Pemba!! Kev is still in Tanzania!!

Just a quick update - had first day at work and all is good. Taught 2 small classes (6 and 7 students on 3 computers!) Very different to Mpwapwa and back home but rewarding as able to give students much more attention.

Power is still on which is good and am doing some techy bits with logins and trying to make sure the computers are protected from power surges - will see how that goes... BIG problem with viruses here...

The move to Pemba was fine and will update blog fully soon!

So my new placement is until May 2010 and my new address is:

Walimu Kevin Brown
Benjamin Mkapa TTC
PO Box 261
Wete
Pemba
Zanzibar
Tanzania

Postcards coming to your homes soon!!

Take care

Last days in Mpwapwa

Last 2 weeks have been very busy and now that I am in Dar it is a good time to update my blog and close the chapter on Mpwapwa.

I am going to start the update from 21st October - somehow I have lost a few days which is a bit random but I am sure I was not abducted by aliens, just had a lot on my mind!

Wednesday 21st October

Lubuva was away in Dar and so was the principle. Betty was due to visit from VSO so that we could do the closing visit and chat. I made sure my reports were complete and while waiting for Betty made some more posters for the second ICT lab.

Matayo got Casey from Kingiti and he was staying with his family until we can get him into the sign language school in Dodoma. Nice to see things moving along with him and felt sure Ben would be happy to hear this.

Betty did not arrive in the end and sent me a message that she would be visiting tomorrow.

Thursday 22nd October

Betty came and I did my closing interview. I showed her all the work on Moodle and the classrooom resources that I had made. She was very pleased and I showed her my house where Claire would be moving into on the weekend. We had a late lunch at Abebis and Betty decided to stay there for the night. No power in the evening so had an early night.

Friday 23rd October

Fairly relaxed day - Thad and I were making tweaks to Moodle to make it look better, now all course content added it is time to work on the appearance!

In the evening we went for beers and played our last games of scrabble - Matayo was feeling a bit sick and was not drinking. I managed to win both games but was sure they were not playing at 100%!

Matayo told me Casey went missing but he found him again - Mpwapwa is a huge place for Casey and he wanted to explore... Glad he is safe again.

Saturday 24th October

Did some shopping in town and house tidying as Claire was due to come tomorrow. Nice walking around and remembering the sights.

In the evening Matayo invited Thad and myself over to his parents house for a farewell dinner. We got see Casey who was excited and remembered me from my visit to Kingiti. The food was fantastic as it was when we did the same for Ben's farewell and they even bought out some wine for me. I was very grateful and told them so.

Got to watch some football!! Chelsea beat someone 5-0 but I can't remember who... I miss watching Newcastle - games are late here and no one watches the Championship...

Sunday 25th October

Claire was due today on the Al-Saedy bus which would arrive between 2 and 2.30pm. In the morning I went to see Matayo and get some books to burrow from his house. I got back home at 1.15 and the Al-Saedy bus arrived! Claire got off late so I walked towards town to meet her. There was no one from the college to meet her as principle, vice principle and head of English were all away...

She was happy and I took her to the house and showed her around. I had moved all my stuff into the room near the kitchen so she had the main bedroom and could get settled. King boy came over and knocked the door but I did not answer, if he knew I was leaving he would only want stuff and I was giving it all to Claire and figured she does not need his harressment.

As it was Sunday and no power in the evening we went to Abebis for dinner and Claire met Thad, Matayo and Harune.

Got back lit some candles, had a gossip and then I had an early night.

Monday 26th October

Took Claire down to college in the morning. There was no one from the English department around so I took her to meet the ICT guys. I gave her a tour and then we attended staff meeting where Mr Mgulo introduced her and informed the staff that I was leaving on Wednesday.

After the briefing I got my final pay from the ministry and then we went into town to pay it into the bank. It rained!! Such as nice sight and I was happy for the town (though we got wet!). I showed Claire the town and we had lunch in Hafuns.

We walked back and we chatted about Mpwapwa and plans. In the evening we made spaghetti and Matayo came over to collect some DVDs and the voltage regulator as his broke. It was the last time I would cook at my house...

Tuesday 27th October

Took Claire to college again and she wanted to stay in English which was great as she is there as an English tutor trainer. I wrote a draft letter to the police for them to sign for my CRB form (for when I come home and want to teach). I went to get them to sign it but the police chief did not like it... Now partly it was police being police but also just plain annoying so I had to walk back to the college and used headed paper, I also got Mr Mgulo (acting Vice Principle) to sign and use the college stamp (they are big on official stamps here). After making me wait for an hour or so he then gave it to a subordinate to sign and stamp. I am just lucky that I had Matayo with me to help explain and reason with him because I was losing my temper big time and didn't want top get into trouble on my last day!!

To show appreciation to Matayo to took him for our last lunch at Hafuns - this time we had lovely fried chicken and rice! He was sad and bit quiet but I promised him we would keep in touch.

I went home for a little nap and in the evening around 7pm Claire and I went to college for my farewell party. There was loud music and everyone introduced themselves to the new staff. There were lots of photos and I was given 2 nice locally made shirts! Very nice gifts! I thanked them all in a speech and we did some dancing. By the time we went home it was midnight!

Said farewell to my guard and Thad and had some last pictures on my porch...

Wednesday October 28th

Said farewell to Claire, my guard (again!!) and Matayo. Caught the bus which was smooth and a nice ride. Finished reading 'the power of one' and just reflected on my time in Mpwapwa - I enjoyed it and feel that I did ok - more reflections later...

Got to Econolodge and the start of my journey to my new placement on Pemba with Liz!!

Exciting times ahead I hope!!

Take care - miss you all!

Goodbye Mpwapwa...

So I have left Mpwapwa and am currently in Dar on my way to Zanzibar and then Pemba.

I must do a full update soon but as busy at the moment will just say all is well and I have fond memories of Mpwapwa but also looking forward to Pemba!!

Take care - will post again when on Zanzibar...

Full circle

The end is nigh… at least for my Mpwapwa placement…

So I have passed the year mark and been to meet my replacement. In these last few days, as I walk around the town I realise that I am going to miss this place and some of the people. My placement has been a rewarding and valuable experience.

Here is the update from the last week.

Tuesday 6th October

At work Lubuva shared with me plans to run moodle workshops with the tutors from all the different departments to get them to put course information onto moodle. This was great news for two reasons; firstly getting every subject onto moodle would be fantastic as it is so easy to share resources and a central place for students to access them and secondly it was Lubuva’s idea and not mine. That means he is keen about moodle and there is a good chance that it will be used when I have left (Sustainable! One of VSO/developments many buzz words). We went through some ideas for topics and plan to even have a session where the tutors upload information while we are all together, so we can assist and encourage them. The sessions would start on Monday 12th of October and last 4 days.

Wednesday 7th October

Got the bus to Dar to visit VSO, meet Claire (my replacement) and of course see Liz. Last time Liz visited she bought me an empty bag to fill and I bought this with me to Dar with some things I wanted her to take to Pemba. The bus trip was fine and I was keen to get to Dar.

I checked in to Econolodge and had lunch at Chefs pride went to meet Liz after she finished work at VSO. She had been evacuated from Pemba as a safety precaution as it was voter registration time and there is often trouble then – trouble between the political parties not trouble for outsiders but VSO are careful and put our safety first.

We went down to Slipway for some beers and then went to the Italian next door to where Stephan, Sara and Ellen used to live. The Italian was lovely we had a proper little date with good food and wine! We had missed each other since Zambia and it was so nice to be back together.

Thursday 8th October

We moved down to the YMCA (as it is cheaper) and Liz went to work at VSO. I went back to bed and after a lie in went to get some photos developed for Harune and Matayo, I also posted a parcel to Tess, so she can use at school and one for Mum and Dad. I caught the dala to VSO and met Liz at the IST (Health Clinic) I got my new batch of anti malarials and we went for Chipsi Mayai lunch. We went back to VSO for a little bit – I had a good chat with Doug and Keiran and then went down to Slipway again for some sunset beers. We saw Tom and Karrin and Frouke came down to meet us too.

In the evening we went to the badminton institute for dinner, the reps did their pre-meeting chat, I chatted with Andy and we all had a lovely meal as usual.

Friday 9th October

Liz was again working at VSO and today I went to Ubungo to get my bus ticket back to Mpwapwa. Whenever I try and catch the Ubungo dala at Posta (post office) I end up having to walk down near the port before I can get on… Anytime you go to the port people try and sell you boat tickets or talk to you. Today I was wearing my Zambezi rafting t-shirt and some guy came up and told me it was the 2nd longest river in Africa, I was suspicious so kept my eyes open and hands in pockets in case he was trying to distract me. I told him that he was wrong, the Nile is longest, then the Congo, then the Niger and the Zambezi is the 4th longest in Africa. He was surprise and asked where I was going, I told him to Ubungo and he told me I could catch the Kimara dala as well as the Ubungo ones so I thanked him and jumped onto the Kimara dala – we both learnt something in that conversation!!

I bought my bus ticket and was waiting for the dala back – it was very crowded so when a taxi came by with the driver shouting “Moja, Elfu Moja!” (one for 1000) I decided to try my luck and jump into the taxi. I checked with the driver and as he had 3 other passengers he was happy to take me for 1000tsh – a bargain as it normally costs 5000-8000tsh depending on haggling skills!

Back at the YMCA I got the dala with Andy to VSO to meet everyone for lunch. It nice seeing the new volunteers and I felt my placement was now complete – getting to meet Claire my replacement was nice and I remembered my in-country-training. We chatted a little as we ate and I signed my new contract for Pemba, I will be there until May 1st 2010.

At the end of the day we all caught the bus to Dar Alive where we had a few beers by the sea. I chatted more with Claire here and tried to make her feel at ease about Mpwapwa, gave her some advice on what to bring and just chatted about things so far.

For dinner we went to Chefs Pride which was busy late but the food was nice.

Saturday 10th October

Liz and I were able to spend all day together which was great. We caught the Masaki dala (which goes to VSO) to Oyster Bay and went to look at the Tinga Tinga paintings (named After a guy called Tinga who first started the painting style) We both bought one and then walked over past the US embassy to Shoppers Plaza. Liz found a place that developed SLR film and we did a little shopping before having our usual picnic lunch (yeah I had a subway again…)

We looked in the bookshop as it is one of the few ‘real’ bookshops rather than pretending to be one and just selling education books and bibles.

We went back to YMCA and later met Sandra and Renee at Posta and walked them to Econolodge. We met up with Frouke and then they caught a cab to Indian garden and we caught a cab there too but picked up Jo and Andy on the way. Indian garden is a new place and a bit out of town but we wanted to try it and the food was great again (I guess most food outside Mpwapwa is great…)

After eating we walked around to the Aga Khan hall (I think) to watch some dancing – I thought it was going to be local or tribal dance but it was contemporary and really not my thing. It was a little annoy as beers were expensive too but Liz and I went into the lounge area and just spent the time listening to the music and chatting rather than watching the prancing about…

We went back home after the dancing finished and had a beer and a few games of monopoly deal (Dutch version as Jo bought it along) before heading off to bed.

Sunday 11th October

Got up at 4.30am (which is a crime!) so I could get ready and catch my taxi to Ubungo at 5am. Someone had locked the main at YMCA and we could not get out, eventually the receptionist came and let us out and after a sad goodbye with Liz I got in the taxi and was taken to Ubungo to return to Mpwapwa (possibly for the last time…)

The trip was not the best – possibly because I was tired and missing Liz. But I got back in one piece, despite a dream of being in a bus crash…

Managed to get my laptop from college but then power went off in the evening… Water is getting more reliable and power less…

Monday 12th October

Went into college and was disappointed to hear that the moodle training is awaiting funds and approval. Once again (the problem happened with Peter) money for courses raises its ugly head, it is such a shame that people will not attended courses that will benefit them and their department unless they get money... Was a bit grumpy but the materials are all here to be used when we get the go ahead, I just hope I am here for that!

Tuesday 13th October

Power went off at 8.45am so I went town and then did some washing. The timetable has now changed too and both of my classes seem to have disappeared.

In the evening went for drink with Matayo and Thad. Thad had made some homemade fudge (from Cacao grown at college) it was very sweet and purple! But was nice! We played scrabble at Central Garden Bar and the Vice Principle was there and he helped Thad win!

People were burning the hills around Mpwapwa again and although it is dangerous it did look beautiful at night with the stars and the milky way.

Wednesday 14th October

Was a national holiday for Nyere, Tanzania’s first President. I had a lie in, and then went for lunch with Matayo and we played some scrabble. I gave my guard the night off and as I wondered around Mpwapwa took some photos to remind of the place.

Cooked a nice curry in the evening and had to throw out my rice and lentils as there were bugs in them – yuck!

Maybe only one or two posts left in Mpwapwa…

Take care

Last to trip to Dodo? And Mpwapwa days!

Here is another update! There won't be many in Mpwapwa...

25th - 27th September

I went to Dodoma - maybe for the last time. I went to see Frouke, Renee and Sandra (she would come from Morogoro for the weekend). It was nice to see them again so soon and also nice to be in Dodoma. Some vols do not like Dodoma and say it is boring but when you have spent a year in Mpwapwa any bigger town is interesting! I much prefer Dodoma to Dar, it feels safer and is easier to walk around.

I arrived around noon on friday and used the internet in Dodoma - it is so much faster than Mpwapwa (I guess they are connected to Dar and the underwater cable that goes to India). I grabbed a chipsi mayai for lunch and was harassed by six different beggars which made the meal less enjoyable. In the afternoon I met Frouke at her work (which is where Claire used to work). We walked back to Frouke's house and in the evening we went to the pizzeria for dinner with Renee and Sandra and played more card games (the Dutch girls do love their card games!).

On saturday we went to see Nelsons place but he was not in. I helped Frouke with her laptop as she has viruses and then met Renee and Sandra at a tailors as the girls were having skirts made. We were due to go to a BBQ in the evening so we got some supplies and had a nice juice in a place I had not visited before. While waiting for Renee and Sandra, Frouke and I decided to have a beer (and a half...) in the New Dodoma Hotel, it was nice but as we had no lunch made us feel tired. The BBQ was at a South Africans house and the food was lovely (not to mention the beers too!!) After leaving at 10pm we were all tired and did not make the concert in the stadium as we planned!

I return to Mpwapwa on Sunday on the 11am bus, the journey was fine.

Tuesday September 29th

I have been in country over a year now but there was no time to dwell on that, I had lessons to teach. The new students have not had much practice with computers so it was back to the very very basics again but I was happy to be up in front of the classes demonstrating and sharing skills.

One of the people I met at the BBQ was in Mpwapwa for a few days so we got dinner. Katrin is a half German, half Tanzanian who was doing AIDS education to the miners around Mpwapwa. She spoken fantastic fluent Kiswahili and with her team I can imagine her making a far better impact than some Westerners going to patronise the miners about HIV and AIDS.

The next few days were spent teaching, I am starting to look at things here in Mpwapwa and realise I may not see them again soon. It has been a great journey and I have developed lots. Hopefully my plan to move to Pemba until May will work and I will be doing the same work as here but on a smaller scale. I think the college on Pemba has 8 computers rather than 80!! I will miss the college and the quirky things in Mpwapwa (but not the dogs howling at night).

Saturday 3rd October

No water today which was frustrating, I hoped Claire (my replacement) would not be moving into the house without water. I met Matayo for lunch in Hafunes and they gave me a huge portion of pilau kuku but I still ate it all! I like Hafunes it is central, cheap and the best you can get in Mpwapwa really. It was funny when Katrin came she did not like Hafunes and would not eat there - I guess being in Dodoma can give you classier tastes...

In the evening I went over to Harune's house (he used to be my cook/cleaner) it lovely to meet his family and share dinner with them. One of his daughters Mary is moving to Morogoro so they were having a party for her. I bought them some juice as a present and took some photos of them which I want to printed for them.

On the way home I looked up at Tigo hill and saw it was on fire!! People were burning the scrub for hunting I think... It was sad to see and I hope I can still climb Tigo hill again before I leave!

Sunday 4th October

I woke up early today and the good news was water was back! So I did some clothes washing and made sure my buckets were filled. In the afternoon went for a walk with Thad up to the livestock institute to get some milk. It was a hot day and the exercise felt good. On the way back we saw a wonderful sunset and some vervet monkeys in the trees! Mpwapwa may be in the middle of nowhere but it sure is beautiful!!

So thats the weeks update - going to Dar later this week to see Liz and meet Claire.

Take care

One year in country!

Just a little post to say I have been in Tanzania for a year now - wow!

Both me and my views of Africa and Tanzania have changed over the past year - hopefully for the better. Somethings I love and will never tire of and some things here got pretty annoying pretty fast! But on the whole I feel I have had a good time and a made a bit of difference - obviously you cannot change things in a day or year but sometimes a little goes a long way...

Have a nice day

Take care

Full update coming soon...

Home to Mpwapwa, teaching (well a little…) and some guests!

This entry brings me right up to date now - it is also not as interesting as the travel ones but stick with it!

Wednesday 16th September

Got the bus back to Mpwapawa it was crowded and took an hour longer than normal.

Once back home I rested a little, admired photos, had a nice dinner and watched Enemy of the state.

It felt quiet without the two Aussie girls chatting away in a corner but I was happy to be back with the last few weeks here in Mpwapwa coming up.

Thursday 17th September

Went into college today and it was great to see that the students were back – maybe I could do some teaching again! I updated my blog a little and tried putting some photos onto facebook but the internet was very slow…

I took a class, it was one of Lubuva’s as he is out of town but it was great to back in front of the students. I took them in the smaller class with no projector so it was a bit of challenge with instructions but we all got logged on and did some practical word processing.

There was no mail which was annoying but I got to see Matayo and we chatted for a bit at work.

In the afternoon I did some well needed washing and then power went at 6pm so I had an early night!

Friday 18th September

Today was student elections so there was no teaching – that was frustrating as I had just got back and I wanted to get back into the swing of things. Even worse news (from education stand point) it was Eid and the college is due to be shut all next week… Great come beck and want to work only to find its another holiday…

In the afternoon Thad and a friend were running a networking training session (Computer networking) so I stayed around to give a little assistance. Typical Tanzania the session started an hour late but it fun and informative. I did a demonstration on how to make a CD cover and business card using a new program we have installed.

Saturday 19th September

Today I had 3 guests coming to stay today, Sandra who has not moved to Morogoro and Renee and Frouke from Dodoma.

I got up early and did some food shopping as needed to stock the fridge up. I posted lots of postcards from Zambia and had a chat with Matayo at the market.

Sandra arrived at 2.30pm and the Dodoma girls just after. They loved my house and had a late lunch. The Dodoma girls bought some cheese, olives, bread and wine!

We chatted and I showed them my holiday photos. We also played some monopoly cards and Sandra taught the others how to play ‘café international’ another fun card game.

For dinner we went to Central Garden to meet Matayo and we had chipsi and Nyama (meat – possibly cow…) it was a good evening and we were lucky on the way home not to see any dogs.

It felt nice to have guests again and due to having 3 I slept on the couch.

Not sure what my guard made of me having 3 girls in the house with me – probably thought I was being a good typical Tanzanian with my 3 new wives!!

Sunday 20th September

We all had a lie in and after a snack for breakfast we went to get tickets for the buses. Sandra get her ticket for Monday, Renee and Frouke could not get a ticket for today and had to go Monday as well. They were both apologetic but I was happy with guests and did not mind.

We bought some more supplies – these girls are snack machines!! It was nice showing them around the town and they agreed with my comment about Mpwapwa being like a Wild West town. We had a late lunch and then a lazy afternoon with more card games – those Dutch (all 3 are) do love their games!

For dinner Renee and Sandra prepared Potato salad and tuna salad – there was plenty and we gorged ourselves along with some nice red wine too!

Monday 21st September

Got up early (seems to happen a lot here…) and took Sandra down to catch the 6am bus to Morogoro, did the same for Renne and Frouke at 8am. Once the girls had left it was a little lonely as I had spent so much time with Liz and Jo and then the weekend with the Dutch girls.

I did more washing to take mind of things and tidied up the house. In the afternoon I went to try and upload some photos but the internet was running at snails pace again, very frustrating but similar to what it will be like when on Pemba.

In the evening I watch I am Legend and I, robot a very entertaining evening – for a man alone Mpwapwa!

Tuesday 22nd September

Had a lie in today and got out of bed at 9.30. I wrote a couple more postcards and went for a walk. On the way I posted postcards and went to TANESCO to pay my electric bill. There was a massive queue but did the Tanzanian thing and shoved my in. Had to wait about 20 minutes but that was impressive considering the size of the queue!

After that I went home and cooked up a nice lunch, I was half expecting the power to go off at any moment as it is no power Tuesday but it was fine.

After eating lunch I finished typing up this blog on my laptop and relaxed on the porch enjoying the national holiday and view.

So there it is, life is back to routine (ish) for now and I am still enjoying running water at home!

Take care all