Jambo!
I’ve been in Arusha for a week now and everyday that has past has brought new adventures and eye opening experiences.
When we first got here, it was pitch black and everyone hurried to get their tents set up and get food in their stomachs before crawling into bed because we were all so tired from the long plane rides.
Tuesday when we got up we got to see around camp and we met some new people who would not only be our Swahili teachers, but also one of them, Douglas, would be going with us to numerous other places in the future.
Wednesday and Thursday were both just full of learning a bunch of Swahili and hanging out around the camp. A few of us went on a walk and got to see some monkeys up in the trees which was super cool and exciting.
Friday we went to town and it was the most humbling thing I has every experienced. It started off with us going to the ATMs to get some cash. I found the money so cool and interesting because each bill amount was a different color and either had a picture of an animal or a significant person printed on them. After we all got our cash, we walked through the market to get kongas. The market was full of people either selling fruits, clothes, shoes or other random nicknacks. We definitely stood out walking through the market because we were such a big group of white people which is probably not an everyday sight here. At first I was not use to so many eyes being on me at once, but as the day went on it was easier to get use to and to just shrug it off.
After the market we went to a place where they sell used clothes, shoes, bags, ect. It was basically like a thrift store but it was under tents and seems to go on for miles. The clothes were piled so high it was often hard to see around them. I had never seen anything like this before. The people there were very friendly, and were patient with us when it came to us trying to practice the Swahili we had learned from the previous days. Bargaining is something that I am not use to because every price in the states is normally a fixed price. Well here in Africa bargaining is done and almost everywhere except at restaurants. However, I did not buy anything so I did not get a chance to work on my bargaining skills.
Next, we went to a 4-5 story art museum which was pretty cool to walk around and see all the different paintings and sculptures that people around Africa had created. We also got to meet some of the guys that do wood art and were lucky enough to be able to watch them make some things and ask them questions on exactly what they were doing.
The place we went to after the thrift store was so humbling and a huge eye opener. We went to a place where girls who have had troubled pasts, or no place to go live. They spend a lot of their day making rugs and earrings from scratch. Even though these girls do not have much, they were the happiest and friendliest group of people I have ever met. They were all so sweet and kind to every single one of us. We got to spend some time with them and they taught us how to make the rugs which was SO much harder than in looked. Once I saw how much time and effort was put into making those, it made me appreciate the rugs so much more. I regret not buying one of them because not only were the rugs super nice, but the money would have went to such an amazing cause. I could have spent all day here but we had other places that we need to go. When we said goodbye to the girls they all gave us such big hugs and told us to make sure that we come back which is definitely something I would love to do if time allowed for it.
Already East Africa has been an amazing experience and I am so happy to be here. Tomorrow we are going to the Arusha National park where we will get to see a bunch of wildlife. I’m extremely excited to go there because of how much love I have for animals. Hopefully we will get to see some elephants and giraffes because those are my favorites and it would make my whole day (:
Until next time,
Kylee Kennel