March 5, 2009

Mboni – At Kate Yusi’s site right now. Her house is on a hill near Marangu, which happens to be the gate to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro; the people here (Chagga) grow lots of bananas, and the area is mountainous – her site is also relatively cold. Kate is an older volunteer, who had figured out a retirement plan before she left but whose stocks were hit badly in the credit crisis, so she’s not quite sure what’s going to happen after Peace Corps.
Spent yesterday in with Jacob and Kit. Jacob has a nice house, self-contained and walled off, on a cul de sac next to the teacher’s college he works at. The teaching colleges in this country are very poorly run - in a given year there may only be four or five months of classes, and the students are the ones who failed out of secondary schools. Kit finished Peace Corps last year and moved in with Jacob, and now works at a new foreign-run secondary school 9 km from Jacob’s house. She walks back and forth every day, followed by her students and primary school kids. I didn’t catch the name of her school but I got the impression it won’t be around for very long. The head of school and three of four teachers are foreigners, and none of them are paid anything at all so I can’t see this school continuing to attract foreign talent. This is the school’s first year, so there is only one form; I don’t think they’ll be able to handle another grade of students unless they expand rapidly. So far it has been successful though; her students are form ones and all know English exceptionally well.
Their house is in Edward Lowassa’s home district – Lowassa was a very corrupt Prime Minister who was paid off to resign last February, after a big scandal (Richmond) broke out. He peppered his home district with cash and development, so while he left Dar es Salaam in disgrace his people threw a huge welcome party for him. Their village feels something like rural Bulgaria, with tree-lined roads and brick buildings.
Last Sunday I ran the Kilimanjaro marathon. A bunch of volunteers came up to do it; Jacob, Leiha and I ran the whole thing (Tom walked). I was told after the fact that the course was difficult, one of the harder marathons out there. The first half was hilly but manageable, and I think I finished it in an hour and forty five minutes. The third quarter of the race was a long, 10 km uphill climb that killed my legs – I was going to crash anyway – and the whole thing took 4:21, which I’m told is a good time for a first marathon like this. I don’t know if I’ll continue to do lots of these, I think it may be too hard on my joints. Jacob ran barefoot but the asphalt was rough and ate up his feet; he had to buy sandals on the last quarter.