Update

Things have slowed down here so but I figured I would write something anyway. At the end of February I got to go to Arusha for team meetings. It was great to see everyone and get to share our experiences and struggles with each other. Since I returned to Mugumu not much has happened. Unfortunately to do any of my work I need my Tanzanian co-worker, Eliud, because I can't drive here (don't have a licence) and, more importantly, I don't know enough to do it on my own. Our initial goal was to finish off our project from last month and do another one. Instead I have done worked on some reports and a lot of nothing. One of the other SALTers had been waiting for someone to build a tank for his project for months so we lent him Eliud. Eliud also has his regular job so he actually has to go to work in Mugumu and do his real job...so all good reasons to slow down but it is still a bit frustrating.

The good part about the lull in work is I have actually gotten to spend time in Mugumu. Mugumu is a town on the edge of the Serengeti (to go to Arusha I have to go through the Serengeti national park and ngorongoro crater...on my way here the first time we had to slow down because a lion was wandering down the middle of the road). Apparently it was set up for the people that got kicked out the Serengeti to form the national parks and so is a relatively new town. The tribes around here value cattle a lot more than in the Tabora area. (The family we stayed next to had hundreds of cattle but there children didn't have clothes or had one random article of torn dirty clothing each. As an aside this gives me a different impression of all the poor kids in Africa advertisements with the kids in torn, dirty clothes. These kids were well fed, were taken care of and their father had resources...they just didn't have nice clothes. You can't assume that just because they look disheveled that they aren't well taken care of or that they need immediate assistance). It is an absolutely beautiful place and it is quite a bit colder than Tabora which has been nice.

It is hard to try to connect to a new place in a new culture, new family... but it is slowly coming. I get to come to an office when I am not in the field which is a nice change. The people here have been very kind to me and I hope I will continue to get to know them better. Yesterday they brought sugar cane for me to try. They devoured it...I failed to finish more than a quarter of it...it was good but also good way to cure a sweet tooth as it is so sweet. My host family is wonderful with an ever revolving stream of people staying there it is a very fluid family and difficult to keep track kof but it keeps things interesting. I often watch the news with my host father (in the morning in English and in the evening in swahili) and then we try to explain it to each other/discuss it...we often fail but it is an interesting exercise.


Not sure what else to say...have a happy easter!