Tutaonana Baadae

This will be the last picture I'll be able to post until I reach Arkansas. Being on your own in a foreign country requires, at least in a narcasistic way, that you become proficient at self-portraits. Here's my last.

I'll try to update you from Zanzibar, before I return home August 8th.

I'm sure I will miss Tanzania, but I miss Arkansas more.

Marangu (continued)

Wedding at the Roundabout

As we drove back home from the waterfall this afternoon, we ran into a wedding procession at the roundabout by Crisburger/Pub Alberto. They looked like they were having a great time!

Another Weekend, Another Waterfall

Traveled to Marangu with my housemate Christina and our favorite taxi driver today. I stood a few feet back from the falls and basked in the shadows, the way the sun filtered through the trees, through the water. A bird flew overhead and I thought about those cheezy, laminated ply-board knick-knacks with prayers or bad poetry printed in a fancy font, the kind you find at Goodwill. All these years I'd grown up with this image so that the very idea of a waterfall seemed cliche. No, they were right. But a picture can never do it justice. You must feel the sun beat down on you and be choked by the spray from the falls to see the real beauty in the place.

Kiswahili Sign Language Club

After Christina met Ephrasia on the street and they figured out that they both understood American Sign Language(Ephrasia is deaf, Christina is hearing), they became quick friends and started getting together every Monday to chat. The invited me to their last get together at Milan's. A lot of Kiswahili Sign Language is similar to American Sign Language, but there's also a lot of differences. As Ephrasia tried to explain the signs to Christina, she finger spelled in Kiswahili so I was totally lost! In the end, we communicated pretty well and it is actually a lot easier for me to interact with Ephrasia than most hearing Tanzanians!

Ephrasia visited Amani last week and the kids really enjoyed meeting her. People with disabilities are often shunned in Tanzania. Many people believe that being deaf means being stupid--that it means you are not capable of contributing to the community or even taking care of yourself. The kids were absolutely amazed that Ephrasia could read their lips and that she understood English. She made a real impact on the kids.

The Hike to Uru

Footbridge on the way to the waterfall.



There are several small villages in the area. I ran into several young boys who were escorting an incredibly adorable bunny. I asked if I could take their picture and they were excited. I petted the bunny and thought about Heifer International before I asked a question that I already knew the answer to, "Are you going to eat the rabbit?" The boy holding the bunny nodded vigorously and smiled broadly. I had just petted their dinner. So cute, yet so nutritious.



Banana flower



Coffee bush!!!--and giant slug. To give you an idea of proportions, the coffee bean (green in color, just to the right of the slug) is about the size of a cranberry.

Meme Ndizi

Uru Waterfall

The Uru waterfall is about a thrity minute drive outside Moshi. I traveled there last weekend with my favorite taxi driver/tour guide, Juma.

Thanks Mom

My favorite snack, thanks to Mom's care package. Cheetos and tomatoes.

Wildebeest Migration

The wildebeest migration is an annual attraction in the Serengetti. The wildebeest and zebra migrate together. If you go on safari at this time of year, you will see thousands.

Ambient Lighting

at The Watering Hole.

KSL (Kiswahili Sign Language)

Last Monday, I had the chance to meet a Tanzanian who is deaf, a really interesting experience because I studied American Sign Language while doing my undergrad at UALR and have several friends who are deaf. Sign language actually played a big part in my meeting Mr. Salazar, as did poker and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, but that's a whole other thread.

My new roomate, Christina, who is also a special education teacher volunteering for Amani, met Ephrasia on the street. She stopped to say hello while walking along the Double Road--aptly named, the only road in Moshi with a partition between the lanes. She stopped to say "Jambo" and was greeted by Ephrasia with a barely audible "Si Jambo". When Christina asked her to speak up, she explained that she could not and that she was deaf. Before long, they were signing in what I call Swahinglish.

Christina learned ASL (American Sign Language) because it is commonly used with children who cannot otherwise communicate, like one of our children with autism at Amani. Christina had previously spent a length of time volunteering for Amani and was already fluent in Kiswahili when she arrived last month. Ephrasia had graduated from primary school and had attended some secondary school. She is fluent in both Kiswahili sign language and American Sign Language. But get this... she can also lip read in both Swahili and English.

A lot of signs in Kiswahili sign language are the same as in ASL. The sign for poor is similar as is the sign for school, work, and teach. A key difference in Swahili sign language is that numbers are signed with two hands, rather than one.

A local teacher in town, a bartender at The Watering Hole actually, is fluent in Autstrailian sign language. I mentioned to her that I was blogging about my meeting with Ephrasia and she mentioned running into a deaf woman and her mother outside a hotel. She signed hello to the deaf woman, who looked at her puzzled. Her mother explained that two different sign languages are taught in Tanzania—American Sign Language (ASL) and another sign language, we think maybe Swiss. The dual language system is a result of previous volunteers who came to teach in the area. The end result is that, unlike in America, you have a population of deaf citizens who cannot communicate with each other and a deaf community severely lacking in cohesion.

In the U.S., the deaf community has its own unique and established culture. The homecoming at the state deaf schools are big events that people actually come home to attend and deaf clubs where people congregate with their families. In Tanzania, it seems that deaf people are rather on their own.