This phrase it was we often see on police vehicles in America and what you would think that a police officer should do for its citizens. However, I have found that in Africa, many people have the same feelings of fear and disgust that many Americans have of police officers.
When I was in Ghana, I remember hearing stories about corrupt cops pulling vehicles over for any small infraction or no infraction just to illicit a bribe. Well last night, I believe I witnessed such an occurrence, even though I did not see it actually happen.
My day began pretty uneventfully. I did my routine morning walk to the internet cafe to catch up on emails and then I headed to the office of the MFI that I am currently helping out in Dar es salaam. Their system was down, just as it had the day before, so I walked home. Before I left the office, I made plans with another foreign girl working in the office to have dinner in the Masaki area. After work, we took a local bus, or dalla dalla, to Masaki. That is when things started to get a little too adventurous.
The bus was packed and there was a traffic jam. Our bus driver decided that he did not want to wait for his turn, so he drove onto the curb into the sidewalk full of pedestrians pass the gridlock. First, I watched in horror as pedestrians were quickly getting out the way of the bus, and then I finally closed my eyes and prayed that we did not hit anyone. Then the bus drove off the curb onto the street narrowly missing a car. Shortly thereafter, we got off the bus to my relief.
Then we had to cross a highway to get to a tuk tuk (3 wheeled vehicle). While my work friend was negotiating the price with one tuk tuk driver, another tuk tuk driver came over and told my friend in Swahili that he was there first and so we should take his tuk tuk. Our tuk tuk driver denied this , and we got in. As our tuk tuk driver attempted to start his vehicle and drive off the other tuk tuk driver was fiddling with something at the back of the vehicle which prevented the motor from starting. Finally, after the fourth attempt our tuk tuk driver drove off while the other tuk tuk driver yelled and ran behind our vehicle.
We finally got to our dinner destination, which is this little outdoor local restaurant known for great kebabs. I got to meet a few other people, and it was nice to finally just relax and shoot the breeze with some ladies.
When it was time to leave, we decided that I would take my own tuk tuk home because I live in a completely different area than my dinner companions. My gut was telling me to take a taxi because it was dark and tuk tuk driver usually don't know how to get to where I live. This is because tuk tuk drivers are prohibited from picking up fares from the city center, where I leave, but they can drop you off. But of course, I ignored my gut and got in. He was a nice guy and I actually shared the tuk tuk with another local guy for part of the trip.
Unfortunately once we got into the city center, I told him to make a left turn on a one way street, not realizing it was one way. You see I walk everywhere, so the concept of one way doesn't even phase me. Anyways, he did not even make the left turn yet, but was starting to do so, when I heard a yell from across the street. It was a cop with a rifle. He called us over and then he got into the tuk tuk with me. He rested his rifle between his legs as he explained that it was a one way street we were trying to turn down. I explained to the cop that it was my fault because I told the tuk tuk driver to turn left. Then in Swahili he started to direct my driver. I had no idea where they were going, and finally the cop asked me where I was heading. I told him Clock Tower, then he responded Mlimani city? (which is nowhere near Clock Tower and actually is clear across town). Finally I provided the cop with a major street near my house and we were off. I would be lying if I did not say that I was actually pretty nervous and scared because you have no idea what is going on, and I really wanted to ask the cop to please leave my tuk tuk, but he has a gun, so I figured it is better to not piss him off. I also quickly realized that this cop wanted a pay off but I wasn't sure if it was from me or my tuk tuk driver.
I would have gladly paid any fine but I did not really know how to approach the situation. Once we arrived at my house, the cop asked me if I paid the driver, which I quickly did, and they were off. I am pretty sure that my fare and maybe some other fares from that evening were paid to the cop.
After last night, I decided to carry a map of the city center with me so that I can show the driver where I need to go, and hopefully, not have a repeat of last night with the cop, the gun and my sad tuk tuk driver who probably had to pay off the cop.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
I've moved!!
Well actually I finally found the place that I will call home for the next 1 1/2 months that I plan to stay in Dar es salaam. I live in the City Center near the "clock tower." Just in case anyone every spends any time in Dar es salaam in the near future:) My roommates are two pilots for Air Tanzanian, Sharad, a married father of one from Mauritius and a Spanish guy name Roberto, who I have yet to meet. We live in a 3 bedroom flat for $600 a month, or $200 each. The last place I was staying at was $400, plus cable, electricity and the maid. It was in Msasani, which is a pretty nice area, and I had the most gorgeous views of sunset over the bay, but I had to live a crazy Tanzanian woman.
I almost decided to live there until one night after she smoked herself out while reading the bible, she decided to tell me about Jesus Christ and how he saved her life. I polite told her that I do not like to discuss religion, and also I just really did not want to hear her personal problems. I mean seriously, I had only been there for 4 days, and I thought this is a little personal. However, what really got me was that she had been reflecting on why someone would steal a laptop from me (one of 2 foreigners on a 16 hour bus ride), and she decided that it was because I did not have God in my life and that if I embraced Jesus Christ bad things wouldn't happen to me. Let's just say that the next day I moved out of there and was glad to be out!
My new place is better in the sense that I have more space, privacy, and cheap eats around. Sharad, being the father of a young daughter, has definitely shown me around and made sure that I had what I needed in the flat. We haven't had running water for over 2 days now, and have had to take bucket showers, which isn't so bad except that you have to go to the corner store and buy 6 and 12 liter bottles of water and walk up to the 4th floor. However, I really enjoy living in a more local area where I have more interaction with locals than other foreigners. It really gives you a better sense of what life is like here.
As I said above, the rent is $600 a month (or $7200) for a flat, which got me thinking how could local people afford this rent. Just to give you a little background the average college educated person makes between $4500 - $6000 a year. An unskilled worker, such as our maid, makes 90,000 T Shillings or $60 per month, or about $720 per year, or $2 a day. You couldn't even buy a latte in America for $2. Even though I find this is true is most developing countries, including Vietnam and Ghana, it always surprises me. I am not sure why, but it does.
I spoke to my flatmate about this this morning. He said that all of the people in our building are not of African descent, but are Asian (Indian and Pakistan descent) and most own the local shops around our area because even an educated Tanzanian person with a family living on one income couldn't even afford the rent in our building.
Anyways, I hope to motivate myself to write more blogs, but I have not done much but read. I am waiting to see if I get another assignment from Kiva, and then hopefully my visitor (who hopefully will be securing his flight today) will come in September and I can freely travel around Africa.
Hope everyone is well!!
I almost decided to live there until one night after she smoked herself out while reading the bible, she decided to tell me about Jesus Christ and how he saved her life. I polite told her that I do not like to discuss religion, and also I just really did not want to hear her personal problems. I mean seriously, I had only been there for 4 days, and I thought this is a little personal. However, what really got me was that she had been reflecting on why someone would steal a laptop from me (one of 2 foreigners on a 16 hour bus ride), and she decided that it was because I did not have God in my life and that if I embraced Jesus Christ bad things wouldn't happen to me. Let's just say that the next day I moved out of there and was glad to be out!
My new place is better in the sense that I have more space, privacy, and cheap eats around. Sharad, being the father of a young daughter, has definitely shown me around and made sure that I had what I needed in the flat. We haven't had running water for over 2 days now, and have had to take bucket showers, which isn't so bad except that you have to go to the corner store and buy 6 and 12 liter bottles of water and walk up to the 4th floor. However, I really enjoy living in a more local area where I have more interaction with locals than other foreigners. It really gives you a better sense of what life is like here.
As I said above, the rent is $600 a month (or $7200) for a flat, which got me thinking how could local people afford this rent. Just to give you a little background the average college educated person makes between $4500 - $6000 a year. An unskilled worker, such as our maid, makes 90,000 T Shillings or $60 per month, or about $720 per year, or $2 a day. You couldn't even buy a latte in America for $2. Even though I find this is true is most developing countries, including Vietnam and Ghana, it always surprises me. I am not sure why, but it does.
I spoke to my flatmate about this this morning. He said that all of the people in our building are not of African descent, but are Asian (Indian and Pakistan descent) and most own the local shops around our area because even an educated Tanzanian person with a family living on one income couldn't even afford the rent in our building.
Anyways, I hope to motivate myself to write more blogs, but I have not done much but read. I am waiting to see if I get another assignment from Kiva, and then hopefully my visitor (who hopefully will be securing his flight today) will come in September and I can freely travel around Africa.
Hope everyone is well!!
Monday, July 12, 2010
Bombing in Uganda
I just heard about the terrible bombing in Uganda that left over 40 people dead. The sad part about it was that the bombing targeted World Cup watchers. I immediately checked the United States Travel Warnings to see if there were any known dangers in Tanzania because it is in the same region as Uganda. Thankfully no warnings have been issues and I haven't seen anything that has caused me any concern. But I will definitely be paying close attention to my surroundings.
There are 2 Kiva fellows in Uganda currently, but they just sent us an email letting the other Kiva fellows know that they are safe and waiting for word on what to do next. Africa is sort of funny that way as you can feel totally safe and then you hear about some uprising and violence in a neighboring country. All you can really do is keep yourself safe, and be sure to check in with your Embassy. I haven't felt any negative sentiments towards American at all, and in fact, the locals usually ask me to pass along their greetings to Obama. I guess I am lucky that we have a half African president in power while I am exploring the region.
Nothing else to report except that I stayed the night at a house where a former fellow lived. I wanted to watch the world cup, but the landlady had a friend over who sort of just took over the living space and blasted the t.v. all night. It was weird and I hope to find a more permanent less freaky living situation in a near future.
There are 2 Kiva fellows in Uganda currently, but they just sent us an email letting the other Kiva fellows know that they are safe and waiting for word on what to do next. Africa is sort of funny that way as you can feel totally safe and then you hear about some uprising and violence in a neighboring country. All you can really do is keep yourself safe, and be sure to check in with your Embassy. I haven't felt any negative sentiments towards American at all, and in fact, the locals usually ask me to pass along their greetings to Obama. I guess I am lucky that we have a half African president in power while I am exploring the region.
Nothing else to report except that I stayed the night at a house where a former fellow lived. I wanted to watch the world cup, but the landlady had a friend over who sort of just took over the living space and blasted the t.v. all night. It was weird and I hope to find a more permanent less freaky living situation in a near future.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Do you like Barack Obama?
I left Ghana this past Friday, and headed to Nairobi before heading to Dar es salaam, Tanzania. When you entered Nairobi, you have to pay $25 in US Currency or the British Pounds equivalent. Unfortunately for me, I only had two $20 and no one told me you needed exact change. As I was waiting for my visa to be processed, I noticed that the immigration officer did not offer me any change. So I asked him for my change, and he gave me back $10 and told me to give him $5. I wasn't sure if he was joking or serious, but I jokingly asked him if he liked Barack Obama. He said yes, and I told him that I was going to call Barack Obama and tell him that the immigration officer kept my $5. He then laughed, gave me back my $5 and said it would have cost me $10 to call Barack Obama. When I told my field support person the story, she was mortified because the immigration officer was serious about not giving me my change.
Anyways, Nairobi was good, but expensive. I packed in a lot in 2 days. I went to one of the largest slums to visit a school, saw some handmade bags made from recycled clothing, specifically, sweaters, and I even saw some baby elephants being fed. I also went to an event call Wine and Blankets where we saw live African jazzy type of music. I also attended a nice bbq where I finally got a decent hamburger and learned to play beer pong. It was nice, but I was eager to get to Tanzania and get settled. However, things did not go as planned, as this is the story of my life in Africa. At some point, bad things just sort of happen to everyone here, and so you just stopped caring so much.
Back to my story.... I woke up late and had to rush to catch my supposed 12 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Dar es salaam - in reality it is about 16 hours. I was given a laptop moments before I caught the bus and placed it under the seat in front of me. I got off the bus twice for about 5 minutes to use the restroom, and I only took my backpack with my money and passport. Unfortunately, someone on the bus nicked the computer and I felt sad because it wasn't even mine. I told the police conductor who than drove the bus to the police station, where the police conducted a search of everyone on the bus. People were getting on and off the bus during this 16 hour journey, so they were probably gone :( The police felt bad and all of the Tanzanian people felt bad, and I felt bad. Luckily a very nice German woman stayed with me and took me to the hotel where she was staying as it was about 10:40 p.m. She said that I was surprisingly calm about the whole experience. I told her that so many other things have happened to me since I have been in Africa that there is no point in getting upset anymore. I am safe and I still have money and my passport, so I am good.
I have to say that Africa has been the most difficult place (Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania) I have traveled, but really it is just weird circumstances. Many people here are poor and it is hard to blame them when you are not being careful and you are creating easy opportunities for them to steal from you. And most of the local people that I have come across have been very lovely and helpful, so I don't want to let a few unfortunate experiences taint my overall experience here. I keep hoping that it will get better, and in some ways it has because I am handling the difficulties much better than before.
Hope you are all well, and I look forward to exploring Tanzania and having a great time here, even if there are a few more bumps in the road!
Anyways, Nairobi was good, but expensive. I packed in a lot in 2 days. I went to one of the largest slums to visit a school, saw some handmade bags made from recycled clothing, specifically, sweaters, and I even saw some baby elephants being fed. I also went to an event call Wine and Blankets where we saw live African jazzy type of music. I also attended a nice bbq where I finally got a decent hamburger and learned to play beer pong. It was nice, but I was eager to get to Tanzania and get settled. However, things did not go as planned, as this is the story of my life in Africa. At some point, bad things just sort of happen to everyone here, and so you just stopped caring so much.
Back to my story.... I woke up late and had to rush to catch my supposed 12 hour bus ride from Nairobi to Dar es salaam - in reality it is about 16 hours. I was given a laptop moments before I caught the bus and placed it under the seat in front of me. I got off the bus twice for about 5 minutes to use the restroom, and I only took my backpack with my money and passport. Unfortunately, someone on the bus nicked the computer and I felt sad because it wasn't even mine. I told the police conductor who than drove the bus to the police station, where the police conducted a search of everyone on the bus. People were getting on and off the bus during this 16 hour journey, so they were probably gone :( The police felt bad and all of the Tanzanian people felt bad, and I felt bad. Luckily a very nice German woman stayed with me and took me to the hotel where she was staying as it was about 10:40 p.m. She said that I was surprisingly calm about the whole experience. I told her that so many other things have happened to me since I have been in Africa that there is no point in getting upset anymore. I am safe and I still have money and my passport, so I am good.
I have to say that Africa has been the most difficult place (Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania) I have traveled, but really it is just weird circumstances. Many people here are poor and it is hard to blame them when you are not being careful and you are creating easy opportunities for them to steal from you. And most of the local people that I have come across have been very lovely and helpful, so I don't want to let a few unfortunate experiences taint my overall experience here. I keep hoping that it will get better, and in some ways it has because I am handling the difficulties much better than before.
Hope you are all well, and I look forward to exploring Tanzania and having a great time here, even if there are a few more bumps in the road!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Goodbye Ghana ... At Least For Now
Oh Ghana. What can I say about you - sometimes I love you and sometimes I just want to leave you, and so I am spending my last few hours in Ghana sort of sad that I will be leaving. Due to my unfortunately immigration issues, I will be leaving my placement in Ghana. However, the good news is that I am heading to East Africa! First, I will be heading to Nairobi, Kenya and then off to Tanzania to finish my placement.
But before I leave, I wanted to share some funny interactions/expressions that I have heard or picked up in Ghana.
In a few hours, the Black Stars will be taking the field against Uruguay, and I will be sporting my Ghanaian sweat wrist band in support of the best African team. Go Black Stars!!! And I will see you again Ghana in a few months :)
But before I leave, I wanted to share some funny interactions/expressions that I have heard or picked up in Ghana.
- Your phone is misbehaving.
- You're a nice girl. I take you as my wife. Would you like that?
- I take you as my friend. Buy me water.
- I'm coming (however, I may not get there for another hour or so).
- We score you (my Ghanaian friends constantly telling me over the telephone in the US v. Ghana football match).
In a few hours, the Black Stars will be taking the field against Uruguay, and I will be sporting my Ghanaian sweat wrist band in support of the best African team. Go Black Stars!!! And I will see you again Ghana in a few months :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)