5th letter from Tanzania
17 February 2004
Today Rob and I saw a huge Baboon walking down the side of the road about ½ kilometer from our house. He was enormous, much bigger than the ones we saw on our safari. People were waiting for the bus, and they were all looking at him. The baboon was more interested in a dog inside the gate. Amazing! He had to go through a really heavily populated area to get where he was. Youd think they would rather stay away from people.
I havent written for a long time because weve been so busy and it is still hard for me to get to the internet. Ive been buying furniture and things, and we had a little safari when the kids had their mid-term break. The hardest part is budgeting the cash flow. I can take 400,000 shillings out of the bank each day, but it goes so fast. I purchased a lovely sofa for 390,000 shillings, and then decided that I wanted a second one. I had ordered drapes, and they have all come and been hung they are really nice. We also ordered a dining room table and paid a deposit towards the wood.
18 February 2004
Oops, sidetracked!
Today the dining room table and 8 chairs were delivered and also the second sofa. Our house is actually looking like a home. All Im waiting for now are the two mosquito nets for the boys. Its almost time to do the fun kind of shopping for African stuff to decorate with. The table is beautiful. Its made from a local hardwood called Mninga. Its 8 feet long and 3 feet wide and cost 420,000 shillings ($400) including 8 chairs. It is all really nice except for the red crushed velvet seat covers on the chairs. Good excuse to go shopping for textiles.
We had a fun safari with the kids. We went to the same place that Rob and I went to in November. It was a lot greener than in November, and there was a lot of water. We saw some baboons on the way in and then Madeline spotted the first lion - right by the side of the road again. The kids took turns filming and photographing all the animals. Also, on the first day out into the preserve, we came upon a group of elephants that were crossing the road. There were some on either side of us. We drove in fairly close so we could film them. One of the younger ones took offense and held his ears out and shook his head and trumpeted at us. It was very exciting! I still dont understand the sign by the little knee high iron fence. Exercise Extreme Care with Elephants - What exactly is extreme care? Otherwise, we saw the usual animals; giraffe, impala, zebra, wildebeast, baboons, a warthog or two, jackals, only a couple of buffalo, lions every day, and a crocodile. The lions were hunting zebra. One lioness was lying at the side of the road. Wed heard that there were 3 hunting in the area, so we wondered where the others were. We were sitting on a little place in the road where the park had boosted the road over a little ravine by installing cement pipes for the water to flow without washing out the road. While the kids were filming the lioness I looked on the other side of the road and directly under us, sticking her head out of the cement pipe, was the other lioness. She was concentrating on the zebra so hard she hardly noticed us. We watched them for a little while, and the zebra watched us and sort of drifted out of the area. The lioness in the pipe eventually came out, and right behind her came her cub. He was obviously this years baby, and he was really sweet. They act just like housecats with each other. Anyway, I think we ruined their hunt, but it was fun sitting there hoping theyd make their chase right in front of us. Wildlife photographers must spend months getting their few minutes of real animal drama.
I went to the Corona society meeting last week and there was a really interesting presentation. Two actually. The first was a lady who did a presentation on emergency evacuation for medical care she had a lot of good information. The second was a group of Tanzanian NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) who are working with AIDS orphans. In one region, there are about 85,000 kids, 40,000 of them are AIDS orphans. They had examples of 7 and 8 year olds who were the heads of their households, often caring for a grandparent and other younger siblings. It was really pitiful. These organizations had banded together to provide school clothes and orphanages and other assistance for these kids, and to make people aware of the problem. I told Rob about it and he said that his project was offering training seminars for dairy farmers in that same area, and that 2 of the applicants for training turned out to be a 10 and an 11 year old (not of the same family) whos parents had died and who had cows that they didnt know what to do with. The NGOs have a little thrift style store, and they have the kids manufacture ironing boards and batik fabrics. My friend bought an ironing board, and I bought some of the fabrics. I dont know what Ill do with them, but they are pretty and I felt good buying it. The very best thing about this organization is that it is Tanzanian not foreign and they are mostly women. Boy was I glad that they do actually do more than just have tea at the Corona Meetings.
Another exciting event at the Corona meeting was that one of the ladies went into labor and had her baby about ½ an hour after she left. I had met this lady last month and she said she wasnt planning to leave to have her baby because shed had such easy deliveries with her other two. When I saw her, I thought she looked terrible so I asked her if she felt like she was about to pop. She said that no, she had 3 more weeks. I didnt believe her, and offered to get her some tea or water. She refused and then decided shed go for a little walk as she was so uncomfortable. She actually WAS in labor, and finally allowed one of the other ladies, who is a midwife and was planning on doing the delivery anyway, to take her to the clinic. She had barely arrived when the baby arrived. There was a meconium problem, though, and they both had to be airlifted out to Kenya. Thats why you dont have babies anywhere other than where they have good neonatal care even if youre good at it. Alls well that ends well, but it was exciting for us.
Madeline is on her Extended Studies Trip. Shes gone with 17 other 7th graders on a 4 day camping trip in the mountains. They had to plan and pack all the things theyd need for meals and cooking. There are 3 of them in one tent, and they are really out in the wilderness. I hope shes cool. She had to borrow a backpack as ours arent here yet. She picked this trip because it was the one with the most overnights away from home and she didnt have to write a paper or anything about it. Pretty gutsy for someone in the country for only 6 weeks. Ill make her write a full report when she gets back (will defeat the purpose of having no paper to write oh well.)
Our other really big, actually really, really big, news is that we finally got our car. We had purchased this monster truck on the 19th of January and it had to go through this long process to get all the paperwork straight so we could drive it legally. In the mean time, we had a little sedan to get around in. This is a 1991 Diesel Toyota Landcruiser with 4 wheel drive. It is huge! Especially for someone used to driving a minivan that feels like a car, this thing is a real move up. Its got super high suspension and extra large tires and especially large everything. I have to climb to get in. Very ladylike. Rob wanted something we could take on safari well, the elephants should probably exercise extreme care around this monster!
Well, Robs got a tennis lesson at the American Club so were all going to go and hopefully Ill be able to send this. I hope to be more disciplined in the future and try to write at least something each week. My next task is telephone and wireless hookup at home. Sounds easy, but....
I hope all of you are well. Were doing really well for having been here only 6 weeks. Were even getting sort of used to not having much in the way of material possessions. Our sea shipment is due on the 19th of March. Well see!
Drop us a line if you can,
Love,
Barb
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