Well…I did it. I made it over a week without my English speaking companion, Collin! I have, however, been updating him every chance I get about what is going on here. I just can’t help myself. After spending the past week travelling through Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, he is home today. And if you haven’t been reading his blog, the pictures from his Kenya Safari are amazing, so you should go check it out:
I wasn’t going to post a blog, because there hasn’t been anything substantial that has happened this week. Mostly office work, no trip this weekend. But then I realized “hey, when has having nothing to say ever stopped someone from blogging before?” I’m SO sorry.
I realize, as I think about what to write, that many of my readers (all nine of you) may not know that much about Tanzania besides what I have told you already. So allow me to educate you a little about this unique country. First, I know that most people think of Africa as one big, autonomous country. That is how I used to see Africa also, but the more you learn about different cultures and histories of the countries in Africa, the more you see how unique and different they all really are. For example, Tanzania is bordered to the south by Mozambique. Guess what language they speak in Mozambique? Go ahead, guess. Portuguese. (duh) They also speak a plethora of other languages and dialects in Mozambique, as is the same in most countries. There are, for example, over 200 dialects of Swahili. Because of tribes, cultures, colonization, and a host of other factors, each country has a unique history.
Now, I’m allowing my dork to show a little bit here, but one of my absolute favorite websites (besides Wikipedia) is the CIA World Factbook. It is a fantastic resource for school papers, researching before a trip, or for bored people like me who love to carry around useless facts in my brain. Useful information escapes my head immediately, but random knowledge sticks with me forever, just waiting for Alex Trebek to say “This author of Middlemarch published under the name ‘George Eliot’.” To which I yell out “WHO IS ‘MARY ANN EVANS’?”, impressing all those within earshot. Of course they never ask that question, though I have been carrying around that knowledge for over 7 years now, so I hope you are all appropriately impressed. I can never remember how to say useful things in Swahili like “I need to get off the bus NOW!” But I can say “Iko wapi uwanja wakambi?” (Where is the campground) and “Wanawake wote wawili wameva mashati ya buluu” (The two women are wearing blue shirts). That last one I just like to say because of all the W’s…and people who don’t speak Swahili think I really know what I’m doing.
Anyway, you go to the World Factbook, pick a country (any country), and read massive amounts of information about that country. Their history, what their flag looks like, their population, education rates, common diseases, occupations, imports and exports, major waterways, the number of telephones in the country, and kilometers of paved and unpaved roads. It is totally fascinating information. So, while I could let you go to the website and read it for yourself (or, more likely, NOT read it for yourself), I’m going to tell you some of the most fascinating things that I have found about Tanzania.
History: Tanzania (or Tanganyika) gained its independence from Britain in the early 1960’s. In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar came together to form Tanzania. Tanzania (including the islands of Zanzibar, Pembe, and Mafia) is a little more than double the size of California. While its entire east coast is along the Indian Ocean, Tanzania still manages to border 8 different countries: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Tanzania is a treasure-trove of awesome natural sights. Tanzania is the home of Mt. Kilimanjaro (the 5th highest peak in the world and highest point in Africa), the Serengeti (this borders Tanzania and Kenya), Lake Victoria (the World’s second largest freshwater lake), Lake Tanganyika (the World’s second deepest lake), and of course the Zanzibar Archipelago. These natural resources are one reason that Tanzania is a fairly stable country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Unfortunately, not all of the facts about Tanzania are like these.
There are 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, ranking it 7th in the world. Tanzania ranks 4th in deaths caused by HIV/AIDS. The total life expectancy is 52.85 years. Making it about time for me to have a mid-life crisis.
The biggest agricultural commodities here are: coffee (yum!), sisal, tea, cotton, pyrethrum (insect repellent made from chrysanthemums), tobacco, cashews, cloves, corn, cassava (a root that is commonly eaten here, but is also used to make tapioca), and bananas. 80% of the population is employed by agriculture. In the US, only 2% of the population works in agriculture.
There are only 173,552 phone land lines in the country (ranking 131st in the world), however, there are 17.677 million cell phones here. There are only 678,000 internet users here. Can you imagine that? The population of Tanzania is 42,746,620 and there are only 678,000 internet users.
There are 124 airports in Tanzania. 9 have paved runways.
77.5% of males and 62.2% of females age 15 and over can read and write.
22.5% of males and 37.8% of females can’t.
Even with these staggering statistics, Tanzania is far better off than many other countries. There is no civil war. There are no conflicts with other countries. We have access to the ocean, enabling us to import and export goods. The government is fairly stable. The people are friendly, hardworking, and ambitions.
Because of these things, combined with their abundance of ecotourism opportunities and natural resources, Tanzania has a bright future. Working with 4H Tanzania has afforded me with the opportunity and privilege of working toward that future. In the US, our hope for 4-H members is that they will graduate from college, maybe get a masters degree, become the best in their profession, become a billionaire, and then, of course, donate a substantial portion of their billions to 4-H. In Tanzania, we of course have these hopes as well, but more realistically, we hope that the members don’t contract HIV/AIDS, attend some of secondary school, and are able to provide food for themselves and their families. It is hard to wrap my head around this reality. I like problems to be fixed quickly, like everyone. I want to spend 6 months here and suddenly have a developed country. That won’t happen, but what will happen is that little by little, year by year, generation after generation, Tanzania will improve.
There are so many different areas of improvement that need to be tackled that it can seem overwhelming at times. Government policy, transportation, medical care, education, food aid, micro-loans, technology, housing, gender equality, agriculture, the environment…plus a million other topics. Instead of being overwhelmed though, it means opportunity. It means that regardless of your occupation, field of study, your interests, or your abilities, I guarantee there is a way for you to help. Whether you are lending your money, time, or expertise, I encourage you to find a way help. And if you need help finding a way to help, don’t hesitate to ask! There are a host of websites and organizations that I can point you towards. And hopefully very soon, one of those organizations will be 4-H itself!
Well, looks like I managed to post a blog after all. Sorry this isn’t accompanied with hilarious stories of my inability to function gracefully or pictures of adorable kids, but I’m sure the next post will! Schools that have been on holiday started up again this week, so it is only a matter of time before I am out and about visiting schools!
I feel like you were the narrator to a Discovery show... you know the ones that show people in their own culture working, but tell you depressing or interesting facts about how different life is in that country. You should do a documentary about how 4H could cause an impact. :) I'd watch it. and then I would forever be ready for the Jeopardy special:Tanzania.
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