Here We Come & They Know It

Like I said earlier, its hot. I had to change shirts after leaving the airport in Dar Es Salaam.

First let me introduce to you my fellow companions, Lonny, Julia, Carla and Katie. I'll have to give a quick bio later.

Lindsey and Jessica arranged for a Taxi to take us from the Airport to the Bus Terminal. All seven of us hopped into an old minivan with the driver sitting at the wheel on the right side. In Tanzania, you drive on the left. No seat belts, no traffic lights and certainly no stopping for pedestrians. The short ride to the bus terminal took us through the industrial part of Dar. Just dirty.

At the bus terminal we were told not to get out of the taxi until Jessica had purchased bus tickets for us. Just sitting in the taxi brought dozens of local men to the windows asking to porter our bags or sell us water, snacks, anything. As soon as Jessica came back we were able to park the taxi close enough to the bus to avoid any further hustling. Still, hands grabbed at bags and at the opportunity to make an extra buck. We managed to throw our own bags under the bus and then boarded.

Buses, like the one we were on and Daladalas, small buses, wait until they sell every seat until they leave. In the case of Daladalas, every last breathable space. So we sat, waiting and sweating, before leaving for Morogoro.

The 3-hour bus ride found most of us passed out from the long journey.

In Morogoro, we checked into a small guest house. These first few days were spent at Lindsey and Jessica's to learn more about our programs and about life in Tanzania. They showed us around town and a small place known as Coffee Corner. On a busy corner in town, a young man sets up a few benches and make shift table and two charcoal stoves to boil water. He offers ginger tea and coffee. In the evenings we mingled with locals attempted to understand their arguments about the local soccer teams, Yanga and Simba.

At the end of the week we moved in with our host families. The houses are located in Kilakala, an area of Morogoro. Only the main roads are paved and the rest are filled with holes and washed out from the rainy season. Lonny and I live at the bottom of the hill with Baba John, Mama Ashiraf, Robert (14) and Ashiraf (7). The house has a cement floor and a tin roof, no ceiling. There is living room with T.V., our bedroom, Mama and Baba's bedroom, Robert and Ashiraf's room which doubles as a kitchen, a room with squat toilet and then the bucket shower room. The roof itself has three family under it. And without a ceiling you can technically climb over the walls a peek at the neighbour's dinner table.

Julia, Carla and Katie live a few minutes up the hill. They share one room and also one bed. No one opted for the floor in fear of cockroaches. The live with three Mamas. Their squatter is outside as is the shower stall. Outside their house is a small courtyard with a pool table. It is always busy at their place.

We had the weekend to settle into our new homes before our programs began on Monday.