Marrakesh in pictures

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John and I in a traditional Berber home having tea

John’s and my trip to Morocco has been an amazing experience so far.  As usual, John had a meeting and unfortunately for him, missed out on two days of excursions around the city of Marrakesh; however, he and I spent our first day exploring, being picked up by a city guide whom we used for the rest of the trip, and also being able to take a trip to the Mid Atlas mountains and the valleys near the city.  We were privileged to be invited into a Berber house in the mountains (I’m sure that all the other people who were brought to the same house felt the same, and that the family benefitted from our “tips”.  We did see the devastation that occurred in the 1990’s when a huge flood killed thousands of persons who lived near the river, and learned that at least three members of this family were swept away. 

River with rocks from floods

Pots for sale everywhere

Beautiful Mid Atlas Valley

Camel Ride Possibilities were everywhere...We said "no"

We thought about Chrissy and Katrina and the ride to the tomb of the Aga Khan back in 1995.  Our guide Rashid said...oh those camels must have been anxious.  Hmmmmm.  Not interested.

Carpets for sale everywhere

I have never seen so many carpet possibilities.  Carpets are in all the taxis, covering wood piles, on all the floors, on the ground even.  Every inch of space can have carpets.  Every single kind of carpet.

Beautiful day for a drive in the mountains

Berber Traditional Bedroom

Flour Making "machine"

Another tea shot

Adorable children playing in the Berber House

Very Cute Bed and Breakfast and gift shop

Every gift you can buy

View of the Alladin B&B from a distance

Herb Garden for all sorts of cures

Hyatt and Trish outside the shop

Hyatt welcoming people to the shop

making the Argon oil for cosmetics and for cooking

In addition to that trip, perhaps another unique part of our Marrakesh trip was being taken to an olive oil factory, the likes of which I simply cannot describe.  OSHA beware.  Let’s hope that our litre of olive oil, which is stored in a dishwashing soap container, is taped strongly enough to withstand the airplane pressure coming home, or our suitcase will be a disaster. 

My favorite shot.  Happy olive oil workers

oops John and Rashid at the Berber house

John and Rashid at the olive oil factory

olive oil heaven in Marrakesh

Olives for oil

Olives for restaurants

But the rest of the Marrakesh trip was pure tourist; the souq’s with all their shops and bargaining and hustling and bustling.  Our guide certainly had his favorite shops, the first of which was a carpet souq and definitely Rashid had John’s number when it came to this.  We must have spent an hour sitting, drinking tea, and finally coming away with a small Berber carpet.  We also went to a “chemist” but did not buy the Argon oil that could cure everything, as the buying of the oil happened when we went to the mountains. 

In The Souq

Monkey in the square

Snake charmer gets client to put snake on neck

Central Square

Old synagogue from 15th century

Old Mosque Al Ben Youssef where moderate Islam is taught

fabulous central souq

John's carpet downfall

Main Minaret and mosque

El Meridien Hotel

Patricia in Gardens

Patricia by the grave of Yves St. Laurent

Royal theatre

Graves in Hebrew Cemetery Stones provide memories...especially of children

 So many more photos of Marrakesh, but here were the highlights. The central square has its charm, the historical sites their beauty.  But, what seems to me most memorable are the very friendly people and their desire to let everyone know that they are peaceful and want to show off a country they love very much.

Central Square

A Last Week in Moshi, packed with events

John arrived home from the US at around 3:00 am. He was in absolutely misery.  The plane had sprung a gas leak, and all passengers were evacuated emergently from the plane.  Everyone was calm he said, but exhausted.  They had to wait in the airport lounge and John said that everyone was trying to stay awake, but...not easy.

For better or worse, our Monday was highlighted with a big barbecue in our yard, in honor of our laboratory leader Michael, who is leaving Moshi at the end of the month.  Michael has led the KCMC/Duke lab at a time of some stress, and kept the team going.  A big thank you was awarded Michael from all the staff.

There is a tremendous amount of "prep" goes into a big cookout like this.  Here are Boni and Lucy, prepping immense amounts of veggies.  Behind Boni you can see a fire going with two big pots (of oil) for the bananas and potatoes.  The salad was fantastic with only a topping of salt and vinegar--tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic and onions.  Behind the fire, little Jonathon watches.  He wanted to help.  So....

Jonathon was given the important job of pouring water back and forth from one cup to the other.  He took his job very seriously.

Despite his advanced age, Charlie brought his girls by to see if they could help out with the food part.  They did not seem to get the full import of the chicken barbecue aspect.

A number of folks arrived in early, so we chatted as we waited for the beer (a crucial element of every barbecue)

The guest of honor Michael.  I think his send off was a huge success.

Our goat gave up his life for a good cause

 Kate has her first goat nyama choma.  So delicious and what a great shot of Kate.

Three Franks, and three accountants.  This was a celebration of a new financial account set up to avoid some of the confusion of lots of different grant monies going into one code.  We say "thanks" to the Franks!

My friend Alex took me to the TPC mosquito vivarium.  This fun topiary was a welcome to Bill Gates.  The Gates foundation funds much of the Malaria research going on in the world.  I learned one heck of a lot about mosquitoes and malaria while out at the Vivarium with Alex.  And, she is the perfect host (ess).

 New resistant mosquitoes are being bred outside in the perfect environment

Here they are in their special mosquito nets.  The question is which nets will kill these highly resistant mosquitoes, most of which come from Northern Uganda.

Now, these little guinea pigs help to test for malaria.  (Don't worry, they don't die)  Their little tummies get shaved and they sleep on top of the mosquito boxes (they are slightly drugged so they sleep (lala) well.  Then their bites are counted in the am.  Imagine, guinea pigs contributing to the battle against malaria.  What is just horrifying is that the mosquitoes have figured out how to squiggle through the tiny holes in the nets, and these resistant mosquitoes are not killed by the treated nets.

 This cow is going to sleep in the mosquito house.  Some cows don't mind it at all, but this one (a one year old, as most are) was very unhappy about the situation.  He wanted to have nothing to do with the houses and bucked and kicked even before he was brought to the house.

 Now he is near the house and furious.  He kicked and mooed, and actually contributed to science because no one had really planned for these rambunctious cows. Since they come from the market and they are to be trained for the houses, the angry ones are a problem.

Now exhausted the cow lies on the ground for a bit of a rest.  Don't be fooled, it did not last!

Then, finally, his "nappy" went on. Apparently, since cows are not really house trainable, they have to wear a "nappy" in order that the mosquitoes who bite the cows and die, have to be distinguished from the mosquitoes who die because they get the cow manure on them (the manure is deadly).  It is necessary to see what kills the mosquitoes, the nets or the manure or something else.  This cow did not want to wear the nappy.  I think the nappy should have had some nice fancy suspenders to make the cow a bit prouder to be part of science. For sure the plastic pants were not fashionable.

 The day before we left, I dashed down to the TAWREF meeting, and watched Dafrosa give a five year overview of the activities of TAWREF.  I am proud to have been a part of this organization for such a long period of time.

Here, one of the Vine Trust recipients gives a testimonial about receiving a home from Vine Trust, and being the recipient of the entrepreneur trainings offered by TAWREF.

Now, without adieu, we are here in Amsterdam after a sleepless night on the plane. The room is so small, that the toilet and shower are all in the same room as the bed.  Barely enough room for the suitcases, only one chair, no closet, and of course the faithful dark lighting.  If only Amsterdam was clear as it sometimes is at this time of year you could walk around outside, but no, it is the true Amsterdam weather.  Windy, rainy, and cold.  Sigh.

At least, I have my Lonely Planet to keep me warm and I will read about Morocco and warmer weather!

Next to last week in Moshi for 2015

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Addicting Rangoon Creeper covers front of house

Wow, last two weeks before we leave Moshi

This week was heralded by John’s crazy trip to Seattle.  He had three days on the ground with the CFAR meeting, and 4 in the air.  Lovely really.  He is not home as I write, because his plane from Seattle to Amsterdam was fine, but the plane leaving Amsterdam was grounded due to a gas leak and it could not be fixed.  So, he will be at least four hours late.  It is of course horrible to contemplate, and even with that, he may be left in Dar Es Salaam for convenience sake. (and to keep the rotation on time back in Amsterdam.)So who knows when he will return.  Oh my goodness.

Pole John.  And on top of that, we sadly leave Moshi on Saturday, so he will only be back for 6 days before we board a plane again.  And the week will be busy sana!

But, I can say that the week was quite interesting.  I have fallen in love with my Rangoon Creeper, which is trying to creep all around the house now, and makes things very beautiful.   My friend Jackie has been helping me identify things, so it was fun to go to her amazing house for book club this week.

beautiful bountiful orchid

Jackie's porch

View of Mawenzi peak from Jackie's porch

What can you say when a Masaai lady comes up to your porch and “Hodi’s” you (hello anyone home?) ?  Well, seems to me you say, “Karibu ndani” (welcome inside) and she walks up to the porch, sits down and proceeds to engage me in a (pathetic on my side) talk in Kiswahili about my family, my children and grandchildren.  As always there are similarities, she has 5 children as well as me, but she has 19 grandchildren!  (I did not ask how old her children were when they had their children!).  She also, just in case I was interested, had some Masaai jewelry that she had made, and reminded me that she would be exhibiting at the ISM Christmas show.  I had already remembered her from last year and we again had a lovely exchange.   And though her purpose might have been to sell me some jewelry, she was happy as well to sit and chat. She was quite pleased in my rooster, Charlie, and even when I told her that he was a fairly old rooster, she liked him just the same.  I tried to understand her name, but it was very Masaai, and I could not make heads or tails of it.

Masaai Momma on porch

Masaai Momma loving my porch

In addition to people, creatures love my porch.

PJ Lily

This moth is bigger than a hummingbird!  beautiful

Adorable "njuici

I think his name will be Ramses (of course I am not the owner!_)

My week continued with a meeting with a young man from ISM who is interested in attending Duke.  He is an amazing young man.  His father had 3 wives, and he has a lot of brothers and sisters as a consequence.  He had a very hard life, the father taking him as a small child to live with his father in another town, and then his father dying, and he being moved back to his mother’s, who was not able to care for him and was quite sick, being found by a local wonderful organization that has made a huge impact on his life. His mother has died as well, and he manages to see his brothers and sisters, but at the same time focuses somehow very hard on academics. If he makes it to Duke, I think he would be a super catch. But, sometimes you are at a loss as to know what to say to someone who has managed to show incredible resiliency in the face of terrible obstacles, and the best thing to do is to kick into a little “mother” motif, and a lot of, "What do you see yourself getting out of college". "What are your interests".  "Do you know what a Liberal Arts college means?"  He really wants to come to Duke, and I really think he could make it.  Gracious, talking to this young man was inspiring. (no picture to protect confidentiality)

It was perfect on the heels of this meeting, that we had a. the first rain in weeks, and b. our Tanzanian Regional Social Work Meeting.  Again, I took away from this meeting, the inspiration of our young people and the dedication they have to making a difference.  It is truly a delight to be a “woman of a certain age” and find young people so much smarter than I ever was, and so dedicated to their work.  Thank you TASWO for inspiring me again.

Dada Agnes Urassa, Outgoing chair of TASWO Kilimanjaro

Sara Urasa, MD Director of Hospital Services KCMC speaks

 The entire crowd agreed that Sara Urasa's talk on the need for Social Workers in Hospital Settings, and the importance of Teamwork was the highlight of the day.  The consensus from the attendees, More of these inspiring talks, please.

TASWO Kilimanjaro group

TASWO Executive Committww

Young people are our future

Lest I forget, my brother Jim is now two years older than I am.  He had his birthday on the 7^th!!!

Birthday boy in middle!  Jim Watson

And once again the week ended with a delightful day at St. Margaret’s Church for “Family Sunday” and a brilliant playlet organized by Clive and Bodil, and our wonderful pastor Tony playing the lead Pharisee.  I got a front row seat because I was playing recorder and spent most of my time trying not to laugh until I cried.  For this last Sunday at St. Margaret’s this trip, it was pure pleasure.

Finally, we had a lovely “hash” in Old Moshi.  This area is spectacular with views and many old old sites that make up the Old Moshitown.  You would never know that it was a town as it is spread out, and just dabs of things here and there.  The old church where our friend Greg’s grandmother is buried is just down the way, and the hash was located where the original Keys Hotel is located.  I couldn’t take pictures because it started pouring rain, and my little phone camera would have died immediately, but it was spectacular.! Here are some Throwback pictures from the church with some of the German Bells...to 2009!

Nikoli at the bells

Sylvia Wilson's grave (Greg's grandmother)

Greg Emmanuel at the church

The little German Church

One more week…..sigh

Kibo Peak Kilimanjaro from Jean's house on the compound

Kibo Peak Kili again from Jean's house across the street from me.!