Umoja has a home! Yesterday's contract signing was successful, and the couple who owns the house left the meeting truly happy to have been able to help a new NGO get on its feet. The possibilities that having our own space opens up for us are basically endless. It is a HUGE step for the organization. It's given us new energy to keep working on the registration process -- Liza and I went to a government office today, where we were pretty much given the run-around by a bunch of incompetent employees, but we'll try again on Monday.
Government operations here are so unbelievable inefficient, I'll never whine about the RMV again. I now realize that virtually every US office is, by comparison, a remarkably smooth-running, clean, well-equipped office full of friendly, competent, well-trained people who know what they are doing. (I know ...)
If Monday's effort to penetrate the beaurocracy is successful, we'll take the bus down to Dar Es Salaam to try to continue the registration process ourselves there over the weekend. Time is flying by, and I'm happy to be busy.
(Happy almost Halloween!)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Fingers crossed ...
Last night, the Umoja Staff (me, Liza, Jessica, David, Linda [our visual art director] and Tiana [our dance director]) entered into a verbal agreement for a two-year contract on the BEST potential new home for Umoja that we've seen yet. We made the decision to go for the house very quickly.
We'd been engaged for a few weeks in a long decision process about another potential house. It was in a fabulous location, close to where the U.N. is conducting their Rwanda genocide tribunal, and we had received three bids for a renovation project. But almost all of us were getting cold feet about spending all this money on a place whose structural integrity and quality we couldn't really vouch for.
But two days ago, our long-suffering realtor, Rose, found us the perfect place, probably less than 200 yards from the fixer-upper headache house: a big compound with lots of parking, a main house and servants' quarters in excellent condition, tons of rooms, a lovely garden, and a former basketball court which is virtually a ready-made space for outdoor dance classes and even an in-the-round performance space. (The weather is so good almost all year in Tanzania that planning year-round outdoor dance classes isn't considered crazy.)
This afternoon Liza and Linda will attend the contract-signing meeting, in which (hopefully) our offer will be formally accepted. It's so exciting! And scary! Being part of an organization with six staff, basically unpaid, teaches you how much courage, work and foresight it takes to try to start an organization. A learning experience, certainly.
Cross your fingers for us. I'll update again.
We'd been engaged for a few weeks in a long decision process about another potential house. It was in a fabulous location, close to where the U.N. is conducting their Rwanda genocide tribunal, and we had received three bids for a renovation project. But almost all of us were getting cold feet about spending all this money on a place whose structural integrity and quality we couldn't really vouch for.
But two days ago, our long-suffering realtor, Rose, found us the perfect place, probably less than 200 yards from the fixer-upper headache house: a big compound with lots of parking, a main house and servants' quarters in excellent condition, tons of rooms, a lovely garden, and a former basketball court which is virtually a ready-made space for outdoor dance classes and even an in-the-round performance space. (The weather is so good almost all year in Tanzania that planning year-round outdoor dance classes isn't considered crazy.)
This afternoon Liza and Linda will attend the contract-signing meeting, in which (hopefully) our offer will be formally accepted. It's so exciting! And scary! Being part of an organization with six staff, basically unpaid, teaches you how much courage, work and foresight it takes to try to start an organization. A learning experience, certainly.
Cross your fingers for us. I'll update again.
Friday, October 19, 2007
We need a holidaa-ayyyyy ...
This week is ... well, WAS ... our mid-term break from teaching, and Jessica, Liza and I were all pretty eager to get out of Arusha for a change of pace. We got lucky enough to stay at our friend Tom's place in Pangani, a town on the coast of Tanzania, about six hours' drive south of Arusha. It was wonderfully relaxing and amazing to get to see this part of the country. The Indian Ocean is warm, bright and inviting ... the beaches of Pangani are almost unbelievably quiet and remote-feeling (compared to pretty much everything I've experienced). Some of the views make you feel as if you are dreaming. And people say it isn't nearly the prettiest coast in East Africa. Well, WHATever, I loved it.
After several hours' drive, we reached the coast, and took a quick ferry across the water to continue our trip. With us is Tom's stepdaughter, Irene:
Tom's place was a quiet, simple hut-shaped structure with a simple kitchen, a few beds, running water (but no electricity), and a fantastic porch on which we could all sit and read, drink tea, and stare at the ocean:
On our second way, we hired these guys to take us out on a somewhat dubious-looking boat, to a marine park where you can swim, snorkel, etc. It rained during our trip out to the marine park, and the boat pitched back and forth in a way that made me really nervous ... the trip was longer than I would've liked, but eventually we made it. I didn't take my camera, but it was like paradise! It was just a tiny dot of sand that got bigger and bigger as the tide went out. And I got to go snorkeling, which, as a Pisces and a former aspiring marine biologist, is something of a life-dream. All around this little island were small coral reefs full of beautiful tropical fish. I got a wicked sunburn while I was floating on my stomach down in fish-land, but it was worth it. Basically. On the way back, two of our party were fishing off the back of the boat ... and they caught a GIANT barracuda! I mean, I guess barracuda are pretty big. When it leapt thrashing from the water, we all gasped and yelled. It was huge, and had pointy teeth. The ancient, slow-moving African guy who appeared to be the captain of our ship (but also appeared really stoned) came over to the barracuda, seized it by the gills, and squeezed the life out of it. Its jaws still snapped a few times, too close for comfort. Once we landed back on shore, I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and captured both the boat and the beast for posterity:
Now there's just seven weeks of teaching before I return home for Christmas, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the days. I'm doing fine here, but absolutely can't wait to be home. With lots of love,
Ellen
After several hours' drive, we reached the coast, and took a quick ferry across the water to continue our trip. With us is Tom's stepdaughter, Irene:
Tom's place was a quiet, simple hut-shaped structure with a simple kitchen, a few beds, running water (but no electricity), and a fantastic porch on which we could all sit and read, drink tea, and stare at the ocean:
On our second way, we hired these guys to take us out on a somewhat dubious-looking boat, to a marine park where you can swim, snorkel, etc. It rained during our trip out to the marine park, and the boat pitched back and forth in a way that made me really nervous ... the trip was longer than I would've liked, but eventually we made it. I didn't take my camera, but it was like paradise! It was just a tiny dot of sand that got bigger and bigger as the tide went out. And I got to go snorkeling, which, as a Pisces and a former aspiring marine biologist, is something of a life-dream. All around this little island were small coral reefs full of beautiful tropical fish. I got a wicked sunburn while I was floating on my stomach down in fish-land, but it was worth it. Basically. On the way back, two of our party were fishing off the back of the boat ... and they caught a GIANT barracuda! I mean, I guess barracuda are pretty big. When it leapt thrashing from the water, we all gasped and yelled. It was huge, and had pointy teeth. The ancient, slow-moving African guy who appeared to be the captain of our ship (but also appeared really stoned) came over to the barracuda, seized it by the gills, and squeezed the life out of it. Its jaws still snapped a few times, too close for comfort. Once we landed back on shore, I ran inside, grabbed my camera, and captured both the boat and the beast for posterity:
Now there's just seven weeks of teaching before I return home for Christmas, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the days. I'm doing fine here, but absolutely can't wait to be home. With lots of love,
Ellen
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Handel's Maasai
Yesterday Liza, Jessica, and I played in the "orchestra" for a pretty crazy choral concert at the Lutheran church in Arusha. It was a fundraiser for the hospice of one of the largest hospitals here. About twelve choirs from around Arusha were performing, and they were each performing a big chorus from -- you guessed it -- Handel's Messiah, in addition to one traditional Tanzanian choral piece. (On the phone with Liza, our Tanzanian guitar teacher, David, called it 'Handel's Maasai' in earnest. David isn't even Maasai. Anyway ...)
This was the Messiah in Swahili.
It was, of course, insane. Randy and Carol Stubbs, two American musicians who run the only music bachelor's degree program in the whole country, helped to coordinate the concert. Randy told crazy stories about going to visit each of the choirs and check out their progress, and discovering they'd been singing it in a completely different key than what the orchestra was playing in. Or realizing that no one in any of these choirs could read music, and that they were learning "For Unto Us a Child is Born" by ear. There were definitely a couple of choirs who ended about a half step flat of the orchestra ...
And, in typical Africa style, the event started very late and took twice as long as expected. It seems every Tanzanian (and American!) representative of the hospital needed to give a long speech, which then had to be translated for everyone. We were at the church from 12:30-6:20; the performance ran from about 3-6:30. We were ready to tear our hair out/hysterically laugh by the time all twelve choirs finally piled onto the stage for the finale of the Hallelujah Chorus.
It made me think of the McSweeney family Christmas Eve ... which brings me to my next point. I'm coming home for Christmas! A tag team effort between me, Tyler, my parents, and my Poppa Joe has resulted in a British Airways ticket, purchased today! I missed Christmas last year, and I hate to miss it twice in a row. I'm so, so excited to come home. Should be home Dec 17-Jan 11. It will be amazing to be in the comforting nest of home for a few weeks. I'm hoping to have a fundraising recital for the Umoja Arts Project while I'm home ... any old friends want to play chamber music for a good cause?
Lots of love,
Ellen
This was the Messiah in Swahili.
It was, of course, insane. Randy and Carol Stubbs, two American musicians who run the only music bachelor's degree program in the whole country, helped to coordinate the concert. Randy told crazy stories about going to visit each of the choirs and check out their progress, and discovering they'd been singing it in a completely different key than what the orchestra was playing in. Or realizing that no one in any of these choirs could read music, and that they were learning "For Unto Us a Child is Born" by ear. There were definitely a couple of choirs who ended about a half step flat of the orchestra ...
And, in typical Africa style, the event started very late and took twice as long as expected. It seems every Tanzanian (and American!) representative of the hospital needed to give a long speech, which then had to be translated for everyone. We were at the church from 12:30-6:20; the performance ran from about 3-6:30. We were ready to tear our hair out/hysterically laugh by the time all twelve choirs finally piled onto the stage for the finale of the Hallelujah Chorus.
It made me think of the McSweeney family Christmas Eve ... which brings me to my next point. I'm coming home for Christmas! A tag team effort between me, Tyler, my parents, and my Poppa Joe has resulted in a British Airways ticket, purchased today! I missed Christmas last year, and I hate to miss it twice in a row. I'm so, so excited to come home. Should be home Dec 17-Jan 11. It will be amazing to be in the comforting nest of home for a few weeks. I'm hoping to have a fundraising recital for the Umoja Arts Project while I'm home ... any old friends want to play chamber music for a good cause?
Lots of love,
Ellen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)