It seems as if we never left Moshi in many ways. Our house is the same, power outages are the same, water shortages are the same, and many of the people are the same. It has been great to step back into the world where everyone greets you with warmth and happiness, and no one tells you their problems until after the third “How is, how are…..” At that point, a laundry list of problems are told and for each the best solution is to say, “pole” (sorry). The mangos are falling.
(mango tree)Because we have at least 9 mango trees in the yard, we have “watoto wenge” (many children) racing after school to our house to pick up the mangos.
(faux Banana Tree)The birds are singing all morning. John says that we don’t need an alarm clock and he is right. The birds begin at 6:15 on the dot and continue until they settle down about around 8.
The time has gone quickly this past two weeks. John has already traveled to Uganda and back, thank heavens making each connection with no canceled flights. I have participated in staff meetings, been to KIWAKKUKI, and visited with my sweet Cipe whose beautiful daughter has turned 3 months old and is darling. The changes are some subtle and some quite large. No longer is Moshi without the crime that seems to plague other cities. It is now “hold on to your handbag when you are walking on the roads”. The traffic is much worse with the proliferation of piki-piki’s (motorcycles) frightening. We have been told that there is a whole ward of KCMC that has been nicknamed after one of the popular brands of motorbikes because there are so many accidents. Indeed, I have experienced the weaving of piki-piki drivers with more than one person on the back, no helmets, passing on the left and right and no way to see them in time to slow or move. As we witnessed over the years, more and more cars are on the roads, yet still there remain not even one stoplight in town.
Kilimanjaro shines each morning and each night. There has been no substantial rain in Moshi since June, so it is dusty and nice and warm, and no cloud cover on the mountain during the usual times. When you look at the mountain, you see that the glaciers are indeed melting quickly. Tanzania is the only side to have snow as Kenya lost the glaciers several years ago. It is with sadness that we have watched the change. This being the hottest time of year and the driest, no new snow covers the glaciers. They are painfully visible. But, even at that, it is a glorious mountain with the smaller sister peak Mwenzi jutting up a little like a Rasta.
(Anjela loves to put her hands on her hips)Our housekeeper Rose’s daughter Anjela was only 3 when I first met her. She is now nearly 9. It is again hard to imagine. She is tall and quite proud of her looks!
Our gardener Pauli has a girlfriend Lucy who is sweet and seems to be a very good influence, and his brother Tomasifu is living with them and will become my Kiswahili teacher this week. Change in the air. Project people begin arriving this week; thus, we are getting ready. Power adapters, lamps, flashlights, boiling water and John in particular mapping out agenda for the many meetings that will be happening.
There are so many people that are new in town and many have babies and young children. It is really fun to see. This afternoon is the first hash at Erlich and Kirsten’s house. It was quite a good hash. For anyone who has done a hash at their house, you remember getting to the gorge and trying to find your way along it. I am quite sure that 2 of us, who were actually walking quite fast, took many hashes at the same time, but it was fun and we ended our day with Kilimanjaro beers, and lots of company. This is what makes you feel refreshed!
(an amazing gorge, deep with fast flowing water and lots of rocks!)
I have not lost my love of strange signs related to bars and "hotels". Here is yet one more.
