Teach and Travel: The Long Road to Pommern....Literally

Saturday, July 14 - Monday, July 16, 2012

Rachel and I arrived at the airport in Dar es Salaam, the pseudo-captial of Tanzania, after 19+ total hours in the air, not to mention the hours spent waiting on layovers in the airport. (The actual legislative capital is the city of Dodoma, but all the embassies and everything important politically in Tanzania happens in Dar.) We were tired and Rachel was trying to get her bearings after being airsick while traveling. I stood at the baggage carousel to collect our luggage — one personal bag for each of us and one bag of medical supplies for each of us, a total of 4 bags. I had pulled two of our bags off the conveyor belt and was waiting on the other two when one of the airline workers announced, “That’s it. No more luggage.” What?? Not what I'd been hoping for...

Rachel had her personal bag, and we had one of our medical supply bags, but my personal bag and the other medical supply bag weren’t there. It took about an hour to wait in line and then file the paperwork on the missing luggage. I knew we were going to be leaving Dar in less than 24 hours for the long trip inland, and I could only hope that the bags had made it onto the plane in London just fine but with our short layover in Nairobi, a huge plane from London to Nairobi, and Africa being Africa, they just hadn’t made that connection with us and were still sitting in Nairobi. The next flight from Nairobi was to come in later in the afternoon, and I hoped they’d be on that plane.

The airport in Dar es Salaam (photo by Rachel)

With the paperwork filed and nothing more I could do other than hope and pray, Rachel and I exited the arrival terminal and met Mohammed, our driver and assistant team leader, for our 1-hour drive through the city of Dar to our hotel. Traffic was bad going our direction (but pretty empty the other direction, of course). Just like last time, I had a hard time figuring out the purpose of traffic lights, as they appeared to be merely suggestions that were largely ignored by the driving public. The sense of awe that I had last time was replaced with a sense of familiarity, which has both some good and some bad – good in that I feel at home and at ease, bad in that I loved the feeling I had last time of totally “not being in Kansas anymore,” and I wished it could be fresh and new again. Rachel at least got to feel that sense of amazement that I missed.

We stopped at the bank on our way to the hotel, like last time, for Mohammed to cosign some papers with Edward. It was fantastic to see and be greeted by Edward, our team leader, again! When we got to the hotel, we checked in and freshened up a little. I took a shower, while Rachel “bathed” in front of the air conditioner. Then we headed out to get some lunch and do some exploring. We spent the afternoon in and around the hotel, meeting some members of the outgoing volunteer team and some of the members of what would be our team. We bought water at the supermarket in an effort to break some of those “huge” 10,000 Tanzanian Shilling bills (worth about 6 USD) that are so hard to get change for but are what the ATM feeds us and what we get as the primary bills when exchanging money too. That effort was met by lots of glares and complaints from the workers, as no stores ever seem to have any change available in Tanzania, even in the city.

The beautiful Slipway Hotel in Dar es Salaam, where we stayed

Rachel standing in the Indian Ocean (actually, Msasani Bay) right by the hotel

Inside the Slipway Hotel (photo by Rachel)

The view over the bay from our hotel at sunset

We met our full 16-member team for dinner that evening, where we enjoyed some good food and got to know the people we’d be spending the next three weeks with. Most of us headed to bed pretty early as the jet lag was causing a magnetic-like force to pull our eyelids closed. Just before bed though, Rachel and I got exciting word from Mohammed that he had been able to retrieve our luggage at the airport (it had indeed just missed the connection in Nairobi) and that we would be reunited with it in the morning. Another of our team members had also been separated from her luggage, and Mohammed had retrieved hers as well. GREAT NEWS all around!

* * *

The next morning, we awoke before dawn to eat breakfast and get an early start on the road for the long, 10+ hour drive from Dar to Iringa. Traffic was reasonably light in Dar, but there were definitely lots of people out and about. We stopped at the same nice hotel buffet place for lunch in Morogoro that we’d eaten at twice last time, and the food was very good.

Driving out of Dar es Salaam (photos by Rachel)

Hotel with buffet place in Morogoro

Buffet line -- yum!

During our drive, many of the things I saw were very familiar. We saw several of the all-too-common truck accidents, one of which was a gas tanker spill. As we continued inland, vehicles became fewer and fewer, more people sat alongside the road and watched the traffic pass or carried jugs on their head or loads on their bicycles. There were the banana trees and the palm trees and the thorn trees. Traditionally dressed Maasai people dotted the roadside. A large group of children played in a river. The buildings became less modern and more rustic. Lots and lots of speed bumps slowed our travel. During the second half of the drive, we climbed steadily and noticeably uphill.

There were some differences from last time, too. There were several brand new gleaming fancy-shmancy gas stations nearer to Dar but still outside the city. They are also apparently planning a project to widen the road between Dar and Morogoro and beyond, so many signs and buildings right by the road are marked with large red X’s to designate that they will need to be torn down or moved. Just how soon that project would begin, I don’t know (though I could guess it won’t actually be any time soon). While wider roads would definitely be good for the country’s infrastructure, it’s going to affect a lot of homes and businesses that lie in the path of the planned reconstruction.

Truck accident

Banana trees -- the ones with the big bright green leaves

Maasai people walking along the road

Speed bumps (photo by Rachel)

A home marked with the red X

The road takes us through Mikumi National Park. Apparently there are new laws about not being allowed to slow down or stop along the road in the park to gawk at the animals. These are supposedly heavily monitored and strictly enforced, though we saw no one doing so, and Mohammed still slowed down for us at times.

We saw more variety of animals in Mikumi this time compared to last time – impala, baboons, giraffes, zebra, elephants, wildebeest, and buffalo. The baboons were, as usual, right along the road. The most exciting was 3 elephants that crossed the road right in front of our vehicle. It was nice not to get charged by them! (See this entry from Ruaha National Park two years ago if you are confused.)

Entering Mikumi National Park; the white markings across the road between the two signs also signify speed bumps (photo by Rachel)

Elephants crossing the road ahead of us!

A young baboon finds a small patch of shade created by the shadow of a road sign -- so cute!

The road construction that had existed two years ago along the Great Ruaha River had been completed, so that made things go a little faster compared to last time. We made a stop at Al Jazeera rest stop/gas station/convenience store, where we had our first experience of this trip with squatty potties. More than you wanted to know, I’m sure.

Al Jazeera rest stop (photo by teammate Maria)

Yes, I took a picture of the squatty potty...

I dozed off and on during the long drive. I’m not sure what it is about driving (well, riding) in Africa that puts me to sleep when I rarely can manage to sleep in a car at home. We made it to Iringa with no problems though, arriving just about exatly 10 hours after we left Dar, and closed out our evening with supper and some rousing card games at the Lutheran guesthouse where we were staying.

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, we had a meeting with the general secretary of the Iringa diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). The ELCT is Global Volunteers’ official host in the country, and the secondary school and the clinic in Pommern are both affiliated with the ELCT. We also were able to make safari travel arrangements for the next weekend before it was time to head to Pommern.

Breakfast at the Lutheran guesthouse in Iringa

Our group gathered to listen to the general secretary of the ELCT

The general secretary

The road from Iringa to Pommern was as bumpy as always, but our driver was good at slowing down for the worst bumps. Unlike the previous day’s drive, which was on a two-lane paved road, this one is just a narrow dirt road. We made pretty good time though, completing the 35-mile drive in about an hour and a half. Yes, you read that right: 35 miles in 90 minutes was “making good time.” If you beg to differ, you should try riding those roads…

We had a good time chatting in the back of the jeep during the drive, and it was fun to see the more rural parts of Tanzania again -- kids at school and walking to and from school, many more people on their bikes and carrying loads on their heads, cattle on the road, and lots more cries of “mzungu, mzungu!” (“white person, white person!”). It was really exciting when we arrived in Pommern and the oh-so-familiar Mission House finally came into view. A late lunch of spaghetti with sauce and pizza-Tanzania-style, prepared by the wonderful Mama Tony, was waiting for us. I was home!