Update from TZ

There is little news here in Tanzania, especially in comparison to the news that has been coming from the states! Congratulations all around for the new additions to the family!

I believe my last post was pre-election cycle, which went off without too much fanfare, at least in my part of the country. The northwestern parts saw some election violence but fortunately nothing very interesting happened in my neck of the woods. The president was reelected as expected, but the results were surprising as he won by a much larger margin than expected. I had my long break from mid-September to mid-October and generally hung out around my site. There was certainly an uptick in hikes as I have climbed multiple mountains. Included in that break was a trip to Matema Beach, our beach front resort on Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi). After break, I have continued to teach classes, despite my relatively empty schedule. I also presented my first presentation, which was on sleep, and had a good response. The students asked intelligent questions and I think those that were there through the entire presentation did take some valuable information away. Currently, the form 6 students are working on their mock exams to prepare for national exams in February. My form 5s are in integration, which is going slowly, but we are ahead of schedule so I can’t be too worried.

The past several months have been a time of change here in PC TZ. The health and environment volunteers left around August and were replaced shortly after by a new set of volunteers who have been settling in over the last three months. In November, the education class ahead of us began to leave the country and just about 3 weeks ago, we got our new education volunteers. Besides the fact that it is strange to be considered the upperclassmen, for lack of a better word, it is sad to see those who we got so close to leave without knowing if our paths will ever cross again. It is a challenge to see new people with totally unbiased eyes and I know it is even harder for the Tanzanians to avoid comparisons. One of the health volunteers who left in August was one of those life-of-the-party, makes-everyone-feel-included, generally uplifting people, in addition to the fact that she was a model volunteer, as she had fantastic Swahili and several successful projects on her resume. While her site was not directly replaced, someone was placed essentially within the same village and the expectations of her are a challenge for even the best volunteer. However, that’s the problem with success in a system like this I suppose, it builds expectations in a situation where expectations can create disappointment and frustration very quickly.

I wish I had more news to tell, but nothing is coming to mind. As always, feel free to check out my blog entries at andrewshooktoafrica.blogspot.com. I’ll leave you with some pictures of my activities recently. Since the beginning of September, I have hiked the tallest mountain, Rungwe, twice, the second and third tallest peaks, Mbeya and Loleza respectively, once, and the dormant volcano in between the three, Ngozi, twice.

Here is the campaign rally by Kikwete the day after my last post. All my students were required to attend which lead to several hours of sitting in the sun waiting for the president.

This was our first hike this "fall" to Ngozi. This was the first time I had climbed down into the crater which was a lot of fun. Here we are at the summit.

Here is the bamboo section of the hike on Rungwe, my second time up. It's amazing how the surroundings change, from ridiculous jungle at the bottom to treeless grasses at the top. The bamboo shows up in between the trees and the shrub sections.

Tanzania has trouble producing enough electricity to keep the lights on 24/7, so here is my room on one of the nights when the umeme is off.

Just this last weekend, we did a hike over the peak of Loleza to the peak of Mbeya mountain. It was by far our most ambitious hike yet. Here are Theo and Letty in the early morning climbing Loleza with Mbeya city in the background.

Here is a cool view from just below the summit of Mbeya Peak. The rocks right at the front are Mbeya Peak, while the first mountain in the background is Ngozi Crater and the mountain in the background, partly covered in clouds, is Rungwe. From up on the mountains it was easy to see all four major peaks in the area.

And here is a picture of Mbeya Peak on our way down. This is about the time where I had to refill my water bottles in the creek because I hadn't rationed well earlier in the hike :P