Saalam! I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Yes I know I have been bad about updating this, so I'll fill you in from the last post. (october 13th, oops).
In mid October I travelled to the coast of Tanzania with some friends from the hostel, and camped out on the coast. It was beautiful, and very peaceful. After a couple of days of trekking down the coast, a friend and I continued on to Zanzibar ( big island off the coast of Tanzania). We decided that getting to Zanzibar the traditional way of the ferry was boring ( and pricey) so we decided that catching a dhow, an ancient Arabic sailboat, with some local fishermen would be more exciting. We found some willing fishermen, with a sound dhow that wouldn't leave us castaways, and sealed the deal. Of course the boat left at 3 o clock in the morning, so in the middle of the night I found myself wading out waist deep in the indian ocean, with my pack on my head, and climbing into a boat full of fishermen, headed to Zanzibar. I wouldn't say the ride was the most comfortable - I think I was sitting on a bushel of mangoes, my friend was on some avocadoes and rice, but it was an adventure, and I now know what being a refugee may feel like hah. It was breathtaking to watch the sun rise over the indian ocean, and once the sun came up TONS of dolphins came up to the dhow looking for fish. Pretty incredible! We arrived on the Northern tip of Zanzibar mid-day, pretty exhausted, and ready to lay on the beach. For the rest of the time in Zanzibar we backpacked from beach to beach, relaxing and enjoying paradise. Each beach was lined with palm trees, clear blue water, and friendly locals to play beach soccer with. My favorite beach was in a village called Matemwe, on the eastern side of the island. It was there that we went snorkeling on some of the reefs off the coast, which was amazzingggg. I also got to know some of the women in the village, and they somehow convinced me to let them braid my hair, and put makeup on me. I looked absolutely horrendous,the cornrow look didn't work for me, but I have some pretty hilarious pictures. Another favorite part of Zanzibar was the seafood. They had these markets where you could pick pretty much any type of seafood you wanted.. crab, shrimp, lobster, octopus, fish, squid, you name it - and they would grill it up for you right there. Mmmmmm. I was happy to get back to my project in Moshi, but once I get back to cold America I'll be dreaming of Zanzibar.
The last couple weeks in Moshi were VERY busy, I was planning the HIV/AIDS community health semimar in Shimbwe, and also organizing a chicken project for the HIV positive women. With the funds I had, I used part of them on providing food and materials for the HIV/AIDS seminar, and the rest of the funds to start a chicken coop project with the women. Since the women are very poor they can't provide themselves a nutritious meal, which just makes them so much sicker. The plan in the long run is to build 4 large chicken coops, with about 10 chickens in them each, and the women will sell the eggs and chicks in the market to make a profit for themselves. With the money we had, we managed to build 2 of the 4 chicken coops, which was a great start. The women who live in the same section of the village share the coops, so right now about half the women will start making a profit soon. When I'm back in the states I'm hoping to keep fundraising, so I can send the money over to complete the last 2 coops. While the coops were being built I slept up in the village at some of the houses of the women, which has been one of my favorite experiences in Africa. Communication was tough, because they speak zero english, but it forced me to practice my Swahili, and other ways of communication. It was really an incredible experience, I learned a lot from them in those couple days. It amazes me what strong willpower they have, for example every morning at 5 am they get up and walk 3 or 4 miles to church, UP the mountain. Makes me think twice now about grumbling about walking to class for an 8 am.
It was really hard to leave Shimbwe, but the last day was the HIV/AIDS seminar, so at least I left on a good note. I was really happy with the attendance, and we were able to provide chapati, karanga ( roasted peanuts) and tea, which was plenty, and a good bribe to get people to come. I was really sad to say goodbye to the HIV women I've been working with, but I know I'll be back.
So back to me being in Ethiopia - I forgot to mention that 4 other girls from the hostel and I have been planning to spend our last 3 weeks traveling through Ethiopia. We've seen a good amount of Tanzania, and figured while we're in Africa it would be a shame to only see one country! We started a couple days ago in Addis Ababa ( the huge capital), and are making our way up north, through Bahir Dar, Gondar, then some trekking in the Simion Mountains, then Aksum, then Lalibela, then back to Addis. We are following what is called the Northern Circuit, a famous historical route that allows you to see many ancient sites and relics dating back thousands of thousands of years ago. Just today (I'm in Bahir Dar) we took a boat ride out into Lake Tana, to explore some monastaries out on the islands. These islands are run by monks, who are the only people who have the keys to the monastaries. Some of the monastaries we were in were built and painted in the 13th century, and were said to have held Mary, Joseph and Jesus when they were fleeing Egypt. We also boated out to the mouth of the Nile River, the longest River in the world. It will be a very different experience than Tanzania, but it will be good to view such a different, and ancient culture.
Alright, I'm sure you are tired of reading my novel, miss everyone lots and hope things are well. I'm off to eat some Ethiopian dinner ( you get to eat with your hands, it's great!) See ya!

Mambo Vipi! Just recently got back from climbing to the rooftop of Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro. We started Sunday (sept 27) and got back Friday evening, so it took a total of 6 days to summit and come down. It was an incredible trip, hard to put down in words. I went with 6 people I live with, and our guides and crew. We decided to take the Machame route up the mountain, which is one of the steepest, but also the most scenic. The first couple days we hiked through all different types of climates, first starting in the rainforest, then continuing through the woodlands, moorelands, high deserts, then finally a rocky, lava and ash filled nothingness.It was pretty eerie once we were at an altitude where nothing could survive, it was just miles of ash and slate from the once active volcano. By Wednesday evening we had made it to about 15,500 ft, and Wednesday night at 12 am we started our ascent to the summit, which is 19, 340 ft. We started in the middle of the night in order to reach the summit when the sun was rising, which is when it is the most clear. The climb through the night was one of the hardest things I've ever done, mainly because it was a very steep climb and it was hard to breathe because of the altitude. Plus it was very cold, around -15 F, which meant you had to keep moving. The sun started rising when I was about an hour from the summit, so I had a clear view of Africa below, it truly felt like I was standing on the rooftop of Africa. The summit was stunning, from the highest point you could see into the crater of the volcano, the glaciers all around, and miles and miles of tanzania.

Everything back at sealevel is great, I've been very very busy with my project. I mainly am now focusing on the HIV project in Shimbwe. We've started HIV education in the primary schools, which has been an eye opener because the kids literally know nothing about HIV. I also have been working on educating the HIV women and their families about living with the disease, nutrition, and home based care. I used some of the money people have donated to have a big feast on friday with the HIV positive women and their families. they LOVED it, plus we had a lot of leftover food that we fed to the kids at one of the schools. A little bit can go a long way here, it didn't cost much to feed about 35 people. I was hoping to get help to build each woman a garden, since they have very poor nutrition, but they agreed that it would be too hard to maintain a garden since there is a drought. They agreed that building a chicken coop, so they could eat the eggs for protein, plus sell some eggs to make a small income would be beneficial. I'll be starting on this project soon, I just hope to leave the village with something sustainable in place!

I'll be leaving for Zanzibar this Saturday, which I'm really excited about!! We are taking a Dala Dala ( rickety little bus) to the coast of Tanzania, camping on the coast to do some snorkeling and exploring, then sailing to Zanzibar. I can't wait, it's really hot here so hitting the beach sounds amazing.

I've uploaded 2 albums of pictures on my facebook, Safari and Tanzania. I'll put up Kilimanjaro pictures soon. Check them out!

Mambo! That is what everyone shouts when you walk down the street, and the response is POA! It pretty much means "whats up with you?" and "i'm cool!" EVERYONE greets you when you walk down the street, it's very different from America, where if people constantly saying "HELLO! HOW ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" you'd be sufficiently freaked out. This past weekend I went to a Maasai village with a couple people from my hostel which was incredible! Both guards from my hostel are from the Maasai tribe, a traditional African tribe from Kenya and northern Tanzania. They were happy to take us to meet their families.. one of the guards had FIFTY THREE brothers and sisters.. his father has 10 wives! To get to the Maasai village we hiked through a desert for about three miles ( SO HOT) until we arrived at a collection of mud huts and grazing cattle. We were caught in these dust tornadoes a couple times, so we were almost as brown as the Africans by the time we got there. (ok well not quite...) I will upload pictures soon from the Maasai, they wear these brightly colored robes that clash beautifully against the brown landscape, and don these intricately beaded necklaces and earrings, so the pictures are great!They are very peaceful people and immediately offered us food and tea, and later in the day performed a celebratory dance for us. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen, and they even gave us bright robes to wear so we could join in. What an amazing culture.
Earlier today Hilary, the boy that translates for me, ( though my Swahili is coming along!) and I met with a group of HIV positive women from Shimbwe, the village in the foothills of Kilimanjaro that I work at. There were about ten women who came to the meeting, and I asked them questions about the problems they have been facing since being diagnosed with AIDS. I was shocked to hear the prejudices and they face just because they were brave enough to admit to the community that they have AIDS. There are many, many people who are HIV positive in this area, but will not come out and say it to the community because they know they will be shunned. All of these women do not have a spouse anymore, either because the spouse has died, or left them because they had HIV. This leaves them with very little money and ways to get food, and only some have family members to take care of them. Even the family members do not understand the sickness, and expect their loved ones to still work and earn money while they are very sick. They can't open shops because no one will buy from them, and they aren't even greeted by anyone on the street. We discussed that the reason for this prejudice against them is ignorance.. the community has not been properly educated about AIDS and has false beliefs about how AIDS can be spread. The problem is these beliefs go back many many years, and will be hard to break. For the rest of my time here I'll be spending a lot of time with my NGO trying to work out ways to educate this community, which will help these women and others infected, and also prevent the infection rate. Lots to think about! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! Miss everyone and hope to talk to you soon! Baadaye! Later!
ps - sorry about the captions getting all messed up on the Safari pictures. I'm still new to the blog thing haha. I'll try and figure out how to fix it when my internet is faster!

Safari

Jambo! Thanks for everyone who has written me emails, it might take me a little while to get back to you since I have to go into town to get Internet, and its super slow and not very reliable. Everything is going well in Moshi town, it's been a week now and I'm getting settled in. I've gotten lost plenty of times and had some interesting experiences trying to find my way back. This past weekend I kick started my time in Africa by going on a Safari with some of my friends from the hostel. East Africa is known for its amazing wildlife, and I definitely wasn't let down! The first day we ventured in Tanguire National Park, and the second day the Ngorogoro Crater. Both places were absolutely incredible, I felt like I was in the real life Lion King! If you look up online both places you'll get a better explanation and idea of the area, the crater was especially unique. If you click the pictures they will become larger. Hope to talk to everyone soon!




Zebras in the Ngorogoro Crater



















The birds were BEAUTIFUL, Dad you would have had a field day
















Ostrich in the crater


















Hippos! If you look in the left corner you can see me swimming with them!!















Wildebeest


















King on the Crater
















I love this picture










The lions got so close to our Jeep! They were stalking wildebeest and using our Jeep to hide behind. The Safari guide FREAKED OUT at me because he thought I was trying to pet the lion. I swear I was just trying to show how close!














MUFASA














We camped out at a campground somewhere near the crater and had a campfire with some of the local Tanzanians. This man brought his guitar and played us some African songs, it was beautiful!









We stumbled upon an African wedding, overlooking the Crater. We stayed for part of the ceremony, it was really lively.






















Giraffe in Tanguire



















Zebras at the watering hole!



















These Balboa trees are one of the things Tanguire is famous for. These trees supposedly live for over 1000 years ( our guide said even 3000 years?! Is that possible?) There are a lot of ancient African beliefs about the powers of these trees, and their bark and branches are used by thousands of different animals.













Leopard, we were very lucky to see one!















Baby elephants :) So cute!


















Baboon and its baby. The baboons were very mischievous, at lunch a baboon jumped onto our picnic table and stole my friends candy bar right out of her hand!
















Wildebeest stampede.

















More wildebeests by the river
















Group by the Safari Jeep. I'm short.














I forget what kind of monkey, but they were cute!








Group on top of the crater



Our guide, Abbas, he was hilarious

Just having a chat

Karibu kwa Afrika ( Welcome to Africa!)

Jambo! I have arrived in one piece in Moshi town, Tanzania after a long crazy flight half-way around the world. I feel like so much has happened in the past two days, I don't even know where to start!
I'm living in "Hostel Hoff," an international youth hostel right outside of Moshi. There are about 20 of us living there, ages ranging from 20 ( I'm the baby) to about 27. There are a couple of Kiwis (New Zealand) , some Brits, Scots, Canadians, Irish, Israelis, Aussies, and Tanzanians who work there and help us with our Swahili. Guess who is the ONLY American? Haha, it is a little intimidating being the only "Yankee" ( as they all call me) but I'm doing my best to represent. Almost all of us will be there for 3 months, so it's really neat that we will all become so close. Most of them are adventure travelers and have been roaming around the globe, which makes me want to explore even more!
I've done some exploring around Moshi town, it is MUCH bigger than I imagined. It's a big bustling town with ZERO traffic laws and people everywhere trying to sell you things. Yesterday afternoon a friend from the hostel and I went exploring around town and a local Tanzanian boy about our age saw our lost expression and gave us somewhat of an insider tour through the marketplace. The market is absolute chaos, I was 100% overwhelmed by the yelling and everyone tugging on your shirt yelling MZUNGU ( white girl!) CHEAPY CHEAPY! It was a crazy experience, but I loved it. I absolutely love how colorful everything is here, the women's clothing, the buildings, the thousands of vegetable and fruit stands, and the wild plants growing out of every crack.
I met with the directors of the nonprofit I'm working for yesterday and I'm really excited about what I'm going to be doing. The name of the organization is called Minjeni, and we assist a local village, Shimbwe, in the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Minjeni helps Shimbwe with sustainable agriculture, schooling, and health care. They needed someone to direct the women's health care project, so I took on that role. I'll be conducting seminars for the women of the village on keeping clean and sanitary, pregnancy, breast exams, contraceptives, etc. The next couple weeks I'll be doing a lot of research and working with a Tanzanian doctor to learn more about the subject. I'm really excited to have my hands full, and get started. Plus, the directors of Minjeni are two American nurses fresh out of nursing school, so I'm going to get to shadow them at the local hospital. I'm hoping to be a global nurse once I'm done with school, so it's great to get some experience!
Well, I'm going to go grab some lunch and practice my Swahili. I need to get the basics down since I'll be interacting with the local villagers soon, who don't speak much English. Hope everyone back at home is doing well, email to keep in touch! (Shapirmr@gmail.com)
Kwaheri! Goodbye!