So Now You've Seen The Light

If you know what life is worth
You will look for yours on earth

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Wow. I'm not sure how to begin today. There's a lot flying around in my head.

I guess I'll start with Baboons.

Yesterday the GSC "volunteers" went on a Safari to Arusha National Park. We rode around in a heavy duty land cruiser, standing up through the open top so we could see the animals. We saw over 100 Baboons, 1000s of flamingos, giraffes, zebras, buffalo, warthogs, tons of birds, and at least three other kinds of monkeys. When we stopped at a waterfall for a break I was shocked and thrilled to find myself within 5ft of an enormous baboon who was just as shocked but not nearly as thrilled to see me, which he made very clear as he ran away. Several times throughout the day we stopped the truck and found ourselves surrounded by monkeys playing, eating, jumping from tree to tree. One time we inadvertently snuck up on a pair of full grown wart hogs. I don't know how they didn't hear us driving up but they snorted and took off once they noticed us. And get this: As a joke I yelled out "Pumbaa! Come back!" and one of them stopped and looked at us for a while!

It was a great day, but I don't think I'll be signing up for any more driving safaris while I'm here. I'm itching to go hiking, and Mt Meru is calling my name daily. I understand that the driving safaris are big ticket income sources for Tanzanian tourism, but the environmental logic is a little twisted. Over 25% of Tanzania is national park reserves. TWENTY FIVE PERCENT! The country itself is about the combined size of California, Nevada, and New Mexico, and 1/4 of that space is protected lands. Well that's fantastic, right? So I'm not exactly stoked about gas guzzling my way around those protected spaces, especially when hiking is more fun anyway. There are a lot of ongoing land struggles between tribal groups and the state. It's a little tricky to get a cohesive look at the situations as they have developed, since everyone I ask seems to have personal experience or family ties to the issues of concern. It's another thing I'm looking at, so I'll update when I have something worthwhile to add.

On Friday night the GSC team went to the Arusha Community Church for their music festival that had been organized by the GSC Tanzanian Coordinator, Erwin Kinsey. My homestay Mama was a tad overwhelmed with the prospect of me going into town and coming home in the dark, but like any protective mama she monitored me via text, and I promised I wouldn't be out too late- a promise I kept. The Jesus-Christ-Makes-Everything-Nice bits made me a touch uncomfortable, but the music was great! Afterwards I needed to catch a daladala back to Tengeru, where I would then take a cab home- it's a 30min walk from tengeru to my house, and walking at night is not an option. I'm officially the only foreigner living in Tengeru, but a few of the other interns waited with me at the daladala stand. I had my pocket knife rolled into the top of my skirt and I held it, closed and covered, in my hand until I got home. It's not like it would have done a whole lot in legitimate self defense, but it would have at least scared off any grabby guys stumbling out of the bar or onto the bus. A local acquaintance from GSC rode the bus with me and about half of the Tanzanian population. The bus was slightly bigger than a daladala, but they packed in more people than you would imagine possible. My swahili isn't exactly trustworthy but I'm pretty sure my new friend (Roger?) asked one of the sober guys on the bus to look out for me before he got off, and I sat with him for the rest of the ride to Tengeru. I had a straight up panic moment when I thought I had missed my stop, but I soon realized that I was where I wanted to be, and I hopped in a taxi to go home. Safe and sound.

Overall, this week has been a good one... but one of frustration, or at times just puzzlement. Global Service Corps has an excellent staff with valuable knowledge that they dispense in a sustainable fashion. They give their interns a holistic, cohesive approach laden with context and hands-on tactics. They have helped many communities, which are in turn teaching their neighbors.

That doesn't mean GSC is doing all that it could.

Technically, I'm a "volunteer" but I see myself as a student, an intern. I'm frustrated because we have an inordinate amount of downtime, and I don't feel like we're being used to the fullest. I've discussed it with my peers, and they unanimously agree. We're here! Use us! Exhaust us! Unfortunately, the program as a whole seems to operate on African time. Now, I do understand that to some degree, because we have to work within the context we're given... but there is so much to do! There's no reason our day should end at 1 or 2 o'clock. Book more sessions! Find more projects! Do SOMETHING with that time!

I'm afraid GSC might be that kid in class with all the potential in the world, but is comfortable resting on its foundation. The planet is not on Africa time. The planet is on a time crunch. People are hungry and sick, the earth has been and continues to be abused. We have the resources, and we need to use them.

So where does this leave me?

The realization came to me while we were on the safari yesterday. All week I was grumpy about not making a bigger impact, not helping more. But I think the bumpy ride through the National Park bounced some sense into me. I. Did. Not. Come. To. Change. Things. Not really. I want to change things, but I came here to learn.

Light bulb!

I claim to be here as a student, right? So I need to learn. My remaining 8 weeks in Tanzania will serve as a personal case study on public health and environmental practice.

I'm useless without conversational Swahili so I'm going to continue studying while out in the village this week, take lessons from the Swahili instructor GSC uses next week when I'm in town. In the meantime I'm going to do as much research as possible on land use, education, infrastructure, health access, the political economy etc etc etc. The GSC office has tons of information and informed staffers, and I'm going to use them to the fullest.

Once I have improved my Swahili and built a foundation (maybe even a thesis?) on Tanzanian health and environmental issues, I'm going to meet with as many health professionals, teachers, government officials, pharmacists, NGO coordinators, and social workers as possible. I want local opinions and international perspectives. What do people think they need? What do they actually need? I have some ideas of what I might find out but I'm ready to let the interviews speak for themselves.

Global Service Corps may be organizing some of my time here, but they've left me a lot of down time too, and I'm going to make the absolute most of it. The staff at GSC has many contacts they can put me in touch with, and plenty of other resources for me to use.

If you can't tell via internet... I'm really excited.

I'm continuing to read Pathologies of Power and I'm almost done with Daniel Quinn's Ishmael. Can I be so bold as to INSIST that everyone read Ishmael? It's value is indescribable. The books are very different and I agree with both of them, so I can practically feel my brain churning around as it arrives at some new platforms on which to rest my personal philosophies. Many of these concepts are things I've thought and felt for as long as I can remember... but now, as I look at health and the environment, my sense of urgency is racing, and I'm getting more and more direction and drive.

THIS IS WHY I TOOK THIS SEMESTER OFF.

In an hour or so I'm meeting with Michael to go to the circus! I'm uber excited because I haven't been in ages, and apparently this is more about acrobats and music than animals and clown cars, so it should be pretty sweet.

I probably won't be updating again until next weekend because I'll be in a village all week doing chicken vaccinations and teaching bio-intensive agriculture... and reading, reading, reading... but stay tuned! I'm sure I'll have loads that I'll want to share by the time I reunite with technology next Saturday.

((sidenote: thank you SO MUCH to everyone who's given positive feedback about this blog! i'm glad that it's been as interesting to you as it has been helpful to me!))




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And now, I need to end this on an impossibly tragic note.

RIP Matthew Healey. I'm so lucky to have known you, and I'm so sorry that we won't be seeing you. You are a class act, a hilarious character, and an unfair loss. We'll miss you, bud.