Things are no where near back to normal, but a little but more under control. The faculty here have been directed that they have to continue teaching the international/temporary students regardless of the number that are in each class so most of our courses have resumed, or will soon.
The three courses that I have back right now have been rearranged and condensed. Originally those students who had to leave before the semester finished were just going to take the final early and miss out on the end of the semester. However, now that our professors are focused solely on teaching us, they are trying to fit the rest of the semester into the next 3 weeks. Lots of work to do!
As much as we (the international students) are inconvenienced by this whole ordeal, its nothing compared to the impact that it has on the Tanzanians involved. The students, are kicked off campus, but many cannot afford to go home and so are struggling to find places to stay in Dar.
The whole reason they were rioting in the first place was because of the way their loans have been handled this year. It took several weeks for them to get the stipends that they live off of (some are still waiting), and then when they did get them it was only in a quartered amount instead of full. They have no money, and now many have no secure place to stay.
Along with the students, the workers on campus, in the stores and cafeterias are also no longer working. Even the daladala conductors and drivers who run through campus are affected because the population that they used to transport is no longer here.
My roommate just came by to visit, and none of the students seem to have any idea of when they will be allowed to return, or what is going to happen. Rumors have been flying around that they will be back in a week, others that they won't be back until next year. - I'll keep you updated!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Classes...
So now, off of my soap box I have other major news to share.
While we were still in Rwanda Jinna got a phone call from the American Embassy in Tanzania asking her how she was doing because they had gotten word that students were being evicted from campus.
When we left campus on Thursday of last week the student riot was just getting heated and pre-strike demonstrations were happening, but nothing serious. We were informed by others still on campus that the strike officially began on Monday.
(Taken from a local newspaper)
According to student bylaws if the student body strikes lasted for 3 days or longer classes would be canceled for the rest of the semester.
And they are.
We got back to Dar es Salaam last night, and the campus looks just like it did this summer before students arrived. The large cafeterias are closed, the small shops empty, and the people are gone. There is little evidence that I ever had a roommate, or other floormates.
Apparently it is up to our individual professors if they want to continue giving lectures to only international/temporary students. Although some have given the impression that this could happen, I doubt that it will. Tanzanians are notoriously hesitant in giving bad news, and I don’t see how we could continue having lectures and seminars in the same manner that we had been.
Thankfully my program is set up to guarantee that I receive academic credit for the semester through the assignments and research that we have in addition to our course work. However I had planned on getting a GE and SoAn elective out of the way as well, and now that that isn’t possible I’m not sure that I can complete both of my majors.
Ooooh Tanzania.
Yesterday was the one month mark before my return home. I can’t wait to be back and to see everyone! I can’t believe how fast time has gone and how much has happened.
Despite the fact that I know time has passed on your side of the world, I fully expect it to be late summer when I land in Minneapolis in December. It hard to believe that I’m sweating in my dorm room typing this, as many of you are bundled in layers of clothing with heat emitting from your radiators.
See you soon!
While we were still in Rwanda Jinna got a phone call from the American Embassy in Tanzania asking her how she was doing because they had gotten word that students were being evicted from campus.
When we left campus on Thursday of last week the student riot was just getting heated and pre-strike demonstrations were happening, but nothing serious. We were informed by others still on campus that the strike officially began on Monday.
(Taken from a local newspaper)According to student bylaws if the student body strikes lasted for 3 days or longer classes would be canceled for the rest of the semester.
And they are.
We got back to Dar es Salaam last night, and the campus looks just like it did this summer before students arrived. The large cafeterias are closed, the small shops empty, and the people are gone. There is little evidence that I ever had a roommate, or other floormates.
Apparently it is up to our individual professors if they want to continue giving lectures to only international/temporary students. Although some have given the impression that this could happen, I doubt that it will. Tanzanians are notoriously hesitant in giving bad news, and I don’t see how we could continue having lectures and seminars in the same manner that we had been.
Thankfully my program is set up to guarantee that I receive academic credit for the semester through the assignments and research that we have in addition to our course work. However I had planned on getting a GE and SoAn elective out of the way as well, and now that that isn’t possible I’m not sure that I can complete both of my majors.
Ooooh Tanzania.
Yesterday was the one month mark before my return home. I can’t wait to be back and to see everyone! I can’t believe how fast time has gone and how much has happened.
Despite the fact that I know time has passed on your side of the world, I fully expect it to be late summer when I land in Minneapolis in December. It hard to believe that I’m sweating in my dorm room typing this, as many of you are bundled in layers of clothing with heat emitting from your radiators.
See you soon!
Rwanda!
Tuesday was spent traveling from Uganda to Rwanda. We made friends with two American guys also staying in our hostel who happened to be going to the same place, and traveled with them all day. It turns out that they are both scientologists... needless to say we had some interesting conversations.
Wednesday morning was spent trying to figure out how to get back to Dar. Getting into Rwanda had been sooo easy (we didn’t even have to pay fro Visas! We think that it’s because of all the NGO’s in Rwanda but America, along with a handful of other seemingly random countries don’t have to pay entrance fees)... leaving was a completely different situation. The problem is that there is really only one good border crossing going back into East Africa and it was the one that we had already come through.
After spending the early morning and afternoon riding around town on our new favorite mode of public transportation, the bodaboda (motorcycles) we finally landed at our intended destination for the trip to Rwanda.
(In case the blonde hair didn't tip you off - that's me)
The Genocide Memorial Mueseum was AMAZING – in a tragic and horrible sort of way, and was definitely worth the trip. I was near tears for a good portion of the time we spent there.
(outside of the museum)
The museum is set up on two levels – the lower one winding through the history, background and development of the genocide, and the upper one split into two different memorials; the first for children who died in the Rwandan Genocide and the other a historical background to genocide worldwide specifically looking at Kosovo, Namibia, the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Cambodia.
You would have no idea that a genocide had ever taken place in Kigali – that the whole city was wiped out and covered in blood only 14 years ago. Kigali is beautiful beyond belief, by far the cleanest city that I’ve been in Africa and very safe.
After leaving the museum though it was impossible to look at Rwanda in the same light. The atrocities that happened there are unfathomable to me. I heard a quote once, in reference to the Holocaust but most definitely applicable here, which went something along the lines of: “What scares me most is not how many evil people there are in the world, but how easily good people are convinced to do evil things.”
As much as I love that statement though, I think what scares me the most goes beyond the obviously terrifying events that happened, to the root of all of the problems; white people of course. The Tutsis, Hutus and Twa people all used to live together in harmony, in fact those classifications were based on person’s socio-economic status and people were capable of moving from one class to another.
When colonization happened though, the French misjudged these classes as ethnic groups and proceeded to organize and label each member of society (assigning ID cards), choosing the Hutus as the superior race and ultimately creating the animosity between these groups of people.
It’s remarkable the impact that we have had on the world in our efforts to ‘make it a better place’ and ‘help develop it’. The lack of effort put into truly understanding the structure of Rwandan society set in motion a major cultural division, which in turn cost 800,000 lives.
It’s remarkable. How often has our ignorance led to such atrocities?
Wednesday morning was spent trying to figure out how to get back to Dar. Getting into Rwanda had been sooo easy (we didn’t even have to pay fro Visas! We think that it’s because of all the NGO’s in Rwanda but America, along with a handful of other seemingly random countries don’t have to pay entrance fees)... leaving was a completely different situation. The problem is that there is really only one good border crossing going back into East Africa and it was the one that we had already come through.
After spending the early morning and afternoon riding around town on our new favorite mode of public transportation, the bodaboda (motorcycles) we finally landed at our intended destination for the trip to Rwanda.
(In case the blonde hair didn't tip you off - that's me)The Genocide Memorial Mueseum was AMAZING – in a tragic and horrible sort of way, and was definitely worth the trip. I was near tears for a good portion of the time we spent there.
(outside of the museum)The museum is set up on two levels – the lower one winding through the history, background and development of the genocide, and the upper one split into two different memorials; the first for children who died in the Rwandan Genocide and the other a historical background to genocide worldwide specifically looking at Kosovo, Namibia, the Holocaust, Bosnia, and Cambodia.
You would have no idea that a genocide had ever taken place in Kigali – that the whole city was wiped out and covered in blood only 14 years ago. Kigali is beautiful beyond belief, by far the cleanest city that I’ve been in Africa and very safe.
After leaving the museum though it was impossible to look at Rwanda in the same light. The atrocities that happened there are unfathomable to me. I heard a quote once, in reference to the Holocaust but most definitely applicable here, which went something along the lines of: “What scares me most is not how many evil people there are in the world, but how easily good people are convinced to do evil things.”
As much as I love that statement though, I think what scares me the most goes beyond the obviously terrifying events that happened, to the root of all of the problems; white people of course. The Tutsis, Hutus and Twa people all used to live together in harmony, in fact those classifications were based on person’s socio-economic status and people were capable of moving from one class to another.
When colonization happened though, the French misjudged these classes as ethnic groups and proceeded to organize and label each member of society (assigning ID cards), choosing the Hutus as the superior race and ultimately creating the animosity between these groups of people.
It’s remarkable the impact that we have had on the world in our efforts to ‘make it a better place’ and ‘help develop it’. The lack of effort put into truly understanding the structure of Rwandan society set in motion a major cultural division, which in turn cost 800,000 lives.
It’s remarkable. How often has our ignorance led to such atrocities?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Rafting!
So white water rafting in Uganda is in no way the same as white water rafting in the states! The basic ingredients are the same but it's waaaaay more intense!
Rapids are ranked on a scale from 1 to 6 based on their difficulty. I've gone rafting I think 4 times in the US but I'm pretty sure the highest class I had ever done before was 3. Which is what we had originally signed up to do here, but somehow ended up getting talked into doing Class 5...
(Me, Mandi, Jinna, Bronwen and Michelle + random guy who jumped in the picture)
The two Canadian girls we had met the day before came with us so we had the perfect number of people for a raft with the addition of our guide, Juma (which means 'day' in Kiswahili). Juma was hilarious and joked around with us all day which made the whole experience 10 times better.
The run that we did has 12 rapids on it and cover 30 km. Now, I have never ever fallen out of the raft, let alone flipped the entire raft while on the water before... and I was petrified to that it would happen. Approximately 5 minutes after we got in the raft I found myself in the water! Juma made us all jump out of the raft and then make our way back in again just for practice - this was a bad sign.
We got back in the raft and headed down river a little ways. Just before we got to a tiny class 1 rapid Juma made us all get out of the boat again and float down the rapid on our own - no raft... I started questioning the whole class 5 rapid experience at this point...
We made it through the first real rapid just fine, and as we're approaching the second one Juma informed us that this rapid had been renamed in his honor... because he had yet to make it through horizontally. AHHHH! We begged and pleaded with him to do everything he could to get through without flipping... it didn't work.
Out of all 12 rapids we flipped 5 times! And it was amazing! Of course, there was a safety boat that always went ahead of the rafters, along with a fleet of (very cute) safety kayakers who paddled in to the rescue of any rafter that happened to misplace their boat.
(Don't worry, we weren't allowed to raft down this guy - class 6)
I swallowed my fair share of Nile River water - but it was well worth it! Aaand the group of us purchased the video that was made of the day so anyone who is interested is more than welcome to take part in the experience via television when I get back!
Rapids are ranked on a scale from 1 to 6 based on their difficulty. I've gone rafting I think 4 times in the US but I'm pretty sure the highest class I had ever done before was 3. Which is what we had originally signed up to do here, but somehow ended up getting talked into doing Class 5...
(Me, Mandi, Jinna, Bronwen and Michelle + random guy who jumped in the picture)The two Canadian girls we had met the day before came with us so we had the perfect number of people for a raft with the addition of our guide, Juma (which means 'day' in Kiswahili). Juma was hilarious and joked around with us all day which made the whole experience 10 times better.
The run that we did has 12 rapids on it and cover 30 km. Now, I have never ever fallen out of the raft, let alone flipped the entire raft while on the water before... and I was petrified to that it would happen. Approximately 5 minutes after we got in the raft I found myself in the water! Juma made us all jump out of the raft and then make our way back in again just for practice - this was a bad sign.
We got back in the raft and headed down river a little ways. Just before we got to a tiny class 1 rapid Juma made us all get out of the boat again and float down the rapid on our own - no raft... I started questioning the whole class 5 rapid experience at this point...
We made it through the first real rapid just fine, and as we're approaching the second one Juma informed us that this rapid had been renamed in his honor... because he had yet to make it through horizontally. AHHHH! We begged and pleaded with him to do everything he could to get through without flipping... it didn't work.
Out of all 12 rapids we flipped 5 times! And it was amazing! Of course, there was a safety boat that always went ahead of the rafters, along with a fleet of (very cute) safety kayakers who paddled in to the rescue of any rafter that happened to misplace their boat.
(Don't worry, we weren't allowed to raft down this guy - class 6)I swallowed my fair share of Nile River water - but it was well worth it! Aaand the group of us purchased the video that was made of the day so anyone who is interested is more than welcome to take part in the experience via television when I get back!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Election and travels!
So, as everyone in the entire world is aware, Tuesday was election day!!!
The bigger deal here was Wednesday though, as we're 8 hours ahead of East Coast time. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready and catch a cab to the US Embassy for a "Results Return Party". The party was scheduled to go from 7 to 11, but when we arrived at approximately 6:53 Obama already had 283 electoral votes.
I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed that we didn't get to watch any of the build up, but it was amazing to be there and gather with all sorts of Americans and Embassy workers to watch both Obama and McCain's speeches.
I have not been that happy for such a long time. I wore my "Tanzania for Obama" T-shirt all day long, and everywhere I went people would yell "Yeah! Obama!" All of the people that would usually annoy and harass me were congratulating me and wanting to talk about the election - it was amazing!
I don't know if you can get a feel for just how excited the rest of the world is about this election from America - but the love for our next president is incredible!
After doing a fair amount of celebrating I packed up my stuff and a group of 5 of us left Thursday morning for Uganda. We passed through Kenya on the way, and I was secretly hoping that at one of our stops we would find ourselves in the midst of a "National Obama Day" celebration (since the Kenyan president declared the 6th a National Holiday) - but we didn't. :-(
I actually was sadly only awake for approximately 3 hours of our trek through Kenya - but they were a beautiful 3 hours. The area of the country that we drove through was lush and green and gorgeous! There were all sorts of farms and foliage and small villages everywhere and the whole place just looked peaceful and happy. I realize that I am basing this judgment solely on the amount of green things that I saw - but I loved it.
Uganda, is much the same. Kampala is not nearly as big as Dar, but far more developed and westernized. I'm hoping that we will get to explore the city more before we leave but our future plans are pending.
As of now here's what my next week looks like: Tomorrow we are getting picked up by our rafting company, driving the hour or so to the river and spending the day on it. We stay the night in the town neighboring (Jinja??) and then head back to Kampala on Sunday. Then, I THINK, we are staying here again on Monday.
Tuesday is where our old plans derail completely. We are hoping on a bus and heading to Rwanda! AH! When we arrived at our hostel this afternoon, we met two girls from Canada who have been traveling around East Africa for the past two months - and after hearing a bunch of their stories and highlights we decided that we would travel back through Rwanda instead of going back through Kenya again.
The main reason for our going to Rwanda is to check out the Genocide Museum in Kigali. The Canadians said the museum alone was worth the trip. SO WE'RE GOING!
After Rwanda we re-enter Tanzania and are thinking about taking a 48 hour train ride back to Dar. That's up in the air still, but we've got time to work that part out.
(Me and Mandi - Classes?? What classes?)
Now I know some of you are sitting thinking "What about your classes young lady?" and honestly, this was conflicting in my mind to... until I realized that it would be absolutely INSANE of me to pass up the opportunity to go to Rwanda just because of an assignment or two that I have to do at the University. I didn't come here for a purely book-education!
I will keep you posted!
The bigger deal here was Wednesday though, as we're 8 hours ahead of East Coast time. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to get ready and catch a cab to the US Embassy for a "Results Return Party". The party was scheduled to go from 7 to 11, but when we arrived at approximately 6:53 Obama already had 283 electoral votes.
I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed that we didn't get to watch any of the build up, but it was amazing to be there and gather with all sorts of Americans and Embassy workers to watch both Obama and McCain's speeches.
I have not been that happy for such a long time. I wore my "Tanzania for Obama" T-shirt all day long, and everywhere I went people would yell "Yeah! Obama!" All of the people that would usually annoy and harass me were congratulating me and wanting to talk about the election - it was amazing!
I don't know if you can get a feel for just how excited the rest of the world is about this election from America - but the love for our next president is incredible!
After doing a fair amount of celebrating I packed up my stuff and a group of 5 of us left Thursday morning for Uganda. We passed through Kenya on the way, and I was secretly hoping that at one of our stops we would find ourselves in the midst of a "National Obama Day" celebration (since the Kenyan president declared the 6th a National Holiday) - but we didn't. :-(
I actually was sadly only awake for approximately 3 hours of our trek through Kenya - but they were a beautiful 3 hours. The area of the country that we drove through was lush and green and gorgeous! There were all sorts of farms and foliage and small villages everywhere and the whole place just looked peaceful and happy. I realize that I am basing this judgment solely on the amount of green things that I saw - but I loved it.
Uganda, is much the same. Kampala is not nearly as big as Dar, but far more developed and westernized. I'm hoping that we will get to explore the city more before we leave but our future plans are pending.
As of now here's what my next week looks like: Tomorrow we are getting picked up by our rafting company, driving the hour or so to the river and spending the day on it. We stay the night in the town neighboring (Jinja??) and then head back to Kampala on Sunday. Then, I THINK, we are staying here again on Monday.
Tuesday is where our old plans derail completely. We are hoping on a bus and heading to Rwanda! AH! When we arrived at our hostel this afternoon, we met two girls from Canada who have been traveling around East Africa for the past two months - and after hearing a bunch of their stories and highlights we decided that we would travel back through Rwanda instead of going back through Kenya again.
The main reason for our going to Rwanda is to check out the Genocide Museum in Kigali. The Canadians said the museum alone was worth the trip. SO WE'RE GOING!
After Rwanda we re-enter Tanzania and are thinking about taking a 48 hour train ride back to Dar. That's up in the air still, but we've got time to work that part out.
(Me and Mandi - Classes?? What classes?)Now I know some of you are sitting thinking "What about your classes young lady?" and honestly, this was conflicting in my mind to... until I realized that it would be absolutely INSANE of me to pass up the opportunity to go to Rwanda just because of an assignment or two that I have to do at the University. I didn't come here for a purely book-education!
I will keep you posted!
Monday, November 3, 2008
So classes have started! Yay!!
After the initial week of nothing happening, things slowly got started. The second week only two of my classes started, the third week I had three. The fourth week I started my fourth class, but with all of the rearranging of schedules I had to drop one of the earlier ones because of conflicting class times.
Now in the 7th week of classes I finally have all of mine in place. I am taking: Race, Class and Ethnicity; Medical Sociology and Anthropology; African Literature and Foundations of Textile Design.
The week of October 20th was a bit of a mess here. One of our students was involved in an attack on campus. She is physically ok, but we spent the week taking care of her and trying to get her the help that she needed while working on improving campus security.
On Wednesday our professor Lori and another staff member at Luther flew out to help us deal with the situation and throw their weight around campus to get things moving. They got a lot done, and talked to several important people who will continue to push the university to improve safety and security on campus.
Unfortunately the student who was involved in the incident ended up going home. I think that it was all for the best, but it was hard to say good-bye to one of my best friends here. She will definitely be missed.
Having said good-bye to her, I’m realizing that my time here is almost up too. I only have 6 weekends left – and still so many things that I want to do! This week on either Wednesday (after we watch the election results come in at the American embassy) or Thursday I am going with a couple other students to Uganda to do some white-water rafting… in the Nile!
I’m excited to get away from Dar for a little while, and to have a break from campus. As long as I’m not eaten by crocodiles or hippopotami it should be an amazing experience! For the record I am a little nervous about the creatures of the Nile, but I highly doubt that crocs and hippos enjoy hanging out in white water rapids…
And of course leaving the country to should create plenty of exciting to stories to share - so hopefully I will be better about updating my blog with stories for you all in a timelier manner!
After the initial week of nothing happening, things slowly got started. The second week only two of my classes started, the third week I had three. The fourth week I started my fourth class, but with all of the rearranging of schedules I had to drop one of the earlier ones because of conflicting class times.
Now in the 7th week of classes I finally have all of mine in place. I am taking: Race, Class and Ethnicity; Medical Sociology and Anthropology; African Literature and Foundations of Textile Design.
The week of October 20th was a bit of a mess here. One of our students was involved in an attack on campus. She is physically ok, but we spent the week taking care of her and trying to get her the help that she needed while working on improving campus security.
On Wednesday our professor Lori and another staff member at Luther flew out to help us deal with the situation and throw their weight around campus to get things moving. They got a lot done, and talked to several important people who will continue to push the university to improve safety and security on campus.
Unfortunately the student who was involved in the incident ended up going home. I think that it was all for the best, but it was hard to say good-bye to one of my best friends here. She will definitely be missed.
Having said good-bye to her, I’m realizing that my time here is almost up too. I only have 6 weekends left – and still so many things that I want to do! This week on either Wednesday (after we watch the election results come in at the American embassy) or Thursday I am going with a couple other students to Uganda to do some white-water rafting… in the Nile!
I’m excited to get away from Dar for a little while, and to have a break from campus. As long as I’m not eaten by crocodiles or hippopotami it should be an amazing experience! For the record I am a little nervous about the creatures of the Nile, but I highly doubt that crocs and hippos enjoy hanging out in white water rapids…
And of course leaving the country to should create plenty of exciting to stories to share - so hopefully I will be better about updating my blog with stories for you all in a timelier manner!
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