Alice Chu Adventurer: Korogwe Week 1

Moved to Guest House, Farewell Modern Hotel Room

Jul 14, 2019 Sunday Four plus hours by motor coach north to rural area for remaining training. On the highway, each big vehicle must be weighed, not only commercial 18-wheelers, and be approved by inspectors at several check points.

We arrived at the Korogwe Teachers’ College amid drum, song and dance by the welcome party. Fed, we then went in groups of 5-6 to guest houses in town. My gesti (rooming house) is a 10-15 minute walk to the College. The College is one of the training sites.

My room in the gesti has a giant foam bed with mosquito net, a small table, chair, TV, A/C, fan, and private bathroom. In the bathroom, there is no separate shower compartment, so the floor of the bathroom is wet after a shower. A cold shower in winter (we are in winter)? Well, it is not too bad. Like jumping into a pool—first mild cold shock, then afterwards, it is fine. It is 72oF, up to 82^oF, when we are in an open auditorium, not hot. But the library, where we dine, is hot, even at 6:30 p.m.

Keep private clothes private, even handkerchiefs and socks, we are told, so we will do that. Sometimes if you have to hang your underwear to dry outside, cover the underwear with kanga (or spelled khanga, though not kangha [Sikhism small comb]), a large colorful cloth used for many things by Tanzanian women.

To catch up on news, I watch Alzazeera, which is like CNN, but much better. Alzareera won a broadcasting award.

There are 51 trainees, and a host of program trainers, language trainers, technical (education) program staff. Next week, the trainees will be placed in host family homes.

Korogwe welcoming party as we get off the bus,
with song, dance, drumming

My gesti room

Everything one needs: the latrine with flush, the shower head, the sink, water bucket for additional floor rinse, flip flops to wear inside the bathroom

Walkabout in Dar

Jul 13, 2019 Saturday We felt like school kids let out at recess, couldn’t wait to run outside to play. We had language class and training overview on the next phase north in Tanga Region (like district). We were told that the hotel stay the previous week was to get us acclimated somewhat. The amenities moving forward would be sparse or non-existent moving forward.

At Dar, it was bustling, thriving, and I already spotted at least two Chinese restaurants while we were walking about. We followed leaders who showed us how to take the bus, the DART (like BART, rapid transit), and more bus to get to where we need to go if we are in DAR for training or medical visits.

And guess what, the DART is a joint collaboration of the Chinese and Tanzanian efforts. I was told by the Chinese-Tanzania Security not to take any pictures of the DART system. I only wanted to do show and tell to folks back home, the interconnected bus, rapid transit, and buses to other parts of Africa. Wow! That someone might think of sabotaging DART structures?