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!