Monday, March 30, 2009
maasai tribe
The last week has been a trip. The Maasai live very differnet from us. Their weilth is determined by their herds. They have cows, sheep and goats, and everyday they walk their herd miles and miles to find water. Their diet doesnt require water, but because their animals need it, that is how they spend their day, walking. All they eat traditionally is meat, blood and milk. They live in bomas which are poop huts surrounded by a fence of thorny branches. The women spend their days making a necklace or two. Life is very slow here, and for a lot of us, that was one of the hardest parts. It was almost unbearably hot from 7:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. We would wake up, eat some breakfast and then walk to the worksite to help with our most recent volunteer project which was helping to build a latrene for the school. Work was also a slow process, there was a lot of sitting around and back tracking on the work we had already done, inefficient isn't a strong enough word, but it's the first that comes to mind. After working, we would have our swahili lesson, taught by Aleta, and then we would return to the boma for lunch which was when the flies were at they're peak. This was probably the most uncomfortable part of the day. After lunch we posted up under a tree and counted down the hours until sundown when we could eat dinner. After sunset there were no more flies and it was completly peaceful. There were some amazing sunsets and the stars were brighter than I have ever seen them. On the last night, we had the honor of watching the slaughtering of a goat. It was really cool observe this part of this culture, it is something that is so foreign to me. Marshall ate the pancreas and some of the girls drank goats blood, including myself, and it was on of the most putrid things I've ever tasted but i'm really happy that i did it. In the past week I have learned more than I ever could from a tetxtbook, not only about the life of the Maasai, but also about my own culture and the many things that I take for granted.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SAFARI!
hey sally here!
we just finished our african safari. it was definetly a dream of all of ours and it was so awesome. our safari was guided by Maasai Wanderings, a safari group that also works with the maasai tribe (but that comes later.) we had 2 awesome guides and safari trucks that had pop-off roofs so we could stand up and check out the animals.
we saw everything! elephants, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, antelope, impala, tons of monkeys, cheetahs, lions, warthogs, the list goes on and on. i was surprised by how close the animals got, we literally had to stop to wait or we would run over zebras. at one point, the car i was in got in a standoff with an elephant. they cant see very well but their hearing is super sensitive. so a bunch of elephatns were crossing in front of us and a big mama turns towards us and is literally starign at our car. keep in mind elephants are huge. so shes all protective of the herd and starts flapping her ears to hear us, since she cant see, and to make herself as big as possible to intimidate us. (it worked) we all stoood compleetely silent and luckily she didnt hear us or she might have stampeded our truck! so she just turned aroudn and walked away with the rest of the herd PHEWWWW
we also saw a skeleton of an antelope that a leopard caught and dragged up into a huge treee to eat. the guide said it was about a month ago, and the bones were still hanging there! it was crazy. we also saw a stand-off between a cheetah and a warthog, it was awesome, and im pretty sure the warthog won....
each night, we camped at a campsite and had our meals cooked for us as part of the safari package. each day, we went on safari for most of the day- the first day we went to Tarangerie (sp?) national park, and the other 2 days were spent in the Ngorongoro Crater. One of the days we woke up super early adn got into the Crater early in the AM to see different animals and were hoping to see a hunt, since they usually hunt at night/in the morning, but werent so lucky. but it was still really cool seeing the sunrise over the crater so totally worth it.
maasai wanderings dropped us off out in the maasai village that we're spending the next week. we turned off the main road and drove about 3 miles out into the middle of the desert where we found a Boma, or a big circle of thorns outlining the home of the Maasai family we're staying with. The thorns are to keep the animals out, since the desert is directly between the Tarangerie park and the Crater, so animals migrate right through the village. today was our first full day with them and we ahd the day free, so a bunch of us came into town. to give you an idea of where we're staying for the next week i will describe our getting-to-town process. First, we walked 3 miles to the main road. We then watied 20 minutes for a taxi, which was packed with maasai people, 5 goats and a sheep. we then got dropped off at the market, and 3 of us were to come further into town to use internet. we started walking for another 20 minutes or so with our guide and ended up hitchiking the rest of the way into town. all in all it took 2 and a half hours from our Boma.
T.I.A. (This is Africa!)
We miss you all and love you but we're having the times of our lives! <3
we just finished our african safari. it was definetly a dream of all of ours and it was so awesome. our safari was guided by Maasai Wanderings, a safari group that also works with the maasai tribe (but that comes later.) we had 2 awesome guides and safari trucks that had pop-off roofs so we could stand up and check out the animals.
we saw everything! elephants, zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, antelope, impala, tons of monkeys, cheetahs, lions, warthogs, the list goes on and on. i was surprised by how close the animals got, we literally had to stop to wait or we would run over zebras. at one point, the car i was in got in a standoff with an elephant. they cant see very well but their hearing is super sensitive. so a bunch of elephatns were crossing in front of us and a big mama turns towards us and is literally starign at our car. keep in mind elephants are huge. so shes all protective of the herd and starts flapping her ears to hear us, since she cant see, and to make herself as big as possible to intimidate us. (it worked) we all stoood compleetely silent and luckily she didnt hear us or she might have stampeded our truck! so she just turned aroudn and walked away with the rest of the herd PHEWWWW
we also saw a skeleton of an antelope that a leopard caught and dragged up into a huge treee to eat. the guide said it was about a month ago, and the bones were still hanging there! it was crazy. we also saw a stand-off between a cheetah and a warthog, it was awesome, and im pretty sure the warthog won....
each night, we camped at a campsite and had our meals cooked for us as part of the safari package. each day, we went on safari for most of the day- the first day we went to Tarangerie (sp?) national park, and the other 2 days were spent in the Ngorongoro Crater. One of the days we woke up super early adn got into the Crater early in the AM to see different animals and were hoping to see a hunt, since they usually hunt at night/in the morning, but werent so lucky. but it was still really cool seeing the sunrise over the crater so totally worth it.
maasai wanderings dropped us off out in the maasai village that we're spending the next week. we turned off the main road and drove about 3 miles out into the middle of the desert where we found a Boma, or a big circle of thorns outlining the home of the Maasai family we're staying with. The thorns are to keep the animals out, since the desert is directly between the Tarangerie park and the Crater, so animals migrate right through the village. today was our first full day with them and we ahd the day free, so a bunch of us came into town. to give you an idea of where we're staying for the next week i will describe our getting-to-town process. First, we walked 3 miles to the main road. We then watied 20 minutes for a taxi, which was packed with maasai people, 5 goats and a sheep. we then got dropped off at the market, and 3 of us were to come further into town to use internet. we started walking for another 20 minutes or so with our guide and ended up hitchiking the rest of the way into town. all in all it took 2 and a half hours from our Boma.
T.I.A. (This is Africa!)
We miss you all and love you but we're having the times of our lives! <3
Saturday, March 14, 2009
rwanda adventure!!!
hey hey hey Kim here.
so after an amazing week at carols, we procceeded to go on our 2 day adventure to Rwanda. After about 10 hours ish of driving we finally made it to kibale the capital of rwanda.. accomodations were very luxurious to our standards..a hotel, with a queen sized bed, a nice balcony and even a TV!!
The first night, all of us ladies took a taxi to a resturaunt called gorrilla something...it was a pizaria ...so bomb. We were the only people there and the music was rather hilarous, very old school, it really just got better and better with each song. The next day we went to the Kibale Memorial Center to learn more about, and pay our respects to all of the innocent men, woman, and children who lost their lives in the Tutsi genocide which wiped out 1/3 of the nations population almost 15 years ago. The memorial consisted of beautiful rose gardens which symoized all of the differnt types of people who lost their lives durig the genocide, a garden for the children, for the woman, a garden of protection, and a fountain that in the middle had a tourch, that is lit on occasion, symbolizing death, water, symbolizing life, and four elephant statues which symolized that no one will ever forget, becuase elephants are the animals known never to forget. then there were the mass graves which have 250,000 bodies in them..it was almost hard to wrap your head aroud such a number.
Then there was the inside of the memorial which consisted of various photos, vidios and articles educating us all on the events of the genocide. The most disturbing thing to me about the entire thing was how people were killed, and who was killed. Woman were raped, often by men who had HIV, people were tortured, thrown in latrines, and even the children were not spared, they too faced death by a machete or beating...it was truley heartbreaking and eye opening. There was another part of the memorial which breifly educated us on some of the other genocides that have occured in the passt, that was also extremely hard.
It was so interersting to be in the place where such a thing occured though, much more intense, becuase almost everyone over the age of 15 played some role in the genocide. you would see a person with a scar on their face, and wonder, were you tutsi, or hutu? The day needless to say was a hard one to swallow, but really all in all made one realize how truley fortunate we all are.
On a lighter note, we got to ride on the back of bicycles, which had little seats on them, it was way fun! And now we are in Tanzania working with a medical clinic, which allows people who have little money to get medical assistaance.. sorting through containers full of medical supplies and organizing them. The place we are staying is super nice, our bedrooms even haev a bathroom with a sitdown toliet in them!! yoo!! and a shower!! Our nights here are spent playing spades, and newly poker, betting with match sticks. We are all having a grreat time, and next is our safari!!!!!!
peace!!!
so after an amazing week at carols, we procceeded to go on our 2 day adventure to Rwanda. After about 10 hours ish of driving we finally made it to kibale the capital of rwanda.. accomodations were very luxurious to our standards..a hotel, with a queen sized bed, a nice balcony and even a TV!!
The first night, all of us ladies took a taxi to a resturaunt called gorrilla something...it was a pizaria ...so bomb. We were the only people there and the music was rather hilarous, very old school, it really just got better and better with each song. The next day we went to the Kibale Memorial Center to learn more about, and pay our respects to all of the innocent men, woman, and children who lost their lives in the Tutsi genocide which wiped out 1/3 of the nations population almost 15 years ago. The memorial consisted of beautiful rose gardens which symoized all of the differnt types of people who lost their lives durig the genocide, a garden for the children, for the woman, a garden of protection, and a fountain that in the middle had a tourch, that is lit on occasion, symbolizing death, water, symbolizing life, and four elephant statues which symolized that no one will ever forget, becuase elephants are the animals known never to forget. then there were the mass graves which have 250,000 bodies in them..it was almost hard to wrap your head aroud such a number.
Then there was the inside of the memorial which consisted of various photos, vidios and articles educating us all on the events of the genocide. The most disturbing thing to me about the entire thing was how people were killed, and who was killed. Woman were raped, often by men who had HIV, people were tortured, thrown in latrines, and even the children were not spared, they too faced death by a machete or beating...it was truley heartbreaking and eye opening. There was another part of the memorial which breifly educated us on some of the other genocides that have occured in the passt, that was also extremely hard.
It was so interersting to be in the place where such a thing occured though, much more intense, becuase almost everyone over the age of 15 played some role in the genocide. you would see a person with a scar on their face, and wonder, were you tutsi, or hutu? The day needless to say was a hard one to swallow, but really all in all made one realize how truley fortunate we all are.
On a lighter note, we got to ride on the back of bicycles, which had little seats on them, it was way fun! And now we are in Tanzania working with a medical clinic, which allows people who have little money to get medical assistaance.. sorting through containers full of medical supplies and organizing them. The place we are staying is super nice, our bedrooms even haev a bathroom with a sitdown toliet in them!! yoo!! and a shower!! Our nights here are spent playing spades, and newly poker, betting with match sticks. We are all having a grreat time, and next is our safari!!!!!!
peace!!!
Greetings from Mwanza(rock city), Tanzania: Where it is socially exceptable to spit your food on the ground
We got quite the fill of kids during our week in Fort Portal. Our afternoons were spent at the rescue home with the kids: Playing basketball & soccer, Swinging on swings, and many many arts&crafts. The kids were precious, all clinging on to their new found friends.
Our evenings were spent back at the hostel, surrounderd by 47 9-10 year olds from kampala. lets just say it was never a dull moment around the hostel with them. They also made great alarm clocks, running and screaming down the hallway every morning at the crack of dawn.
Thursday morning the group went to Sts. Peter and Paul Primary School (where many of the kids go). It was nice being able to see the school, but a bit awkward as we were paraded through each classroom.
After our week in Fort Portal, we loaded up and headed to Rwanda for the weekend...
We got quite the fill of kids during our week in Fort Portal. Our afternoons were spent at the rescue home with the kids: Playing basketball & soccer, Swinging on swings, and many many arts&crafts. The kids were precious, all clinging on to their new found friends.
Our evenings were spent back at the hostel, surrounderd by 47 9-10 year olds from kampala. lets just say it was never a dull moment around the hostel with them. They also made great alarm clocks, running and screaming down the hallway every morning at the crack of dawn.
Thursday morning the group went to Sts. Peter and Paul Primary School (where many of the kids go). It was nice being able to see the school, but a bit awkward as we were paraded through each classroom.
After our week in Fort Portal, we loaded up and headed to Rwanda for the weekend...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Fort Portal!
We had a wonderful, and enlightening experience through JJ and his family. After hearing his influential words about three very mixed religions coming together and working together, we are ready for our next leg of the journey! We have learned that the African men can be very persistent, and traveling in an almost entire female group we get quite the laughs! With Muhammad hitting on Rose, and JB proposing to Emily. It was a nice trip to Sipi Falls, with JJ's oldest son Macabee, it felt like we were one group! The falls were beautiful, and we splashed and laughed, while looking onto the lush green landscape. Now we are staying a hostel in Fort Portal while going to Manna's Rescue Home. The children are very sweet. Carry made cool crowns, Rose made some sweet bling, and Lizzy made stupendous mustaches. We have the rest of the week to spend with these amazing kids!
gooooodddbbyyyeee
gooooodddbbyyyeee
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