is successful in their reading test they move to the written and if successful are asked to come back on Saturday for the document check and so on. On this Friday out of three thousand kids only maybe one hundred and fifty were asked back on Saturday and then forty passed the document check and then maybe twenty five passed house checks. It is all very interesting to be involved in and can sometime be sad when you have to say no to a kid who is just above the cut off but you just have to be confident that the places will all be filled by kids who are worse off.

For the past couple of weeks we have had our own little tour group staying at the school. Nicole arrived with Alice Cohen two weeks ago and the Lize who Ali went to school and then uni with arrived the next day. Then on the Sunday Elkie, Ali’s almost Neighbor from Garah and her boyfriend Fraze arrived. They all did safari’s the first week but on either side we showed them around as much as we could. Was actually a good excuse to finally get out to the Food Water Shelter program to have a look at there eco-friendly, self sustaining, community friendly model for living in Africa as well as visiting some places again.

Today the oldest kids in standard seven, the final year of primary school are do the first of two days of final exams, if they do well enough they will qualify to move on to secondary school. A lot of pressure for a year in which children are ideally twelve years of age. In any case they should all get through, with flying colors most of them. Understandably independent invigilators are brought in to all schools however strangely all schools have to be closed for the day, I guess as a further strategy against teachers cheating. In any case I finally got the chance to write this. Strangely only three months to go, hopefully it won’t go too quickly.

Rugby Trip To Mauritius

A week back after half term and then I was off on a rugby tour to Mauritius the Tanzanian team. I know how absurd does it sound. So on the Saturday we set off from Arusha to catch a plane from Nairobi to Mauritius. The first couple of days were spent training as we had not trained together. The team was made up of guys from Dar, Arusha and Moshi. Some of the boys had come back to Tz for Uni holidays and quite a few had just stepped out of the bush. We stayed at a hotel with three other visiting teams in a town in the west midlands of the small Island. The competition was the Confederation of Africa Rugby Junior tournament and we were competing in the Eastern pool.
Our first game was against Reunion which we narrowly lost 25 – 19. They played like I guess the French are famous for, with arms and boots flailing at the breakdown and willing to throw it around blindly out wide. The second game was against Mayotte which was little more successful as we end up winning 35 – 10. The winner of our final game against Mauritius would have taken second place. Unfortunately we were lacking troops by the last game with quite a few injuries. I played every minute at fly half for all three games but had to train as jumper in the lineout previous to the Mauritius game. One more injury and I would have had to ruin my good looks and put my head in a scrum. We were presented to the President of Mauritius before the game but unfortunately could not step up to plate and lost 23 -18, was really tight in the final stages though. The standard of rugby was pretty good but after three games in five days our bodies were well and truly battered.

On the off days we sampled numerous beaches around the Island and generally just did it tough. The hotel was quite a bit of fun with Reunion and Mayotte staying there also. The Mayotte boys in particular had a good party with us after we played. Mauritius itself was very surprising to me. It was very developed with amazing infrastructure, developed beach fronts and every plot of land that does not have a building has sugar cane. The population is mainly of Indian and Sri Lankan decent. I guess they speak Creole French mainly, despite English being a national language it is not widely spoken. A young Irish guy on the tour who grew up in Tz, was the only one in the team who could speak French so he was the designated translator for the week. Jake White was at the drinks after the last game and actually came and talked to the Tanzanian team before our last game as one of the boys had a connection with him and he happened to in Mauritius at the same time.

For the final two days before we flew out we moved down to the South East Coast, not far from the airport and did some snorkeling, ate seafood and sampled the local beer and ‘Green Island Rum’. It was an awesome ten days, quite a ridicules opportunity when I think about it really.
The one down side about going was that I missed out on the opening of the new campus at Usa River. By all reports it was a great success. I did not miss out on it all though managing to go straight from my returning bus to the restaurant where the Australian High Commissioner from Nairobi was hosting a function after the opening. With her she brought quite a bit of Australian wine which we did our best to drink.

Unfortuaately upon return I was told of Darren Stratti’s death. I knew of but had not met Darren but some vollies’ at St Judes had quite a close relationship with him and other people from the Food Water Shelter project. There are an Australian couple staying at the school currently who were in the Air on the way over to work for FWS when it all happened and are now some what in limbo as the project as not been halted but the volunteers and management have all gone home.

I hope all is well at home with everybody at home, I hope to speak to you all soon.

Pangani to Malindi

Ali and I took advantage of the mid term holidays
and set off to the coast of Tanzania and Kenya for the week. We caught an early bus to Pangani, a very quiet costal town north of Dar es Salam. It ended up being a bus, Dulla Dulla and a taxi but we got there in time to wander around the little town and have a beer on the beach. Very quiet but was certainly far more pleasant than close by Tanga. The next day we caught a bus from Tanga to Mombasa. After being left behind and having to run the bus down twice on the trip, 2km before the boarder the road collapsed and there was a queue waiting for a front end loader to repair the road. He had some serious pressure too as the 500 people waiting were in typically African style crowded around inspecting the progress. Ali and I decided to hedge our bets and walked to the boarder with our bags prepared to catch a bus on the other side. We met back up with our bus in the end but instead of getting to Mombasa at 5pm it was more like 10pm.

I enjoyed Mombasa allot. Fort Jesus was interesting and the old town is like a derelict Stown Town. Was interesting to see some of the buildings which date back to the Portuguese in the 1500’s, you often forget that these parts of Africa were well traveled before the British and Germans decided to poke around. Mombassa harbor is also surprisingly picturesque. Thanks to a gift from Ali’s Grandfather we lashed out and had an awesome meal at a restaurant looking back across the harbor to the old town. Thanks Mr and Mrs McKinnon, I think Ali has sent you photos. Two nights in Mombassa then traveled up to Kilifi 50km North. Ali’s cousin lives in Kilifi but unfortunately was not there while we were there. She was kind enough however, to let us use her house while we were there. The trees must have grown quite a bit since Ali was last there as we took a few wrong turns before finally finding the secluded house just off the ‘Kilifi Creek’ which is far bigger than it sounds. Morning, the gardener, despite not knowing we were coming remembered Ali so gave us the keys and we had our base for the rest of the week.

We decided that bikes would be good to get around for the week. We went into the first hotel on the way into town and hired two bikes, one off the cook and another off his friend. We quickly found out they were terrible and we ended up doing quite a bit of walking with our bikes anyway and found a more reliable source next. Kilifi is a quiet little town with a few resorts around looking out onto the beach and picturesque creek which has numerous sizable boats moored there.

The next day we went for a further ride around and then went to visit Upendo Orphanage. Ali’s cousin Margret, has been very involved in developing the Orphanage. It looks after 35 Orphans who eat three meals at the Orphanage, come there to play there, are provided with financial support and attend school at near by local schools. They however sleep at Guardians houses, which is debatably a better option than them being institutionalised into a regular orphanage. Ali sponsors a child there as do her parents. We had lunch with them, toured the complex and talked about their plans for the future. It was all initiated by local women and the head lady Grace was very impressive and realistic about the future and present.

We went up the coast to Malindi for one night. Was an ok coastal town that had good sea food, a massive Italian influence and good coffee. For some reason Malindi is a Mecca for Italians and Germans, although I could not exactly work out why. It was however relatively deserted as it was out of season which was quite nice really and Watamu just down the coast was much the same. Visited he Gedie ruins on our way back down to Kilifi. Gede was a Swahili town that was destroyed due to their good hospitality shown to the Portuguese and was walked away from in the 16th century. Is like East Africa’s answer to Pompeii. Is in the middle of a forest with a lot of the town still standing. We were the only ones there to wander around the vast town with our guide.

Back to Kilifi and Dow trip up Kilifi Creek on the Friday. We had our hearts set on sailing up the coast to Malindi and came quite close to booking until we spoke to some people in the know who told us that the seas were too dangerous to go out the heads at that time. The local dow operators conveniently forgot to tell us that. So we decided to just do one up the creek instead. Captain John and three helpers cooked us a three course meal while sailing around Kilifi Creek it was a great day. Before heading to Mombassa the next day we dropped into Upendo Orphanage once more armed with six Banana cakes we baked the night before and had lunch with the kids. Then it was one night in Mombassa and back to Arusha on Sunday and back into work Monday.

Half way through the year.

So the day I dropped Mum and Dad off at the
airport, an American guy who works here was getting married, the final in a line of ceremonies of which Mum and Dad were able to attend one. Much to the disgust of locals it was not held in a church, mostly because the groom is a ‘Buddhist’, but was held on a hill behind the new boarding school. This meant a quite a climb up and a slight struggle for some of the older members of the congregation. Guess it was a nice setting but my favorite moments was when the stand in pastor, Jock who is a teaching mentor from Bathurst, produced some terrible jokes that certainly got lost in translation. I may have been the only one laughing I think.

Once this weekend was over it was back into day to day St Judes and catching up on some sleep that the previous three weeks had deprived me of. In mid May I took two standard one football teams out to another school for a carnival which was a kak. Standard one is the equivalent of kindergarten although the kids range from six to as old as nine. It was classic football, 14 kids on the field all of whom are no more than three meters away from the ball at every point in the game. Was well set up with some little goals and minimized fields but the kids certainly just loved getting into the same kit and having an adventure away from school for the afternoon. This isn’t to say they were not competitive. It amazes me how laid back Tanzanian’s are until you get them into a sporting context and then there is little that they won’t do to win. Give it there all or cheat. These little guys were no different. It is all very funny to watch though.

By this stage the super 14 was at the crucial stage of the year so my Saturday ritual was to race into to town to try and catch the Tahs. The Sharks win was satisfying as we had a rugby training were we took time off to watch it and all the players with the exception of maybe two are sharks supporters. The final I watched by myself with some curious bar staff looking on as I went from jumping around joyfully in the first half to a far more solemn mood in the second.

School has been good. Big rains have more or less finished.
There is still the odd day that might rain but has not affected PE too much which is good. Have just finished a netball unit with all of the older kids and am now moving onto some tee ball and tennis. The PE gear here is pretty good and allows you to do almost what ever you would like as long as you have an imagination. For instance a tennis net is a rope between netball posts. The younger kids have been a challenge as I am not really used to teaching the lower year groups. There is a fair age range though considering it is essentially a primary school. The youngest kid in Prep is 5 and the oldest in standard seven is aprox. 17 (no one seems to be exactly sure). Even within year groups you may have and range of 4-5 years.

Once Mum and Dad had left the count down was on for Ali to arrive, which she did on Saturday. It was obviously great to see her. Five months of counting down suddenly seemed like nothing at all. A few hiccups on the way but she got here. Checking in at Dubai she was not in the system so she had to buy another ticket to Nairobi, hopefully it will all be sorted, out later. She has been at work for the last few days although it is slow for her at the moment but that won’t last. As I understand it, from quite soon until December is the busiest time. This is because it is peak season for Safari’s so it is also peak season for visitors. The biggest reason though is from late August testing children for next year starts. This is meant to be a huge process and I am really looking forward to seeing it and helping out, however, everybody says that is a hectic time.

I picked up Ali and more or less took her straight out to watch me play rugby. Lucky she is used to these welcomes from Inverell days. Tanzania was playing the first international of the season against Kenya A. First time Tanzania has played any national team from Kenya since then Tanganyika playing Kenya in 1956 or something. The Kenya A side was made up of the players from the Bamburi Series from earlier in the year when we were getting beaten 50+ nil and many of them have been playing on the international sevens circuit. Even though we were fielding a better team than before as locals had come back for uni holidays and from the bush my expectations were if we kept it under 50 it was a good day. Somehow we pulled off a miraculous and exiting 16-15 win. Celebrations were huge. It really meant a lot to all of the guys and particularly the guys who were born and raised here and make up the bulk of the team, black or white.

End of this week is half term. Ali and I are still planning exactly what we are going to do. We had planned to go up to Kenya to visit her cousin who lives in Kilifi, north of Mombasa but unfortunately she is going to be in the UK at the same time so we are having a rethink.

Hope all is well for everybody.

Some flicks from the SA, Vic Falls and Zanzibar Trip

Cape Town: Robbin Island

Cape Town: Waterfront with Table Mtn

Zanzibar: Dow ride, yes I am steering. St Judes: Mum & Dad at assembly

Victoria Falls from the helicopter An Elephant from a cruise on the Zambezi

Plenty more photos on flickr, see link to the right.

Wirld Wind Month

It has been a whirl wind month since I left for the rainbow country. I spent one night in Cape Town the night before the olds flew in. I did not quite get there in time to get out to Newlands for the Canes Stormers clash as I had hoped. Stayed the night on Long Street which has a thousand backpackers, bars and cafes. I certainly was not short on options to watch the rugby which was great and quickly made some drinking buddies after consuming some Nando’s in preparation for what ended being a big night.

Mum and Dad flew in late on the Sunday so I checked into the apartment down on the Waterfront which we stayed in for five nights. The Waterfront can be explained as maybe a bigger new and improved Darling Harbor. Good restaurants, Music, Bars, shopping and still a working harbor. This was all within view of the apartment and proved to be very convenient to walk down for dinner each night. I got my self comfortable on couch to watch the IPL until M&D arrived late Sunday night.

Cape Town was great. It was strange being back around so much infrastructure and convenience again. All the big sites were conquered; Table Mountain the first day, Robbin Island the second, down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope on the third and up to Stellenbosch on the last. Robbin Island was great for me after reading so much about Mandela’s time there. The tour was conducted by an ex political prisoner which certainly got your attention more. The District Six museum was also really interesting. It was a tribute to a multiracial colored community just off the CT CBD who were kicked out of there homes before they bulldozed the whole suburb, that is how it remains to this day. It really hit home how close in time this was, even with in my lifetime. Before we knew the five days were up and we were off to Victoria Falls.

After all that had happened over the past month I was pretty interested to see what Zimbabwe was going to be like. After a belly flop landing on the plane that felt like we were actually going to end up in the falls we dumped our bags at our outstanding lodge and headed to the falls. You could see the spray even from the plane as the river is running at like eighty percent capacity at the moment. Up close you got a sense of how immensely powerful it is but it was not until the next day when we took a helicopter flight up above the falls when you get some perspective on how vast and what an unusual land formation it has created. Ponchos were a must up close to the falls which Mum had of course packed and brought from Aus. We were able to watch some game loitering around a waterhole from the bar at the lodge which made for an easy afternoon. We also took a sunset cruise up stream from the falls on the Zambezi the next day. We got to see some elephants and hipos, experience how actually huge the river is and drink as much as we could on the boat for two and half hours. In the end we heard little about the political problems; I guess you are so far from Harrae, a couple of locals talked about it but only when they were by them selves. Yeses the town was run down though, the menu was interesting. Example: Coke $10 000 000

Joberg was next on the hit list. Spent one night there and the next day Mum had a route planned to drive out to Dulstrum to stay on the way to a gorge all towards Kruger from Joberg. After a few accdents on the roads (not us) we ended up getting there late. Turns out Dulstrum must be the trout fishing capital of Africa. The place we stayed had a dam where you could walk out the front door and toss a fly out. Nice drive the next day, once the fog lifted anyway. Was all highland country and sometimes felt like we were driving down to the snowy’s with the odd gorge thrown in. Bit nervous on the way back, when we discovered although it appears first world, petrol stations were not so frequent. Driving into Joberg worried you will run out of petrol can get the heart racing. Just like Brett Stewart appeared from the heavens for the Sea Eagles a few seasons ago, we eventually found one.

The trip to Zanzibar was not quite as routine. Once into Dar es Salaam and at the transfer desk, Dad realized he lost all of his tickets. To simplify the story; after a few arguments and let me tell you if you are in a hurry Tanzanians can provide some fuel for your frustration Dad some how got through on my ticket. I went off to find another way across the channel to Zanzibar. After driving to another airport a few backward deals and paying off a few people I found myself on some obscure Airline, destination Zanzibar. I arrived just in time for dinner which was on top of our hotel not far from the water in the middle of Stone Town, which provided a great view at sunset. A walking tour the next morning which was very interesting and a necessity, as after three hours of walking I could have sworn we halfway to the east coast but sure enough we popped out right next to our hotel. Up to the resort straight after which was and hours drive north east. It was amazing how much it all just changed into your stereotypical paradise. Blue water, white sand, forests of palm trees, it had it all. The feature Dad and I got most use out of was the bar in the pool. It was certainly relaxing in between the super 14 games sitting on the beach and Dad and I went sailing on a Dow which was fun. Think I might get board after a week though.

Back to Arusha and the beautiful weather and even worse roads after the rain season. The olds were off on Safari on the Monday so I took them to a near by orphanage and had a look around town on the Sunday before they were shipped off. They returned really pumped about it all which was great as they were a little apprehensive about it all considering all the driving in the Northern circuit in Tanzania. I was able to take them to a Send Off for a Maasai Wedding on the Thursday evening which Mum especially loved. At assembly on Friday they were asked too present awards and then after school we went to visit a student’s home. I think especially after the couple of days around Arusha they felt as if they had seen something off the tourist track which was good. I had a game of rugby on the Saturday, so they drank while I played and then we went out to watch the Tahs over dinner.

Was great to travel with them the whole time but especially to show them around Arusha which I think they got a buzz out of, above all else. Was weird to think the next time I will see them will be in Canada in December.

One semester down

Two weeks ago I made the trip up to one of the western teachers side project of building a school in a near by remote village. Ian who is an Art Teacher at the new campus, began the project in the village where his girlfriend grew up and family still remain. Her brother who is very switched on for a Tanzainian has provided his old house to be the initial building and Ian is gradually modifying it, raising money and going through the channels to register the school to hopefully start next year. It is still very much in the initial stages but the government has said they will support it as much as recognizing it, no funding though. Greg an Australian teaching mentor and I said we would come up whenever possible to help him. So Sunday two weeks ago we bought some paint and brushes and headed off early to give the school its first coat of paint. The village is well off the beaten track. It took us a dulla dulla, a bus, another dulla dulla, a taxi and two hours to get there. For this reason though it was completely different to the hustle bustle and pushy locals of Arusha. These people were so beautiful, welcoming and thankful for us coming. Apart from Ian he said that they almost certainly get no westerners up there. The people are subsistence farmers and any excess produce they will sell to buy sugar, oil, coffee, tea but almost everything else they grow in the small plots around the house. Greg and I expected to get straight to work as soon as we got there but in typical Tanzanian style we had to first meet everyone sit and have tea and bananas. Eventually we got over to start work at the school building. Gradually relatives and friends came out of the woodwork from everywhere so we had plenty of helpers. Despite interruptions for tea, more tea, more food we managed to get a fair bit done by the end of the day. It was so refreshing to be amongst people without an ulterior motive. So often in Arusha, even people you know quite well will come out with questions asking for money or sponsorship etc. These people were all genuinely grateful. It was honestly one of the best days I have had and can’t wait to go back again.

Last week was quiet as exams took a lot of lessons away. Again all students including prep did two full days of exams. On Friday I caught a bus down to Arusha to play Dar es Salaam for the Arusha Rhinos. A good bus trip of 11 hours, reminded me of the TAS trips to Sydney. We played on maybe the worst rugby field I have ever seen and unfortunately lost 25-23. That night the Tanzanian Rugby Ball was held. I had won two tickets in a raffle luckily as it was $80 a head to attend which covered me and I gave one to a local guy who otherwise would not have gone. It was held at a seriously swanky hotel and was a black tie event. Gary Teichman (former Springbok captain) was the guest speaker who after having a beer with I can tell you has an interest not unlike a five year old, in tractors. We gave the all you can drink a real nudge and set ourselves up for a painful 11 hour bus trip back the next day.

On Wednesday we had a reunion day for all the students. As half of them went to the new campus this year many have not seen their friends in quite a while. It was a great day. I organized a few hours of sport where every kid was able to participate, all 1000 kids. So all classes at the old campus played their corresponding class in football for boys and netball for girls and staff played each other in both as well. It was a brilliant day, stressful at times but brilliant. The standard ones and prep had their own little where they played skittles, blew bubbles and all sorts of things and the rest were involved in sport until the main event the teachers football Usa campus v Moshono campus before lunch. After lunch there was dancing and singing before the kids went home for the holidays. The day is hard to describe but the faces on the kids in the photos tell the story. I even managed to sneak into the Moshono staff football team. After a grueling 40min trial they decided I was the goods and their decision was vindicated as I kept clean sheet in a 2 – 0 victory. They take it all so seriously, was good fun though. Luckily Gemma thought it was big success so I have got the go ahead to organize one at the end of every term.

Yesterday was reports day. Reports at home seem a breeze now I had to write these in both in Swahili and English which was interesting. Tomorrow I am off to Cape Town which I am mighty pumped about. Meeting Mum and Dad on Sunday followed by two weeks of traveling including Cape Town, Vic Falls and Zanzibar. Sounds pretty good to me!!

Some great photos on Flickr link. Having issues getting them on here.

A Safari, a four day sporting carnival, a trip too Nairobi and a few games of rugby later, it has certainly been a jam packed few weeks.

So back to Easter and my first experience of a five day weekend, yes a five day weekend. It was Mohammad’s birthday on the Thursday and then the Easter weekend. Due to Tanzania having equally as many Muslims as Christians, we take Muslim and Christian holidays although not all of them as we would probably not be at school that much. Played another game of rugby against the Cheetahs from Mombassa on Good Friday which we lost 34-0, it was certainly an improvement from the previous week. It was a much more enjoyable game and that team only lost 17 – 18 to the team that killed us previously so we were kind of happy with the loss and celebrated accordingly.

On the Sunday a group of us at the school hired one of Richard’s (Gemma’s husband) safari vehicles for the day and head off to Arusha National Park. It is only a half hour drive from the school at the base of Mt Meru. Despite the at times gloomy day it was the first time I had had the chance to get out and see some of the wildlife. No more than 100m into the park we saw a Giraffe or Twiga and from then on we were in luck all day. We saw baboons, zebra, buffalo, bush buck, dik dik, several different types of monkey’s and heaps of birds. At the point where we stopped for a picnic lunch we were looking over a herd of at least 17 twiga’s which was just awesome. There are elephant in the park but few rarely get to see them. As we were driving to get out of the park Skola, a Tanzanian girl who was with us noticed some elephant feces on the road. A few hundred meters before the gate yours truly spotted a herd of five elephants about one hundred meters off the road. It capped off a great day. It was not the image of wildlife you generally think of as Africa given that the setting was lush vegetation which at times is rainforest but it was so easy for us without a guide to just drive around for the day. We were going to hire the car again on the Monday but unfortunately the gods were not so kind and it poured all day so that plan was abandoned and the bar was seen as a more viable option.

After another short week I was heading up to Nairobi for our final match in the Bamburi series, finals were always going to be a long shot for us. I did not go up on the bus as I finished work late and went up in a car with two of the other players. Kenyan rugby booked us into a hotel like two hours the other side of Nairobi for the ground an Arusha. As if the Kenyans needed any more help against us. By the time we got to Nairobi we decided to stay with one of Graham’s, (who was driving) friends on the right side of town to the ground. This place was a mansion. The pool house alone was equivalent to a two bedroom house. We went had a steak which was awesome at a near by restaurant. It was bizarre to be surrounded completely by westerners again. It was an early game the next day which meant we able to watch the other Kenyan’s go at it afterwards. After going out to 14 – 0 lead I think we were scared of winning and eventually lost 45 -25. We really could have won this game as we improved dramatically on the previous couple of games, but just did not really have the players one to fifteen and as a result they were gifted quite a few tries. Was great to be competitive though and I think it ensured that Tanzania will be invited back to participate next year.

This week I have been attending the Arusha Primary Schools Sports Bonanza. Five of the English Medium schools from Arusha attend. It has all sorts of events from athletic to football (soccer). It was so much fun and the kids that got the chance to go enjoy themselves and tried so hard. At times I was tearing my hair out as the whole thing in typically Tanzanian style was appallingly run and there was so much time wasted. Some events they just did not decide to run in which case the students who went to compete did not get to do anything. Mind you I think they were just happy to get away from school, for the day. In the end St Judes was the overall winner which was the first time they had won it and given all the other schools are fee paying private schools the kids were over the moon.

The term is really winding down in the lead up to the holidays. It is hard to believe I will see Mum and Dad in Cape Town in just over two weeks. I am certainly looking forward to that!!

3 Peaks 3 Weeks

Attended the Arusha premiere of the film '3 Peaks 3 Weeks' last night at Via Via. It also premiered in Sydney yesterday and is making its way to London and USA. It follows a group of ten girls from Australia and America who climbed Mt Kenya, Meru and Kilimanjaro in three weeks to raise money for 3 charities of which one was St Judes. Not sure if it is showing again in Sydney but it is well worth the effort to find out if you are interested.

http://www.3peaks3weeks.org/