Last to trip to Dodo? And Mpwapwa days!
on Kev in Tanzania (Tanzania), 05/Oct/2009 04:50, 34 days ago
Here is another update! There won't be many in Mpwapwa...25th - 27th SeptemberI went to Dodoma - maybe for the last time. I went to see Frouke, Renee and Sandra (she would come from Morogoro for the weekend). It was nice to see them again so soon and also nice to be in Dodoma. Some vols do not like Dodoma and say it is boring but when you have spent a year in Mpwapwa any bigger town is interesting! I much prefer Dodoma to Dar, it feels safer and is easier to walk around.I arrived around noon on friday and used the internet in Dodoma - it is so much faster than Mpwapwa (I guess they are connected to Dar and the underwater cable that goes to India). I grabbed a chipsi mayai for lunch and was harassed by six different beggars which made the meal less enjoyable. In the afternoon I met Frouke at her work (which is where Claire used to work). We walked back to Frouke's house and in the evening we went to the pizzeria for dinner with Renee and Sandra and played more card games (the Dutch girls do love their card games!).On saturday we went to see Nelsons place but he was not in. I helped Frouke with her laptop as she has viruses and then met Renee and Sandra at a tailors as the girls were having skirts made. We were due to go to a BBQ in the evening so we got some supplies and had a nice juice in a place I had not visited before. While waiting for Renee and Sandra, Frouke and I decided to have a beer (and a half...) in the New Dodoma Hotel, it was nice but as we had no lunch made us feel tired. The BBQ was at a South Africans house and the food was lovely (not to mention the beers too!!) After leaving at 10pm we were all tired and did not make the concert in the stadium as we planned!I return to Mpwapwa on Sunday on the 11am bus, the journey was fine.Tuesday September 29thI have been in country over a year now but there was no time to dwell on that, I had lessons to teach. The new students have not had much practice with computers so it was back to the very very basics again but I was happy to be up in front of the classes demonstrating and sharing skills.One of the people I met at the BBQ was in Mpwapwa for a few days so we got dinner. Katrin is a half German, half Tanzanian who was doing AIDS education to the miners around Mpwapwa. She spoken fantastic fluent Kiswahili and with her team I can imagine her making a far better impact than some Westerners going to patronise the miners about HIV and AIDS.The next few days were spent teaching, I am starting to look at things here in Mpwapwa and realise I may not see them again soon. It has been a great journey and I have developed lots. Hopefully my plan to move to Pemba until May will work and I will be doing the same work as here but on a smaller scale. I think the college on Pemba has 8 computers rather than 80!! I will miss the college and the quirky things in Mpwapwa (but not the dogs howling at night).Saturday 3rd OctoberNo water today which was frustrating, I hoped Claire (my replacement) would not be moving into the house without water. I met Matayo for lunch in Hafunes and they gave me a huge portion of pilau kuku but I still ate it all! I like Hafunes it is central, cheap and the best you can get in Mpwapwa really. It was funny when Katrin came she did not like Hafunes and would not eat there - I guess being in Dodoma can give you classier tastes...In the evening I went over to Harune's house (he used to be my cook/cleaner) it lovely to meet his family and share dinner with them. One of his daughters Mary is moving to Morogoro so they were having a party for her. I bought them some juice as a present and took some photos of them which I want to printed for them.On the way home I looked up at Tigo hill and saw it was on fire!! People were burning the scrub for hunting I think... It was sad to see and I hope I can still climb Tigo hill again before I leave!Sunday 4th OctoberI woke up early today and the good news was water was back! So I did some clothes washing and made sure my buckets were filled. In the afternoon went for a walk with Thad up to the livestock institute to get some milk. It was a hot day and the exercise felt good. On the way back we saw a wonderful sunset and some vervet monkeys in the trees! Mpwapwa may be in the middle of nowhere but it sure is beautiful!!So thats the weeks update - going to Dar later this week to see Liz and meet Claire.Take care