Earlham Home

Tanzania 2007 Updates

September 1
September 15
October 5
October 18

September 1: Safari!

Our first field experience was to the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. In addition to being just plain fun, our safari contributed to our Conservation course and our Animal Behavior and Ecology course. From our open top vehicle, we saw the grazers and browsers of the savanah grasslands. We were also fortunate enough to see all the major carnivores: lion, leopard, cheetah, and hyena.

The crater is located within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area -- land set aside to be shared by the Maasai whose traditional home is there, and the wildlife occupying the same territory. Only cattle grazing is permitted as a way of permitting the people and the wildlife to co-exist as they have done for hundreds of years. As populations of people have increased across the country, it becomes harder for this balance to be maintained.

The conservation area is also the location of Olduvai Gorge and we made a brief stop to learn about the archeological excavations of early human ancestors, including the footsteps of an adult and child walking.

One of our special experiences was a visit to the home of Tepilit ole Saitoti, the Maasai author of one of program texts, "The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior." We shared a traditional meal of roast sheep, beginning with the animal on the hoof, actually in the arms of Thom Stead who had the duty of holding the sheep as we drove up to the homesite where we spent the evening.

Our journey ended with our return to Arusha for our next program component, language training and family homestays.

September 15: Habari za Kiswahili? (How is Swahili Language)

"Habari za leo? Habari za familia?" Greetings are an important East African custom and over and over each day you will be asked "How is the day? How is the family" etc. The answer to any question beginning with "habari" is "nzurI" meaning "good."

That is the answer we give enthusiastically about the students' language skills. They have just finished two weeks of day-long Kiswahili training and a two week homestay with local families who have helped them use the language. It is wonderful to see how quickly the students can learn to communicate -- using Kiswahili, some English, some pointing, and a lot of laughing.

The families have also taught their students how to do their laundry by hand, how to take a "shower" using a bucket of water and a cup to pour the water over themselves, how to cook chapatis (a flaky flat bread) and ugali (a stiff cornmeal mush), and how to bargain in the marketplace. Most of our female students have bargained for a brightly patterned length of fabric - called a "kitenge" - and have had one of the many local seamstresses create a Tanzania-style dress.

Yesterday was our "thank you" tea for the homestay families, organized by Mary Rowley and Jesse Varga, the two students who volunteered to be "president" and "co-president" of the group. In a garden at the language school, families gathered for a performance by traditional dancers, singing by the Earlham students - their song was written by Taylor Stanton - and speeches by students, faculty leaders, and parents.

The celebration continued after dinner as a dance party, with a live band and a disco DJ. Tanzanians at the language center for training in development work joined us on the dance floor.

In three days we depart for Loiborsoit, a Maasai village, and the Tarangire National Park. There we will explore the dilemma of people and migratory elephants sharing the same tracts of land.

Sara Penhale and James Sterrett
Faculty Leaders

October 5: Indian Ocean days

On our last day in Zanzibar town, we rushed from Kiswahili language class to the beach and boarded a motor-powered dhow which carried us off into the bright blue waters. We were headed for Bawe Island for snorkeling over the coral reef. We hoped the students would see marine organisms such as various species of coral, anemones, sea urchins, starfish, damselfish, and butterfly fish. We saw these and more as we glided across the water surface breathing through our snorkels. One particularly fascinating creature to watch was a jellyfish, rounded and flat with tentacles dangling. It pulsated and move along with jerky bursts.

As we snorkled, the students would occasionally stop and float upright, talking with each other and just having fun. It was a perfect sunny day and we were all swept up by it. After returning to the boat, we motored along until in front of us, in the middle of the ocean, a sandbar emerged above the water line. It was a magical spot for lunch. Students ran down the sandbar to its narrow tip and laughed as the waves hit from both sides. Local snacks, like samosas, fish and fruit, comprised our sandbar lunch.

Back into the boat for a short trip to another snorkeling spot. By now the afternoon winds had picked up and we were hoisted up and down with the waves and creatures underneath went to and from. Some of us felt a little sea sick!

Then the final leg of the trip, approaching Zanzibar from the sea and viewing the historic waterfront buildings. It was a perfect ending for the Zanzibar Stonetown stay and whetted our appetites for our next program component, four days on the east coast of Zanzibar island in the low key beach bungalows of the Tamarind. This spot provides a beautiful setting was concentrated study interspersed with study breaks in the ocean or walking on the beach.

Tonight we hear reports on the conservation projects that have the academic focus here at the Tamarind. Two groups will each present a conservation plan for an area near Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Amboseli in Kenya. The dilemma is how people and wildlife, particularly elephants, can co-exist in the area. It's a real life problem and the students have put their all into it.

Their reward will be our first independent travel period, starting tomorrow. After going our separate ways, we will all meet again in Dar es Salaam.

Sara Penhale and James Sterrett
Faculty Leaders

October 18: Up into the Uluguru Mountains

This morning we are to be packed and ready for breakfast as 7:30. The laughing in the students' hotel rooms stopped early enough last night that I think we might make it.

We are venturing up about 2000 meters into the Uluguru Mountains. These are part of the East Arc Mountains that trail across Tanzania -- areas within these mountains are known as "biological hotspots" since there are high number of endemic species -- species found only there and no where else in the world. This is also the area where a new species of monkeys was discovered a few years back.

Our visit to the mountains will allow us to see the struggle of the Luguru people to have enough land, in spite of growing population pressure. At the same time, others want to preserve the forest for its biodiversity, thus keeping some land out of agriculture.

One solution to the land crisis is to improve farming methods. The slopes of the Uluguru Mountains are quite steep and farming on terraces was introduced in colonial days to increase land surface and decrease erosion. Crops are exported to big cities throught Tanzania.

The students will live with families for five days, helping with the farming and learning about their lives. It is a matrilieal society, whereby children and considered part of the mother's clan rather than the father's. And land inheritance passes primarily from mother to daugther. But it's more complicated than just that, and it's changing as time goes on. We'd love to reach a better understanding of land tenure but our Kiswahili langage skills might not be up to the task.

Time now to get ready for long walks in the beautiful mountains.

Sara Penhale and James Sterrett
Faculty Leaders