Harar and Jijiga

Finally, I am ready to start writing here!

For the past two weeks I was in the Somali region of Ethiopia, on the border with Somalia. It was a crazy and fun experience. Pru (my roommate/co-worker/friend) and I were charged with the task of helping a bunch of rowdy Somali men create a reports-based monitoring system for the Pastoralists Livelihoods Initiative. We also went to a city called Harar for the weekend, so here are a few photos from the two weeks.

Visit to Harar:

Shalom Bakery in Harar! (I think they just chose it as the name)

The hyena man is one of the most famous parts of Harar. Apparently for several generations this family has "tamed" these wild hyenas. The guy getting jumped on was our guide for the day.

A "traditional" Harari house

It's a tomb!

We were welcomed into a pre-wedding ceremony. These were the old ladies watching the dancing.

Rastafari's House (apparently)

Some guys chewing chat, the very popular Somali/Ethiopian leaf that gets you high.

Coffee bean husks. They make tea from it.

Visit to Sheder refugee camp:

These are doors they are putting on houses to make them more secure and protect families from gender-based-violence and theft

I love this! An IRC donkey!

Typical house in the camp

SO big!

Here's me with a camel. He is carrying somebody's house on his back. Yes, I did eat camel, but not this one. :)

Feel free to leave comments and questions!

And so begins the record of my summer

So, my wonderful roommate Jessica started a blog (lairja.wordpress.com) for the summer and when I read her blog I end up becoming wildly inspired to try to write like her in some witty, clever and French-infused way. I am also currently listening to the audiotape of The Life of Pi in my car, and when I leave my car, I often find myself inexplicably narrating my life in a slightly Indian accented man's voice. And when I am at work, I get myself in the professional, gracious mode of writing and feel inspired to analyze the world... So, while this is all may be in my head and all of my writing sounds the same, the consequence is my inspiration to write a blog narrating my life this summer.

Let's start with the basics. I'm living in Lantana, which is pretty much the dormiest of dorms. Its two rooms (which is good for Jessica so she doesn't have to live in my messiness), but we eat in the dining hall and I have to walk down the hall to get to the bathroom. Which was pretty terrible when I got the flu and began vomiting uncontrollably. But more on that later.

I am working at the Flora Family Foundation, which I like to call "the baby of the Hewlett Foundation" but is actually its own thing. Its the family foundation for the Hewletts and they give away a lot of money to a lot of cool organizations each year. Right now their focusing on grants to Tanzania (for the next 6 years) hence my getting this job in the first place. The other intern is a rising high school senior at this really amazing, prestigious school in South Africa (the African Leadership Academy...look it up). I was really nervous at first -- she was young, I knew I would have to take care of her, etc. but its been awesome. She is super fun and grateful for all my help.

What else to discuss? I don't really like writing retrospectively. I got really really ill with some throw-up causing bug 2 weeks ago, and I had to miss my 3rd day of work. I went to Vaden Health Center and got an IV. It was intense.

Over the last 2 weekends we have done really fun things including a trip to the zoo to see the new baby gorilla. It rocked.

So, that is all for now. I will try to write and when inspiration hits. Hopefully that will be often-ish. We'll see.

PS Since this blog is "The Adventures of Rachel and Elijah" I will mention that the rabbit is quite well. He has a ridiculous harness and leash and I make him wear it sometimes. Also he has decided that Jess's room is way better than mine which is problematic for the state of her wooden futon (his new chew toy) and her allergies. :/

Everything seems so normal to me

Nothing much has changed in the last few days, but I guess stuff is still kinda crazy.

We are finishing up classes, even though they never really started. Today I had a test scheduled at 4:00 so I went to the room. At four, I called the teacher (which is already really weird) and he said, of course, that he forgot, could we please reschedule. Oy.

we are planning to cook a very ghetto, but legit Thanksgiving dinner at our program coordinator's house on Saturday. I am making chickens, since you can't really find turkeys in this country. It should be funny.

Miss you all.

Also, CONGRATS to Mike on landing an amazing new job.

Amani,

Rachel

I bought a cat and other news

Hello all,

Well, I'm getting to the 6 week mark which is absolutely crazy. Things have gone so fast but they also have become strangely normal.

Last week Stephen visited and it was tons of fun. We went to Zanzibar, the movies, the beach and shopping, and it opened my eyes a little to remind me how rugged my life here is. Its also so nice that someone will understand a little bit when i get home. We took the craziest 3-wheeler ride ever. Three wheelers are the mini-taxis here. They are like motorcycles with seats in the back, or something. I will take a picture. Anyway, we took one home from the airport after flying to Zanzibar, and it literally swerved through all of the traffic and then went up on the bumpy sidewalk and sped through massive crowds of people, barely missing them as it honked its way through. Oh, Dar.

This week we have spent a lot of the time getting classes organized. Essentially, we need to have a midterm, paper, presentation and final for each class all in the next 2 weeks. But, we've only had a few real lectures in each class, there are only foreign students in the classes and the teachers are not very excited about it all. Its especially weird calling and texting teachers. I have yet to work out 3 of my classes.

Natalia and Megan both got Malaria this week. Its not as big of a deal as it sounds. But they still feel sick :( So, Julie, Tony and i went to go get tested to be sure. (Tony has malaria but no symptoms) and they (the dispensary) had a bunch of new kittens whose mom had abandoned them. So, today, I went to the tailor and asked her if she wanted a cat, and she was like, "sure, bring it here," like it was no big deal. So I went back to the clinic and got a kitten and brought it to her and her niece/daughter. The cat cost me $1.80.

Alrighty, off to bed.

With Love,

RQ

2 Pieces of Not-so-great News

1. I found out from my mother, that my puppy, Layla has recently died. This is the message from my mom: "at 5:00 pm yesterday we put Lovely Miss Layla to rest. She was down to 7.5 pounds and more than weak. She was 15 1/2 years old. She was a brave fighter who lived life her way. She was loved and will be dearly missed everyday." I am quite sad but it is particularly difficult for my mom, who put so much time and energy into keeping this dog healthy. Rest in Peace, Layla.


2. Today the University of Dar es Salaam was closed indefinitely, following 3 days of protests and student strikes. The students were striking about loans and financial aid, and the minister of education refused to meet with the student leaders. According to UDSM policy, if a strike lasts for 3 days, the school is closed. The army drove all around campus today announcing that everyone except foreign students had 3 hours to evacuate. Supposedly they will continue holding classes for us (I am the only foreign student in a few of my classes!). I am sad especially to see my roommate leave, since we have spent so much time making Tanzanian friends, and now they are leaving! :(

On a happier note, my friend Stephen from Stanford is visiting and I am giving him a crash course in Dar es Salaam life...tomorrow we are going to Zanzibar! Wooo. It was an exciting time for him to be on campus, eh?

Ok, I will write more soon.

Go hug your dogs.

Love,
Tumaini...haha Rachel

Guest Blog Entry

Hello to Rachel’s blog readers. This entry comes from Rachel’s Mom and Dad (Janet and Brian).

We had an amazing trip to Tanzania and, with all the traveling, now really understand that Rachel is truly on the other size of the earth!

With all of the amazing things we saw and experienced, the best part was our visit and time spent with Rachel, touring Dar and the University, meeting the Brown gang and providing Rachel with a few hot showers and some fancier meals. We were able to view, first hand, her good work at the orphanage. But, best of all, we saw how well she speaks Swahili! Though she’d argue that she isn’t fluent, there wasn’t one situation where she wasn’t able to fully communicate with the locals. And they really get a charge out of seeing a white girl from America speaking their language.

We had a relaxing couple of days in Zanibar then it was off on the safari!

We spent about 10 days with our driver/guide Shaaban (just the two of us and Shaaban) touring around northern Tanzania. We experienced the whole spectrum of accommodations, from a 5 star hotel down to a two person tent. We spent time in the Tarangire National Park, the Ngorongoro Recreation Area and the Serengeti.

We saw all of the Big Five (the lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the leopard and the rhinoceros), plus giraffes, zebras (LOTS of zebras), wildebeest (LOTS of them too), impalas, cheetahs, hippos, ostriches, baboons, hyenas, jackals, and more. We were quite happy to see paved roads when we got home.

We met people from all over the world (not too many Americans) and found everyone very friendly and accommodating.

This was truly an experience of a lifetime. It took us 41 hours to get back (from leaving our final accommodation to our front door in California), with a small plane ride (landing and taking off from a dirt air strip and three stops), a few layovers and two international flights (one for 10 hours and the other for 11 hours). But it was all worth it!!

We look forward to having Rachel home in January.

We took over 1,100 photos and have posted three short slideshows (if you’re interested):

http://web.me.com/bquint/TanzaniaAdventure/TanzaniaMovies.html

Also, just 6 photos are posted below. Thanks for reading.

J & B

Update!

Alright, I have had a lot of requests for a blog update so I will do my best to write a long one.

So, I think Mom and Dad will write a little on this blog as well, but I can just say they had a fantastic time. They saw every animal anyone would ever want to see on safari...I don't think they realize how lucky they are to have seen so many cats -- eating, sleeping, mating, etc. So, they left on Sunday and I went back to "school." Classes are happening, but they are just so different than classes at home. Once in a while a professor won't show up, but most of the time they are lectures that are in English, but taught by teachers who don't really know English that well. The resources available here are not great, so a lot of the time teachers are lecturing about really outdated material. I have made a few friends with Tanzanians in various classes, but its harder than you might have expected, especially because the students are not really here to socialize, much more to get an education.

Tony and Megan had their birthdays last weekend, so we did a lot of celebrating, including going out to a club in the city which was really fun. What else to report? I've been doing some tourist shopping which is really quite fun and going out for fancy coffee more frequently. I really am excited to get back to the states for real, good food, and coffee shops that have soy milk. Mmmm. We are planning on making a version of Thanksgiving dinner here, using the kitchens of various women we are friends with and a lot of canned versions of food we like. I am in charge of the chicken (there are no turkeys in this country).

This weekend I went out with a Tanzanian friend to a concert which was really fun. Megan and I were the only non-Tanzanians there and a big hit.

Last night Miriam and I went to visit an American family that she knows that is living in Dar for the next few years. (They are teachers at the International School) and it was really interesting to see that ex-pat world out here. It is a whole other world, much nicer than the rest of Dar, but you can't really blame them for wanting running water, electricity, internet, etc.

So, I'm half way around the world and the only thing anyone can talk about is the US election. I would say 99% of people here want Obama, and everyone is interested in talking about it. Not like this will make a difference, but: PLEASE GO VOTE!

Alright, off to lunch soon.

With Love,

RQ