Kelly's Tanzania Journal
You couldn't ask for finer traveling companions: Heifer staff Esau Sarare
(in the truck) and Tererai Trent, prepare for the drive to Musoma, Tanzania.
Read Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
Day 1
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
It’s not easy getting to Musoma, Tanzania.
First, you fly to London, Then to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital on the Indian Ocean. Then you take another plane to Mwanza, known as Tanzania’s “second city”, situated on the southern end of Lake Victoria. From Mwanza, you follow the line of the lake northeast—it’s about a three-hour drive, if all goes well. On this day, all goes well. My riding companions are an able driver, Esau; a Heifer staffer from the Mwanza office, Rahema; and Tererai Trent, a Zimbabwe native who now lives in the U.S. and is Deputy Director of Planning and Monitoring for Heifer International. During one short stretch of the drive, we skirt the westernmost edge of the Serengeti and catch a glimpse of a couple of zebra herds and then there are the baboons….Esau slowed down, almost to a stop, so I could get a closer look, and Papa Baboon, I mean a BIG one, crossed the road coming toward us. “OK, that’s good,” I say, patting Esau on the shoulder from the back seat, “we can go now.” And everyone laughs. I mean, that baboon was scary looking! Rahema swears the animals know the road is the park border and they do not cross, but I think this guy saw us as a vending machine and was willing to risk it.
En route, the conversation bounces around almost as much as we do; the country’s struggle with HIV/AIDS; the worsening drought; and cultural traditions of the Maasai (a nomadic cattle herding tribe, known for their red dress). As we drive through one particularly dusty stretch, the road lined with just a few thatch-roofed, mud-houses, I ask, “How do these people make their living?” Turns out they are fishermen; the lake was just out of sight.
When we finally arrive in Musoma, the workshop we were there to attend had started without us. Heifer Tanzania staff, from all four zones of the country, are here to learn how to use some planning tools with potential recipients, including a baseline survey that is being implemented in the field. It’s a formal method of collecting quantitative and qualitative data in a village before Heifer begins its work there. Among other things, it helps the staff help the villagers determine what their most pressing needs are. It also helps Heifer better measure its effectiveness as it continues to improve its accountability to you, the donors. We are drilled in the tools we will use tomorrow in villages at the very beginning of a relationship with Heifer. Half of us will travel to Mogabiri, the rest to Kisamwene, and try our hand at data collection.
Back at the hotel, as I clean up for dinner, the power goes out—that’s not so unusual here…hakuna matata (you know they didn’t make that expression up for Disney’s The Lion King; it really is Swahili for “no problem”)…a Heifer intern stationed in Arusha, near Kilimanjaro in the northeast zone of the country, told me that there, because of the drought, there is no electricity on Thursday or Sunday evenings, depending on what part of town you live in. It’s an effort to conserve energy for a country dependent on hydroelectric power. Thank goodness a friend had gifted me with one of those little flashlight necklaces before my trip and I had stashed it in my backpack! I make my way downstairs by the light around my neck. The dinner conversation turns to gender equity in this country—for example, women do a great deal of the work yet in many cases receive little or no respect. There is also discussion of wife abuse and polygamy.
We’ll get some rest tonight. (I barely slept the two days on planes and in airports.) I’ve settled into my room at Hotel Peninsula now-- have even figured out the power converter so I can charge my video camera—and tomorrow, we’ll spread Heifer’s gift of hope to new places.
There is still much work to be done, and there is no rest for this dedicated group. They, like you, our donors, want to make a difference.
Come back to read Day 2 next week! Thanks for reading!
Kelly Ford
Communications Manager
Heifer Foundation
