I haven’t posted in a few days because I was busy completing three papers due last night at midnight…but a lot has happened since my last post!
We had another non-scheduled program day and decided to "sleep in", if you can call sleeping until 8 sleeping in, and then went on a hike. It was really intense! For parts of it I was practically rock climbing. The incline was steep and it was soooo hot out. But the group made it in a little over an hour when it has taken groups in the past 3 hours! We were all exhausted when we got to the top so we headed to Kudu Lodge, which is basically a really nice resort in the middle of nowhere Tanzania.
We got there and weren’t getting our hopes up about the pool, since the last one we were told we could swim in was green. This time, however, it was crystal clear with a bar in the pool and a huge elephant fountain that sprayed water into the pool from its trunk. It was so nice to be able to swim after hiking up a mountain in 90 degree weather. Of course it came at a price- ten dollars per person just to swim.
For the last part of the afternoon I went into Karatu with one of the other students to do some curio (souvenir) shopping. As soon as we stepped out of the Land Cruiser we were immediately approached, as usual, by some of the venders who are our age and speak pretty good English. In the past, they’ve been friendly and showed us around, so we followed them around Karatu again, mostly because we didn’t have a choice. They would have just continued to follow/harass us.
They took us to some cool places off of the main paved road that we never would have found on our own: a huge market with everything from ugali (a staple food here made from corn), to little fish from Lake Victoria by the barrel, to red bananas to local brewing ingredients; the place where they make shoes out of old tires, and where the best deal is for fabric. I ended up buying a few souvenirs from the guys at the end and successfully bargained for the first time.
The next day we had class on lions and trophy hunting. For a 21 day safari to be able to shoot any kind of game you want, its $76,000. With a professional guide. Drinks not included. It was both amazing and sickening to hear this, especially since so many of the species are endangered or threatened. The government is trying to move lions into the Appendix 1 category, meaning they can no longer be hunted at all. Kenya has completely banned hunting of any game for several years now.
Afterwards we went to the school to start building a stove inside the kitchen. Currently they are cooking meals for hundreds of children over an open fire outside and using so much firewood that the kids are required to carry some to school each day if they want to eat. However, the guy that was supposed to help with building never showed up, so hopefully the cement that we mixed doesn’t dry out before we go back this afternoon!
Also today, we conducted interviews for Environmental Policy in the local town, Rhotia, to assess people’s needs within the community and their knowledge of what is being done about the local problems. The number one answer was water, followed by education, although we also got some interesting answers such as selfishness. I was even one of two students who got to speak with the doctor at the local hospital. We strolled in and were able to speak with him after waiting only 10 minutes. It was the COMPLETE opposite of an American hospital: deserted, calm, small. With all of the health issues that are of concern in Africa, I expected to see it packed and overwhelmed, yet it was quite the opposite.
The doctor sat at his desk and spoke fairly good English to us, dressed in a typical white coat uniform with a stethoscope around his neck. He told us that acute respiratory infections were the major health concern, with malaria being much lower on the list. He only mentioned AIDS and other STIs later in conversation. The medicine was very cheap at this clinic, more affordable than other places, he told us. Sterile gloves cost 100 shillings (10 cents) and antibiotics were only a few hundred shillings. I didn’t see anything on the list that was more than a few thousand shillings (a few dollars). He mentioned that much of the financial help to build the clinic came from Switzerland.
Among many of the locals along the road we talked to, we also stopped at a school. The principal was very aware of the problems at the school and in the community, stating that currently the high school had no teachers for biology, physics, chemistry or math and no laboratories. I really wish that could be changed…
Can’t believe I’ve already been here for almost three weeks! Time is flying!
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