vacation postponed

A series of weird events have changed this weeks plans a bit. Zanzibar and Stonetown have been regrettably postponed.

Luckily, I had great help in lessening my disappointment. Our friend Alfred took us to a Tanzanian wedding on Saturday! We traveled in style in Alfred’s big safari jeep, bouncing along the rocky road with the windows down. Its amazing how fast people drive over rocks here. (By the time we got out of the car my hair was actually stiff from the dust and dirt.) With four young women in the back seat the bumpy road was a bit painful… the door handles and window rollers (is there a name for those things??) slammed into thighs and the seats were not so padded. We are realizing that it is definitely not everyone’s experience here to drive through East Africa in such a vehicle. Driving for close to an hour into the country, we passed a lot of “maasai jeeps” (donkeys) and people on foot and bicycle. I was thankful for my “rough” ride.

We ended up having to ask for directions several times, which of course always adds entertainment to any type of road trip. Which allowed me a few snapshots out the window and a lot of quizzical looks from onlookers.

The four of us “muzungus” stood out quite a bit. When we first arrived, they had already been at the wedding traditions for four hours. We had made it just in time for the beginning of the reception. The bride and groom arrived in a decorated car, and sat in the backseat patiently crammed in with the maid of honor and best man while the brass band played festive music and all the women danced in circles around the car. What a welcome. The emcee announced their arrival in Kiswahili and our friends ushered us into a sitting area where we could watch from a distance the ceremonial blessing of the bride and grooms new house. When that was done, the wedding party proceeded to form the receiving line. The line of guests was so long that we were told to eat first before getting in line. Behind one of the buffet tables stood a server wearing a Starbucks apron.

We sat behind a flowery hedge as we ate the delicious meal. The receiving line was on the other side of this hedge, we couldn’t see them without standing up first. Every once in a while, we saw strange things pass by the receiving line and we would stand up to see. The first time, it was a queen-sized bed being carried on the shoulders of several people. The next time it was an assortment of living room furniture: sofas and end tables. Upon standing, we also saw several goat gifts being walked by on leash. Finally, several people carried in roofing metal.

Eventually, we were led to cut into the line (just a bit awkward) where we gave hugs and blessings to the bride and groom. We laughed as Alfred was still putting together the card while in line.

Last night we were able to use the generator for the first time, so we had lights despite the power outage (no hot water or cooking abilities though). This morning we went to a very boisterous and welcoming church. And afterwards, the sun finally came out a bit and we sat by the Arusha Hotel pool chatting with a girl from London.

To study international peace and conflict resolution, we end up studying a lot of conflicts. We talk easily about how conflict affects a nations infrastructure. What does this specifically mean?? A few of the books I have been reading have given me some ideas. It’s a cause of great suffering, and informal/ extralegal economies spring up to help people cope. Even these specifics though are hard for me to grasp, coming from a place where modern civil war is only conceivable as a competitive term for a football game.

(as of 1997)
Somalia has no banks. It has become a total cash economy.

Haiti became completely bankrupt. (Ironically, no one will invest money in a country with no money)

Haiti’s kids have been out of school for 3 years because teachers cannot be paid. (Similarly, post conflict Rwanda has changed the official language from French to English, but child headed households of Rwanda suffer as they grew up learning French and cannot afford to go back to school to learn the new official language.)

Somalia has no taxi or driver system. However, many would be taxi drivers have found work elsewhere, forming a plethora of untrained bodyguards with automatic weapons for hire.

Haiti also has an emerging profession, termed “body guide”, which refers to a person who will sell information regarding a newly found dead body to journalists. When your unemployment rate is close to 100 percent this seems somewhat less cutthroat?

Relocated refugees and internally displaced people (refugees within their own country: IDPs) place huge strain on tense post conflict armies and resources. In Rwanda, IDPs have been tearing down the gorilla forests to make money by building furniture. This leads to more violence. And lack of reconciliation and money in the country make for volatile soldiers. The siege of Kibeho in Rwanda was thus instigated, where soldiers killed and wounded thousands of refugees while forcibly moving them from their settlements.

In Angola, groups of amputee women affected by the prolific landmines create their own internationally extending informal economies selling produce. They have found ways outside the normal legal means to feed their children despite an unconcerned government.

Violent conflict affects us in so many ways that we never realize. I wish politicians and decision makers would start reading these books before they decide that war is the only solution.

Some fun tidbits from the weekend

We ate so many cookies.
We ate fresh delicious sugar cane.
We did LAUNDRY! (yes it’s the simple things in life…)
A woman name Tidyness, invited us to her home for breakfast. Out of respect we call her Mama Musa, which means Mama Moses.
I harmonized with some 7th grade girls to a high school musical song on a walk through a maize field. At the end of the walk we found ourselves in a church service led entirely by kids their age. One of my favorite parts was when we sang a hymn that made reference to Satan, but it was pronounced Sat-than.
I heard a lot of dreams and learned a lot about confidence and aspiration from these girls, some as young as 12 already knowing what they want to do with their lives. Accountant, Doctor, Nurse, “Pastoress”.

pictures from our lovely weekend in Usa River.

So this is our last full time week at ICTR. Sunday we leave for a week in Zanzibar (during Ramadan… how cool!) and then another five days will be spent in Rwanda. Then classes begin again! I must say though, I never anticipated how hard it could be to buy a plane ticket. No one takes credit cards here for fear of fraud and we can’t pay over the internet because the only secure way is an expensive money order. (apparently fraud is so high here that I wasnt even allowed onto one air ticket site from Arusha). So, we must pay a travel agent in cash. Mind you we need about 1 ½ times the amount that we can get from any given atm in a day. So we really have to think through this purchase. Not to mention we are subject to the currency exchange from our bank and the travel agent. Where is expedia when you need it???

things to grapple with

Tanzania's minimum monthly wage is the equivalent of about 41 USD. (we spend this each week on groceries here.) Tanzanian businesses have blocked a proposed raise to 140 USD per month. The life expectancy in Tanzania is 51.5. Both minimum wage and life expectancy are rather on the high side for Sub-Saharan Africa.

There are 191 UN member states; 144 are rated poor countries.

“The Americans had hoisted the refugees aboard their ship and given them food and water, but they were very unfriendly. ‘Angry’ says the (Haitian) man. ‘They said that there were too many people like us and that we were driving them crazy. They did not take us to Guantanamo Bay (which was being used as a refugee camp for Hatians), but straight back to Port-au-Prince. But I still have gran-gou (translates to my life is a vale of tears), and I want to tell that to the Americans at the cinema. Maybe these ones will understand.’” (from my bedtime reading again, of course.)

This makes me wonder how many people we don’t take seriously when they ask for our help. I hope I will be an American that understands.

thoughts on the UN taken from my bedtime reading

The public has been made to believe that the UN has a life of its own, apart from the member states that in actuality are its very existence. In the eyes of the voting public this makes the worlds politicians seem less responsible for failing missions.

Then they blame people like the former Secretary General Boutrous-Ghali. We have now labeled him as responsible for our failures to intervene in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Haiti. In Mogadishu Boutrous-Ghali was greeted by a hail of stones, and in Sarajevo crowds spat at him and called him “murderer”. All the while his hands were tied by the presidents of Security Council members such as the U.S. and Russia who were protecting their national interests. And yet, we allowed Boutrous-Ghali to credit himself with blame for failure in Rwanda. Hardly seems fair or accurate. In reality, it is the presidents of member-states that decide which missions the UN undertakes and how much to contribute to the efforts. Failure should be on them.

And still…

Clinton proposed a UN operation in Somalia to “restore hope” and provided troops for the first half of the mission. Soon after its failure, he chastised the UN and suggested they ‘learn when to say no’.

Countries are less than supportive of UN initiatives because they are afraid of the precedent it sets. What is to stop the UN from intervening on my soil? So you keep the UN from actually having any real staying power.

“Peace Missions: pursued on a wing and a prayer (a news report from Washington Post: 1993)

In the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the daily 10 am staff meeting is known as ‘Morning Prayers’. As the peacekeepers gather each day to share the bad news on an alphabet of crises from Angola to the former Yugoslavia, they increasingly find themselves with nothing to offer beyond hopeful words.”

The same article notes that the average time to procure a blue helmet or flak jacket for troops is four months. Is it any wonder I am not interested in a peacekeeping job?

Reading all of this really challenged my thoughts, especially about how the UN works at the mercy of its members. I was quite frustrated before I went to bed, so I wrote the following:

Terrified and

Resigned to live in this place that God may have

Forsaken.

I hung my dreams of world peace up long ago, one night with my

Blue helmet.

They wait there dormant and static, while I wait for words like

Equality and Human Rights to mean something to the

already Powerful.

Funny, though, I woke up the next morning laughing with the realization that I had dreamt I was a peacekeeper in constant frustration.

News!

Rumors are going around our apartments that we will be hooked up to a generator soon. Maybe only a couple more weeks of Monday and Thursday night sandwiches and candles.

Our UN internship is now extended until December. This means we still have full access to the library, gym, duty free store and language classes. Not to mention an extension on our strapped deadlines. I’m really happy about this.

We cooked dinner for 5 people Friday night- 9 including us. Alfred, who we have cooked (VERY POORLY) for in the past was gracious enough to give us a chance to redeem ourselves. And I think we did!

Also, has anyone been watching the news about Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq?? We have been talking about it a lot over here. What are your thoughts?

For all of my family reading this.. would LOVE to read comments from you! Just click where it says comments below a post, and it will walk you through step by step.

Serendipitous Staff Training

Today we got a last minute, though very thoughtful, invite to a staff training on CV’s and interview processes. This was one of the first signs to me that things are happening here in response to the imminent closure of the Tribunal. Also, it was on conference call to the Hague ICTY so they would be included in the training. “Hello? Hague??” The signal cut out a lot unfortunately, so after the first couple of times this salutation became less funny.

I have never been trained with such a culturally diverse group. There were about sixty of us in the conference room. The diversity was very noticeable within a couple of the statements and questions, such as the following:

The trainer: “Don’t put (on your CV) that you have three wives. Because then I think that is three times more time you’ll need off. Three women needing 100 percent from you means your job won’t be getting 100 percent from you.”

Question from staff about interviews: “Is national dress appropriate?” I was quite jealous when she said yes to this question. I wish I had a national dress. Collared shirts are so passé.

This was such a helpful experience though. IPCR classmates, we will be sure to send you some notes :0)

Getaway Weekend

new pictures!

I never pegged myself one to love an intimate weekend in the hills with family, tossing around kids on my shoulders and cooking gourmet meals. Okay, truth be told, it would normally have sounded ideal to me if someone else was doing the cooking and holding children.

In fact, this was my weekend. And it was glorious. Selina, Eunice and Melissa have become my family here and I love the time we spend together, lounging around with intellectual books and cheesy movies and alternately talking about petty and weighty things. This weekend we were also accompanied by two U.S. imported dogs, Cookie and Shadow. They were nice, though smelly, company. Apparently our cooking didn’t settle as well with them.

We were in Usa River where Melissa stays during the week. It is pronounced oosa- but allegedly named for its similarities to the US we were told- similarities such as the river and trees and grass. Hm. We stayed on the University of Arusha campus, which is surrounded by five villages and about 25,000 villagers. It is really difficult to tell where the campus ends and village begins. I kept hoping to see Mt Kilimanjaro, but a bunch of toddlers would later inform me it was hiding.

We experimented with spices and no recipes. Managed some great pastas, egg skillets, rosemary potatoes, french toast and cookies! Pretty much we would sit to eat a meal and already be planning the next one. I think I need to send a thank you note to the house owners and let them know I may have discovered a new love through their very own pantry and stove.

We played just about every game we could think of with 20 beautiful kids at an orphanage next door to Melissa’s house. We met them out on the soccer field, in the two- hour playtime between their naps and baths. Red light green light was hilarious. Also, mom, I imparted the experience of “tickle sprinkler” and it was a hit. The greatest thing about this particular orphanage was how wonderful their grounds were. They had an actual house for each group of 10 kids, complete with a living room with framed art, a big open kitchen, and a bathroom with a rubber ducky shower curtain and letter magnets on the wall. It was like a college dorm brilliantly adapted for children.

We used a washing machine! Interestingly enough you have to fill it manually with buckets of water. Washing here is such hard work.

One of the village head chiefs, arguably the most important person across the five villages, came to check on Melissa unannounced. So we met him while in our sweats.

Still, not entirely spaced out on vacation, there were a few things I found to occupy my thoughts. There were many shipping containers interspersed between houses throughout the area, which left me curious of course. And there were a few signs in the people of years of drinking bad water. And the maize was brown and dying from lack of rain water this year but everything around it was green.

back to work today. and wouldn't you know my computer didnt work this morning. EDP techs recognized my name when I called for help, oh you again, huh? This time repairs only took an hour. Progress.

My Literary Reflections on Arusha

Through a set of wonderful serendipitous events, I have been motivated enough to write some poetry about my stay here in Arusha. I thought I might share a few of these with you now. I have been thinking a lot about place and what that intrinsically means, and the idea of "home" in particular. And how those ideas are different depending on where you are from and what you have access to. Anyway, here:


[Hatari (or perceptions of)]

Jump at car backfire (or deafening gun shots)
Tales of hiding trolls (Lonely Planet dubbed “Mugger’s Bridge”)
Says you who own a car and maintain a salary other than student loans (“Never walk, it isn’t safe!”)

Jump at deafening gun shots (or car backfire)
Lonely Planet dubbed “Mugger’s Bridge” (Tales of hiding trolls)
“Never walk, it isn’t safe!” (Says you who own a car and maintain a salary other than student loans)


[security]
Grown up in the red clay hills among the vineyards and suburbs, the mist and the drizzle surely soaked into my bones to mark me.

Drizzle falls on my skin here and there. In Cork, Kan Tan, Chong Qing, Arusha. Does it move me the same? Does it soak through?

Is it a gift of reminiscence from my home, or a gift of hospitality from this new place beckoning me stay?

May it be a token of security that one day my heart will learn to be at home anywhere, soothed by the drizzle that touches my skin.


[unnamed]
The curves of the land, the colors.
The feel of stepping onto the earth outside your door,
The smells of daily life and the sounds of family gathering.
Separated from the place you love, no matter if it’s a sad circumstance or lustful affair;
These are the things that take your soul back home when your body can’t be there.

An Addendum to Selina's Post: Arusha's Sounds Part 2

Since reading Selina's blog I have been thinking of more sounds to add to the list.

• party trucks that carry wedding parties or funeral parties. They involve a lot of people either singing traditional kiswahili songs or playing marching band style, all from the bed of a pick up
• gospel trucks that carry two guys with a microphone and giant speakers in the bed, they drive around town telling the good news in kiswahili. This is especially interesting when they pass the loud wedding party trucks.
• buzzing fluorescent lights of our aparments
• sound of generators next door when our power is out, at first we thought this was the sound of rain outside, but no, its just the sound of privelege. :0)
• large group of men singing and running down the road in red t-shirts. we think they are military or police?
• hots pot coming to a boil. they have a very loud and distinct whirring sound that is quite nice.
• pigeons mating outside our work windows... errr.
• pigeons dive bombing our windows (mine is often open, with no screen, so I get very jumpy at this sound)
• on select rainy days, the power at the UN flickers on and off. Its funny how well you can HEAR that. Do you remember the scene in Titanic of the lights flickering on and off in the passageways as the boat filled up with water? That, strangely enough, is what our hallway looks like during these times, just minus the water.

and last night, Eunice and I feel asleep to someone in our apartment complex singing an Arabic ballad.

and today, for the first time since the U.S., I heard a lawn mower. I am still trying to figure out where it was mowing, since the majority of ground here in the city is rocky dirt or concrete.

little victories:

• today I invested in my happiness and bought Nutella. oh the taste of home.

• using my wits, Eunice's camera and many phone calls, I was able to get a "new" computer!! Finally, poa basi! i should have been keeping a tally of how many hours that bum computer ate up this last month. probably best I didnt.

• since the time between having EDP collect your bad hard drive and return a good one is an average of 4 to 5 hours, I had a great time in the library reading up on Somalia and war and peace atlases.

• We found ANOTHER great cheap lunch place, thanks to our dear Gasper. mm, Im still full.

• eunice just found a list of the richest foundations in the world!

snake parks and diplomatic dinners.

On Saturday we went out to "the bush" and had lunch at a wonderfully quiet place owned by a couple that have lived in Arusha for 19 years. We had the whole place to peruse by ourselves, including several small gift shops and a book swap!

Next we went to a snake park. Basically it was a zoo with snakes and other creepy things.

Finally, we went to dinner at Madame Karaso's. She happens to be the Deputy Secretary General of the EAC, and a former member of the Ugandan parliament. And she would NOT let our glasses or plates sit empty. It was a wonderful, relaxing evening FULL of laughter.

A new photo album...