Tanzania Reflection #3

Every drop of water That has crossed my lips for drinking or even brushing my teeth has come from a bottle. We were warned early and have been reminded often not to drink water from the tap or even eat any food that might have been rinsed with tap water. Our hotel bathrooms have provided us with either fresh water unfit to drink or brakish water. Water use in Tanzania, specifically Zanzibar, provides an almost classic study of any developing nation in terms of access and quality, but differs due to distinct geologic and geographic features. 

So many of the water issues we hear about in the US and at Furman (Guatemala Water Walk) are problems here. Many women spend their days walking to get water and then carrying it back home. This responsiblity keeps many young girls out of school and puts them at risk for assault. Through some online research, I found that in 2003, Tanzania came under pressure from the World Bank to privatize their water or be refused aid money. It continues with "in 2003 a British corporation called Biwater came into the country and took over their water system. However, Tanzania's water problems only continued to get worse with Biwater in charge. Women were still being attacked when gathering water, because they still needed to walk long distances to access a pump. Additionally, people were still dying from water borne illnesses, and cities were still without any access to sanitary water. As a result, in 2005 the Tanzanian government took Biwater to court in London for breach of contract. They won the case and Biwater had to pay $7 million in damages to Tanzania."

International groups and companies are involved in a lot of industries besides water here, which is unfortunate because little of the money they make seems to tricle down to the locals. Recently, a Noriegen company and BP have found oil and gas off the coast and have been given the go-ahead to drill. 

Another conflict that arises is between water strained residents and water thirsty tourists who like nice pools, clean laundry, and plenty of pristine drinking water. Nothing drastic is ever done, but it always remains in the back of the mind. Though they may have little water to spare, much of the economy relies on tourism. Prof. Ian told us the water situation is still a work in progress, but the government and people are working toward more access and better quality for all.

Prof. Ian gave us an explanation of the reasons why Zanzibar is so unique in terms of the geography of its freshwater. It is an island on raised coral, which absorbs freshwater when it rains (like a sponge). This provides the island with a very large aquifer from which to draw water. However, as this water flows toward the coast, it is forced down below coastal salt water. As this underground stream moves toward the mainland below the channel, there are spots where fresh water bursts up through the ground. Local fishers have long known of these freshwater upsurges and utilized them on their trips!

Tanzania Reflection #2

Amazing Race: Tanzania May X Style. A new city, 11 students, three teams, and no map. It was a competition to get as many objectives checked off in time for 1/2 price drinks. It was both exilerating and exhausting for all who participated- but no student was late for happy hour!

My team, Team Winners, was comprised of Heather, Virginia, Grant, and myself. I admit it started out pretty rough. We were in a new part of town, stuffed and sleepy after an big lunch.The African sun was bearing down heavily on us. We scanned our list and saw that we had to find and collect leaves from three types of trees, so we headed for what looked like a park. Unfortunately for us, the park was across a very busy street. Our resident Tanzanian, Prof Ian, warned us the only thing we should really be worried about here are the cars. Not the lions, mosquitos, or snakes, but the average Tanzanian driver. The only real rule of the road here is to try to stay toward the left side of the road with try being more of weak suggestion.

So my group patiently waited for a  clear break in the traffic, sprinted through a narrow gap in a long line of traffic, dodged cars that seemed to accelerate when they saw us, and dove to get across the final ten feet. As I dove, I heard a shriek, Heather did not make it. 

After another patient wait, she managed to kuster the courage to get past the stampede and join us by the entrance of the park. Once in the park, we sought out a group of young students-hoping they would have the time available to help us and the patience to try to talk with some American students. It wasn't easy, but after a while we began understanding each other and they were able to tell us where a mkungu tree was. As you could probably guess, it was back across the street we had just crossed!

I'll spare the you the details of that trip and say we were able to find the tree and get the leaf we needed. That made for one of the 19 items on the list. It was a small victory, but one which Team Winners relished! We began celebrating and shouting mkungu, while pulling out our list for what to find next. this would be a mwarobaini tree. I understand that people nearby must have been concerned many gave us looks and two repeated mkungu and mwarobaini back at us. We figured they were making fun of us and tried to ignore them, but their perservance was intriguing so we stopped to see if they might be of some help after all. As it turns out, they were two taxi drivers. The were able to give us leads on the other 18 items due to their knowledge of the city streets and years of speaking English with tourists. The first of which being a mwarobaini tree back across the street!

I can tell you the rest of the hunt was as up and down as the first two items. We met both incredible friendly and scary Zanzabarians, and explored a both beautiful and poverty stricken city. We did not end up finishing the list, but we did make it to happy hour- and had a few good stories to tell too!

Tanzania Reflection #1

"Poa kachizi coma ndiz" is a hip Swahili saying, used in response to someone asking you "Habari?" or "How's it going?". It means "Crazy cool like a banana!" My experience so far in Tanzania can be similarly explained. In a way, it has been both everything and nothing I expected, and soothing you have to experience yourself to really understand. 

That being said, I'm afraid I'm a little behind in keeping up to date with what we have done so far (which has been a lot over our first couple of days), so I'll try to hit the highlights: White Sands Resort, Tangawizi, groins and gettys, KFC, Mbudya island, fresh fish, Bayobob trees, Safari beer, small plane, Stonetown aquarium, Stonetown market, hotel rooftop, Zanzibar pizzas, stray cats, Spice tour, Mr. Butterfly, fresh coconuts, Slave Cave, beach, haggling for gifts, hookah, and a couple of lectures (pics to come). If you need any more information on any of these, you'll have to ask me in person!

I'd also like mention how great all of our instructors have been and talk about how the diversity of their background has helped to get a full understanding of the people and natural environment of Tanzania. First of all, we have a guest lecturer in Dr. Ian Bryceon, a native Tanzanian with a background in ecology and extensive knowledge of the history and politics of the country. Then, there is Dr. Beymer-Feris who has been able to connect for the people with their natural environment through a political ecology framework. She also helps us understand what we're experiencing from an American viewpoint. Dr. Suresh has not only provided us with an understanding of the Tanzania's physical geography, but also gives us comparisons of what we see to what things are like in India. This was especially interesting for us when we were on the spice tour because much of the produce was grown and used in the same ways in Tanzania as the are in India (more than once, he gave our tour guides a lesson!). 

I think that will do it for me now, I'm going to try to cool off before our afternoon scavenger hunt! Until then, try to be more like a banana!