Blog 7-20-2010 Contributed from the back of the bus and compiled by CAL.
We are up early to start our journey to Njombe. We have coffee and tea at 5:30 and Mike shares granola bars. Our stay at TEC was comfortable. Dar at sea level was very warm and humid. It is a constant beehive of activity.
Dar es Salaam seems to be under construction and destruction…building buildings and roads, tearing down to make room for new or adding on to what is there. Vendors are everywhere and line both sides of streets. Product is carried on heads, in carts, on bicycles, and motorized carts. Vendors are selling fruit, soda, tropical plantings, furniture, wood, charcoal, sugar cane, art, and crafts.
Young women in Dar wear jeans, dresses and colorful business clothes. Mature women wear dresses and traditional clothes. The young men are wearing jeans and slacks while the mature men are wearing business clothes and traditional shirts. All the clothing has lots of color and pattern. School students are in uniform – always a white shirt or blouse and sometimes a necktie and dark skirt or trousers. …They may also have a sweater.
The traffic and people are endless (a city of 4,000,000). There are vehicles of every make and model and condition. The dala dalas (think – the VW bus) carry 18 – 20! (5 seats across the back and 3 rows of 4… plus those sharing seats or standing!) The driving seems chaotic with endless streams of people going to work or school…and yet it all works!
There is the constant contrast of large homes in gated compounds to makeshift shelters.
MV adds: Millions of people all busy selling and going somewhere unknown to us but to them life, day by day survival and most believing God will provide.
We enjoyed some karanga (peanuts) and ndizi (bananas) from roadside vendors.
We started the day with cats at TEC and dogs and chickens leaving Dar. Then came goats and sheep and some Masaii with cattle tethered by their hind leg. Sisal was being harvested. As we traveled through Mikumi National Park we saw giraffes, water buffalo, impala, baboons, and zebras,
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Lulu, 7 years, traveled with us. Her dad is our driver and she visited her sister in Dar. She has been a great traveler and never once asked “Are we there yet?!” Her dad is a great driver navigating roads under construction, traffice stoppage and speed bumps!
It is now about 5:05 p.m. and we’ve just finished eating in Iringa…unfortunately Lulu’s was closed.
We arrived at the Chani about 8:00 and were greeted by Diocese staff with dinner. We had a choice of ugali, rice, chips, beef, chicken, greens, tomatoes, and avocadoes. Delicious!
Colleen Last
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