According to the sign the safest street in Nairobi is Bishop's Road. I'm assuming it's the safest street in Nairobi because of the 24/7 'friendly' checkpoints along it. The check points consist of two armed guards who open your trunk look in your car and then, with their guns, wave you through the maze of nail beds and road blocks that force you to slow down to 10 km/hr. The guards don't smile, don't say please and are in no way companionable so I'm not sure what exactly about these checkpoints makes them so friendly. My taxi driver informs me that the street is poorly named. The 'friendly checkpoints' exist because across the street from our hotel is the Israeli Embassy. So really they're not that friendly at all, and with what is apparently a serious terrorist target on it i am clearly NOT on the safest street in Nairobi.
Nairobi is an interesting place. It is much cooler than Dar, and more developed. The lights stay on all the time, the roads are paved, the cars are new. But no one walks around outside. People are still friendly but even the shopping mall we go to has armed guards wandering around inside. Rebecca went to the Hilton downtown while I was in the hospital and they checked the car for bombs before letting her in. Security is a serious issue.
I returned to Dar late last night, and am waiting to see the doctor's will consider me safe to remain or if I have to return to Canada to recover. Here's hoping they let me stay!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
That's One Way to See Kenya
What's that you say? Kenya? I thought you were in Tanzania? Well you are correct, my internship is in Tanzania but I discovered an interesting way to get to a new country this past Monday: it's called emergency medical evacuation!
I have been having some stomach problems for about 8 weeks, and lately they had started to get much worse despite having been on every antibiotic under the sun. Monday I went to the doctor because the pain was much worse and suddenly everyone had decided that all the drugs had been masking a case of appendicitis so off to the Aga Khan hospital I was rushed for an ultra sound, which they couldn't fit me in for of course. Unfortunately the pain continued to worsen and my condition weakened so my fabulous French doctor decided it was time to call in the flying doctors and med evac me to Kenya where they have better medical facilities and where it would be safer for me to have surgery. Thankfully it was NOT appendicitis, I just had some drug resistant acute typhoid, so after a week in the hospital I have been discharged, but I must remain in Nairobi for a few more days as a day patient so the doctors can monitor my recovery.
Now that I am out of the hospital Rebecca and I are going to see some of the sights of Kenya ( in between my naps, I'm the least fun travel buddy right now). We are hoping to go to an actual Shopping mall to get some sweatshirts since Kenya is cold. I'm looking forward to the culture shock. It's already weird being in a country that manages to keep the power on all the time and has safe tap water and paved roads everywhere and where people don't yell at you because of the colour of your skin. We may also go to the snake park since it is close by. WE are also staying in the nicest hotel because it is right by the hospital and has rooms available, unlike many of the other places we tried to stay. The rooms that are available however are the executive suite! So we are staying in luxurious accommodation, for a price that in Canada would get you an economy room at a three star hotel. Not a bad place to rest up and recover in if I do say so myself.
I must say that I am the luckiest person around because I have wonderful friends who graciously packed up a bunch of stuff for me and them and flew with me to Kenya. Flora left a very important work meeting she had been preparing for for weeks to get my stuff, and Rebecca flew to Kenya with me and has been by my side the whole time. She has had the exciting task fo trying to deal with the medical insurance this whole time since I have been in bed stuck to an IV. I am now an even bigger supporter of public health care because the insurance was such a hassle. Everyone at MEDA in Waterloo and Tanzania has been spectacular as have all my friends and family. So thank-you for the support and the good wishes.
Now everyone go and do the following: buy a membership to AMREF, they run the flying doctor's plane that took me to Kenya and helps save hundreds of lives every year. I am buying mine after I publish this post.
I have been having some stomach problems for about 8 weeks, and lately they had started to get much worse despite having been on every antibiotic under the sun. Monday I went to the doctor because the pain was much worse and suddenly everyone had decided that all the drugs had been masking a case of appendicitis so off to the Aga Khan hospital I was rushed for an ultra sound, which they couldn't fit me in for of course. Unfortunately the pain continued to worsen and my condition weakened so my fabulous French doctor decided it was time to call in the flying doctors and med evac me to Kenya where they have better medical facilities and where it would be safer for me to have surgery. Thankfully it was NOT appendicitis, I just had some drug resistant acute typhoid, so after a week in the hospital I have been discharged, but I must remain in Nairobi for a few more days as a day patient so the doctors can monitor my recovery.
Now that I am out of the hospital Rebecca and I are going to see some of the sights of Kenya ( in between my naps, I'm the least fun travel buddy right now). We are hoping to go to an actual Shopping mall to get some sweatshirts since Kenya is cold. I'm looking forward to the culture shock. It's already weird being in a country that manages to keep the power on all the time and has safe tap water and paved roads everywhere and where people don't yell at you because of the colour of your skin. We may also go to the snake park since it is close by. WE are also staying in the nicest hotel because it is right by the hospital and has rooms available, unlike many of the other places we tried to stay. The rooms that are available however are the executive suite! So we are staying in luxurious accommodation, for a price that in Canada would get you an economy room at a three star hotel. Not a bad place to rest up and recover in if I do say so myself.
I must say that I am the luckiest person around because I have wonderful friends who graciously packed up a bunch of stuff for me and them and flew with me to Kenya. Flora left a very important work meeting she had been preparing for for weeks to get my stuff, and Rebecca flew to Kenya with me and has been by my side the whole time. She has had the exciting task fo trying to deal with the medical insurance this whole time since I have been in bed stuck to an IV. I am now an even bigger supporter of public health care because the insurance was such a hassle. Everyone at MEDA in Waterloo and Tanzania has been spectacular as have all my friends and family. So thank-you for the support and the good wishes.
Now everyone go and do the following: buy a membership to AMREF, they run the flying doctor's plane that took me to Kenya and helps save hundreds of lives every year. I am buying mine after I publish this post.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Zanzibar!!
Shikamooni Rafikis (Respectful Greetings Friends)
This past weekend I travelled to the glorious island of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is the birthplace of Freddie Mercury from Queen and has a big tourism trade. Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, was a big slave trading port and spice market way back when and today it has this strange mix of Arabic and African architecture that results in twisty narrow streets perfect for getting totally and completely lost in. Especially at night when there is no moon.
We had great fun despite the rain and the choppy ferry ride there and back (good bye sunglasses!). Stonetown actually reminded me a lot of Venice with it's old buildings and twisty streets and the strange smell of wet yet burning garbage around every corner, which is funny because rumour has it that most of the big resorts on the island are owned by the mafia. This Italian influence has the added benefit of a spin off trade in quality Italian food, which is fine by me.
The hot season is officially here on the mainland and we are starting to cook. We have started quantifying the temperature in terms of what setting you put your fan on at night. Last night we moved up another notch to 4 out of 5. I have no idea what we are going to do when the heat peaks in another three weeks or so. One of the reasons I liked Zanzibar so much was that our hotel had A/C which is decidedly lacking in my room at home.
A lot of people keep asking what it is exactly that I do here so let me try to explain that now.
MEDA (the NGO I work for) is contracted by the Tanzanian government to run a programme that provides subsidies (through a voucher) for mosquito nets to the most at risk populations: pregnant women, infants and children under five. The programme runs in every community in Tanzania, and as such is quite complicated in terms of logistics. This year the programme is expanding to include an equity voucher that covers the top-up price associated with the original voucher for those people who cannot afford even the highly subsidized price.
My internship has so far focused on capturing the operations of the new voucher schemes (the Infant, Child and Equity Vouchers) for the operations manual, and in creating a communications unit for the program. Creating better awareness of the program and giving it a higher profile helps not in terms of getting funding but also assists operations because high level officials and leaders are more aware of the programs benefits and are therefore more likely to throw their support behind it.
I am looking forward to another trip to Morogoro this week to try and launch our infant voucher yet again, and to possible future trips to help set up our Equity voucher. MEDA and my bosses in particular I feel is really good at providing opportunities for growth and capacity building. Despite how frustrated I get with things every now and then I am very lucky to be here and to have this opportunity. It may take three months to get a printing job done here that would take a day in Canada, and we may not have power or water but in the end it all works itself out somehow.
This past weekend I travelled to the glorious island of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is the birthplace of Freddie Mercury from Queen and has a big tourism trade. Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, was a big slave trading port and spice market way back when and today it has this strange mix of Arabic and African architecture that results in twisty narrow streets perfect for getting totally and completely lost in. Especially at night when there is no moon.
We had great fun despite the rain and the choppy ferry ride there and back (good bye sunglasses!). Stonetown actually reminded me a lot of Venice with it's old buildings and twisty streets and the strange smell of wet yet burning garbage around every corner, which is funny because rumour has it that most of the big resorts on the island are owned by the mafia. This Italian influence has the added benefit of a spin off trade in quality Italian food, which is fine by me.
The hot season is officially here on the mainland and we are starting to cook. We have started quantifying the temperature in terms of what setting you put your fan on at night. Last night we moved up another notch to 4 out of 5. I have no idea what we are going to do when the heat peaks in another three weeks or so. One of the reasons I liked Zanzibar so much was that our hotel had A/C which is decidedly lacking in my room at home.
A lot of people keep asking what it is exactly that I do here so let me try to explain that now.
MEDA (the NGO I work for) is contracted by the Tanzanian government to run a programme that provides subsidies (through a voucher) for mosquito nets to the most at risk populations: pregnant women, infants and children under five. The programme runs in every community in Tanzania, and as such is quite complicated in terms of logistics. This year the programme is expanding to include an equity voucher that covers the top-up price associated with the original voucher for those people who cannot afford even the highly subsidized price.
My internship has so far focused on capturing the operations of the new voucher schemes (the Infant, Child and Equity Vouchers) for the operations manual, and in creating a communications unit for the program. Creating better awareness of the program and giving it a higher profile helps not in terms of getting funding but also assists operations because high level officials and leaders are more aware of the programs benefits and are therefore more likely to throw their support behind it.
I am looking forward to another trip to Morogoro this week to try and launch our infant voucher yet again, and to possible future trips to help set up our Equity voucher. MEDA and my bosses in particular I feel is really good at providing opportunities for growth and capacity building. Despite how frustrated I get with things every now and then I am very lucky to be here and to have this opportunity. It may take three months to get a printing job done here that would take a day in Canada, and we may not have power or water but in the end it all works itself out somehow.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Pictures!
Camel
That's right, Buffalo Chicken Wings, Fried and Tossed in a Monkey Gland Sauce. MMMM delicious
Beach!
That's all folks!
Friday, October 20, 2006
Kelly 1, Malaria None
Just a quick note to say that yes I am still alive. I have been busy getting all the fun parts of being in Africa out of the way like Malaria, and a stomach parasite (at the same time - woo!). Work continues to be awesome, despite the fact that my boss keeps sending me home to rest and recuperate every morning (typical morning goes like this: Greg (in thick Kiwi accent) Kelly, what the heck are you doing here? Me: Working, Greg: Trying to work maybe, go home and get well, Me: But.. Greg: GO - I'll get one of the drivers to take you Me; fine.) Other pluses, there is a new Minister of Energy, and so far he seems to be doing a better job. We have had power for most of the day and large parts of the evening for the past 2 days. Will this trend continue? I hope so, although I would gladly not have power between the hours of 8-4 if it meant having power all evening and night. Cooking by candle light on a kerosene burner is just not quite all it's cracked up to be. In fact, Candle light is no longer romantic to me, it just represents yet another coping mechanism for less than stellar living conditions. Oh, here's a good one; so get this, in Tanzania there is a holiday based on the sighting of the moon in Saudi Arabia!! Eid may or may not be this coming Monday and Tuesday, no one knows for sure though so you certainly can't plan a trip! Seriously, hasn't science evolved to the point that we know when the moon will be out? I mean didn't Da Vinci pretty much figure all this moon stuff out centuries ago?? This weekend we have plans of going to the beach for the day only as we cannot guarantee whether or not it will Eid and thus worth staying over. Mind you, I guess I cannot complain too much, after all on my weekends I get to go to deserted beach islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and all of you are stuck in snowy Canada/drizzly Britain/where ever you are. Suckers.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Games of Africa
Dalla Dalla Tetris:
The Goal: fit all the necessary people and things into the bus and still be able to close the doors.
Required components: One small mini bus (Capacity 15), 30 people plus an assortment of boxes, bags, buckets and other goods, including but not limited to: live chickens, car engines, and baked goods. Driver and ticket agent also requried.
Now arrange the components keeping the following in mind.
1) people are bendy
2) people do not necessarily have to be near their belongings
3) sardines make an excellent lap cover.
Pick up more people as the bus goes along the road, rearranging people and things to make room. The more people and things you have by the time you reach town the more points you earn!
Turkey Tapdance:
The Goal: Successfully navigate the perilous path from your front gate to the main road avoiding the Turkeys, burning garbage, puddles and waste water channels in your way.
Preparatory Steps:
Step 1: Move to Africa, rent house near nutrition centre (complete with animals),
Step 2: visit the beach
Step 3: Put sunscreen everywhere but your feet, stay in sun 12-14 hours
Step 4: Burn (bonus points if your feet blister!)
Game Steps:
Step 5: Gingerly put on socks and Crocs to protect feet from bugs and dirt
Step 6: Try to leave house
Step 7: Discover that Turkey's like Croc's. As in they like to eat them.
Step 8: Try to avoid being eaten alive by the 60 pound male turkey and his little band of turkey followers, while not falling in waste water channel, garbage burning hole, or puddles. Hopping, screaming, and shooing noises are all allowed
Step 9: If necessary enlist help of local children to throw rocks at Turkeys/you
Step 10: Repeat on homeward journey
Points are awarded based on the amount of time it takes to navigate the driveway, bonus points are given if driveway is successfully navigated without a turkey incident.
The game is lost if your foot is a: eaten, b: lands in a puddle c: you fall into either the garbage pit or the water channel. one point is taken away for each rock the children throw.
The Goal: fit all the necessary people and things into the bus and still be able to close the doors.
Required components: One small mini bus (Capacity 15), 30 people plus an assortment of boxes, bags, buckets and other goods, including but not limited to: live chickens, car engines, and baked goods. Driver and ticket agent also requried.
Now arrange the components keeping the following in mind.
1) people are bendy
2) people do not necessarily have to be near their belongings
3) sardines make an excellent lap cover.
Pick up more people as the bus goes along the road, rearranging people and things to make room. The more people and things you have by the time you reach town the more points you earn!
Turkey Tapdance:
The Goal: Successfully navigate the perilous path from your front gate to the main road avoiding the Turkeys, burning garbage, puddles and waste water channels in your way.
Preparatory Steps:
Step 1: Move to Africa, rent house near nutrition centre (complete with animals),
Step 2: visit the beach
Step 3: Put sunscreen everywhere but your feet, stay in sun 12-14 hours
Step 4: Burn (bonus points if your feet blister!)
Game Steps:
Step 5: Gingerly put on socks and Crocs to protect feet from bugs and dirt
Step 6: Try to leave house
Step 7: Discover that Turkey's like Croc's. As in they like to eat them.
Step 8: Try to avoid being eaten alive by the 60 pound male turkey and his little band of turkey followers, while not falling in waste water channel, garbage burning hole, or puddles. Hopping, screaming, and shooing noises are all allowed
Step 9: If necessary enlist help of local children to throw rocks at Turkeys/you
Step 10: Repeat on homeward journey
Points are awarded based on the amount of time it takes to navigate the driveway, bonus points are given if driveway is successfully navigated without a turkey incident.
The game is lost if your foot is a: eaten, b: lands in a puddle c: you fall into either the garbage pit or the water channel. one point is taken away for each rock the children throw.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Homeless no more!
Rejoice! We have found a house and after a few minor repairs it will be just lovely!
Everything about it is wonderful, our neighbours work for German Aid, our landlay is a priest, we can walk to work and... it has an extra bedroom! So you should all start booking your tickets now to come vist me. Now it does not have consistent power or water, and because it was sitting empty for so long before we came the ants and giant spiders took over in places, but that will all change soon. It has to - the ants bite. We have declared war and despite ample supplies of DOOM bug killer and many large brooms so far the ants are winning. The spiders however, seem to have clued in that they are no longer welcome. Which is good because I googled poisonous spiders of Africa and suddenly wished I hadn't.
Now because we lack certain ammenities such as electricity we decided to invest in a gas cooker so we could at least make dinner in the dark. Last night we decided it was time to start eating in, so we bought the cooker, bought groceries and went home. Turns out that in Tanzania you really get what you paid for - our bottom of the line gas cooker is just that. Our gas cooker adventure started when we tried to put the thing together. It seemed simple enough, step 1: put gas in cooker, step 2, attached support ring to bottom of cooker to keep gas in place, step 3 screw on burner, piercing gas canister, step 4 cook. We never made it to step 4. At step 3 gas started coming out of every orfice in the cooker at high pressure. We thought, oh maybe it's just excess that needs to leak off, it keeps going, and going, and going, and we get light headed and then we run outside with the gas cooker, which is now excruciatingly cold due to the kerosene leaking out all over everything. Anyways, we sat on our deck and watchew the gas leak out and kill ants (bonus!) for the next 20 minutes or so. We had sandwiches for dinner.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
House Hunting Vignettes
The Mansion: The 'short-cut' to avoid the rush hour traffic takes us twice as long as it would have if we had stuck to the paved road. It also means hitting our heads on the roof of the car every 30 seconds. It is a fortress, with 12 foot walls, and barbed wire at the tops. There are servants quarters in the back and a living room we could hold full balls in with ample room for 40 plus guests. The bedrooms are massive, the kitchen is brand new. It is also the cheapest place we have visited so far. This seems too good to be true. On the way back we take the route we would be walking. It is almost impassable in a Land Cruiser. The mansion will remain empty.
The Brothel: It is furnished fully, with a flat screen in the living room. There is internet and cable TV. Each of the five bedrooms has an ensuite bathroom. It is luxurious and close-by the road. It is the nicest place we have seen so far - we want to talk to the landlord. There are three security guards included in the price, as is the house girl and breakfast, but wait, there is something in the doors! There are keys to each bedroom that say Ikitari Lodge - is this a hotel? The landlord arrives:
You can have three of the five rooms for that price. I will continue to rent out the other two. But, you will be the only ones using the kitchen and living room.
- But, they are open to everyone, how would he ensure that?
He does not need to ensure it, his regular clientele don't stay more than one night, and leave very early in the mornings..... No wonder all the beds are so big.
The Brothel: It is furnished fully, with a flat screen in the living room. There is internet and cable TV. Each of the five bedrooms has an ensuite bathroom. It is luxurious and close-by the road. It is the nicest place we have seen so far - we want to talk to the landlord. There are three security guards included in the price, as is the house girl and breakfast, but wait, there is something in the doors! There are keys to each bedroom that say Ikitari Lodge - is this a hotel? The landlord arrives:
You can have three of the five rooms for that price. I will continue to rent out the other two. But, you will be the only ones using the kitchen and living room.
- But, they are open to everyone, how would he ensure that?
He does not need to ensure it, his regular clientele don't stay more than one night, and leave very early in the mornings..... No wonder all the beds are so big.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Homeless in Dar
So, I'm in Dar, and homeless. Thankfully, so are Rebecca and Flora my two soon to be roommates should we ever find a place. We arrived in Dar at 10:30pm last Tuesday. Our first week has been quite eventful. We started our house search bright and early Wednesday morning, and have been searching ever since. We are extremely lucky because right now the three of us are staying a friend of Rebecca's, who is in Canada on leave. Rebecca is the other MEDA intern and has visited Tanzania before so she knows some swahili and her way around, which has been invaluable in our hunt.
Perhaps the best way to explain how one find's a house in Dar is to describe one of our many adventures. First of all, it doesn't matter if you go to a registered agent or a guy on the street, inevitably you end up as we did last night, in the back of a tiny hatchback with one legal agent, several illegal ones and a spare tire because your agent was in a car accident on the way over and needs to give the tire to some garage which will be fixing the other automobile. This ammounts to 6 or 7 people in a 4 person car with no seatbelts. Anyways then you get taken to several houses that are waaaay out of your price range, or not what asked for at all. The problem is, the ones that they say are in your price range turn out to be twice that when you talk to the landlord. Oh, and they only want to rent for one year, no less. We're here for six months, and it's unfurnished. This despite the fact that you have explicitly said over and over again that you need a furnished place for 6 months for x a month. It's all part of the experience, and you can't help but laugh because there's nothing else you can do, but we really need a house and fast. I've started dreaming about house hunting, and that's just not a good sign.
Dar is beautiful and dirty at the same time. They burn their garbage here, and the waste water channels are open troughs on the sides of the road, so it can smell. Everything is dusty, and the traffic is ridiculous. It is also on a giant bay of the Indian ocean, with blue water, white sand beaches and lush tropical trees and flowers. There is an electricity and water crisis right now, so keeping cool or storing groceries is hard, thankfully eating out is cheap and at the office lunch is delivered!
Work is great, the people are wonderful, the office is lovely, and my project is really interesting. I have been reading and summarizing reports for the last two days to help me get aquainted with the work. I'm really looking forward to next week when, in theory, I will be doing some site visits to see how things actually work in the field.
Perhaps the best way to explain how one find's a house in Dar is to describe one of our many adventures. First of all, it doesn't matter if you go to a registered agent or a guy on the street, inevitably you end up as we did last night, in the back of a tiny hatchback with one legal agent, several illegal ones and a spare tire because your agent was in a car accident on the way over and needs to give the tire to some garage which will be fixing the other automobile. This ammounts to 6 or 7 people in a 4 person car with no seatbelts. Anyways then you get taken to several houses that are waaaay out of your price range, or not what asked for at all. The problem is, the ones that they say are in your price range turn out to be twice that when you talk to the landlord. Oh, and they only want to rent for one year, no less. We're here for six months, and it's unfurnished. This despite the fact that you have explicitly said over and over again that you need a furnished place for 6 months for x a month. It's all part of the experience, and you can't help but laugh because there's nothing else you can do, but we really need a house and fast. I've started dreaming about house hunting, and that's just not a good sign.
Dar is beautiful and dirty at the same time. They burn their garbage here, and the waste water channels are open troughs on the sides of the road, so it can smell. Everything is dusty, and the traffic is ridiculous. It is also on a giant bay of the Indian ocean, with blue water, white sand beaches and lush tropical trees and flowers. There is an electricity and water crisis right now, so keeping cool or storing groceries is hard, thankfully eating out is cheap and at the office lunch is delivered!
Work is great, the people are wonderful, the office is lovely, and my project is really interesting. I have been reading and summarizing reports for the last two days to help me get aquainted with the work. I'm really looking forward to next week when, in theory, I will be doing some site visits to see how things actually work in the field.
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