Ray's report to Family V

We then went to the local secondary school in Hagati.  We met the headmaster, Mr. M’bunda, who was fantastic.  He was young and energetic and this is his first headmaster posting.  It was he that organized the caravan to go over TERRIBLE roads at night to get out to Jenna and Joe’s body.  He stayed and helped Jenna who was in shock.  He communicated several times an hour with Salome  about their progress. We then met the Mayor and some prominent townspeople.  They had rented a car to go out with us. Together we drove out to the “rock”.

It was a dreaded time.  We could see the rock at Mbuji sticking up intermittently as we crawled along a terrible road.  On the way back we would have to tow the other car out in one spot.

As we got closer, Greg told us how he had taken some of his students  up the rock in preparation for climbing Kili.  He told us that at many places you were a misstep away from death.  

When we got to the village, the villagers came to greet us.  It was they who initially ran out to the rock and helped with Jenna and stayed with Joe’s body until help came. The local villagers close to the Rock didn’t even speak much Kiswahili, but spoke in a tribal dialect.  Maybe 20 villagers were there, men, women and children.  

Before we set off for the short walk to the Rock, they passed out cassava flour to make an offering to the local spirits.  There is an offering area right next to the Rock, and the Rock is spiritually important to them.  They feel ancestors and spirits live there.  It is the second largest rock in East Africa.

The rock is a single fairly smooth haystack or grayish rock that is totally separate from the surrounding geologic strata, which is mostly red dirt.  It is deceptively steep in has very few features, such as ledges or cracks.  It has a spme growth of short grass and lichen.  It has two sides that are almost sheer.  From one angle it looks like a mini Half Dome.

The surrounding country side also has no distinctive landmarks, so it is easy to get disoriented from the top as you only see farmland all around, and its shape makes it difficult to see the route of descent over the Rock’s shoulders. Joe probably made a wrong turn near the top and was immediately in danger.

He fell a long way, and we went to where his body lay.  What a terrible, terrible spot.  Everyone drew back as Donna and I were crying, and gave us some privacy.  We placed two ceramic dove ornaments that were given to us by Myra for our first Christmas together.  We kneeled down and prayed for Joseph.  We prayed for Daniel and Kyle’s safety.  Donna and I recited the Our Father and other prayers.  We stood and spread Joe’s ashes and then we knelt again and I kissed the ground where Joe died.  We turned and again thanked everyone for helping or son and our family and for being there when we couldn’t.  It was not appropriate to bury the time capsule there, so we will bury it in our backyard instead. Then we went on the long drive back.

We left Amanda there as she was near her site.  She will finish in August and move to Denver and maybe do HR along with her boyfriend Marshall who is an environmental volunteer in forestry down south near Lindi.  She had just gotten back from her older brother’s wedding, which is part of the reason we gave her a lift back to her site.  But she went out of her way to accompany us and help us and talk about Joe. The four of us then drove the six hours to Iringa and we stayed at the Heritage hotel.

The next day we were to drive 11 hrs to Morogoro, so as to be only 4 hours from Dar.  We had a flight out that afternoon to Zanzibar and didn’t want to be too far from Dar.

As we were driving, I found out the Joseph’s regional director, Thomas retired to Morogoro.  We asked he and his wife to dinner that night and they accepted.

Thomas was like Joe’s father in Tanzania.  He d would interact with him in regards to everything.  He knew Joe really well.  I know Joe felt comfortable with him, because Thomas knew how Joe could get snappy when he was tired or hungry. 

Thomas is also a kindred sufferer as he has lost two children out of five.  Joseph actually went to the service for one of Thomas’ sons.  His son died in America, and his body took two terrible weeks to get back to Tanzania.  His wife had gone to the USA but Thomas couldn’t go.  He as very well educated, going to U Conn and holding high level Education Ministry jobs before becoming a PC regional district person.  He, Saria, Salome, his wife and Simon all knew each other very very well.

The next day we drove to Dar and met Andrea briefly and said goodbye to Saria and Salome.  Another driver, Moshi took us to Andreas to clean and repack for Zanzibar, and then took us to the airport.

The previous week and a half was like a convoluted dream.  It was packed with tense emotions and the meeting and talking with so many people who wanted to help us, who had helped Joe and we wanted to thank.  It is amazing that it all came off without a hitch.  After all it is Africa.  But it was all because so many people, particularly Andrea, Jen Harding, Amanda and Salome came together to make it happen.  We can never thank them enough.

I told them all that the trip was actually better for me than for Donna.  Donna knew she had to go back.  Like Thomas, I was resistant.  I just couldn’t face seeing and touching the Rock.

But the trip was much different.  To see all the people touched by Joe.  To see all they had done for our family.  To be supported by them and then to thank them was extremely helpful.

ZANZIBAR

We got an earlier flight that afternoon to Zanzibar and called our hotel to get early pickup. Andrea had actually bought us a phone and loaded her number and all of the contact numbers into it.  She gave that to us on the first night.  It was so thoughtful.  Unfortunately it stopped working on the trip to Mbuji.  That’s Africa.  Thankfully, Coastal Airlines let me use their fax to call the Mchanga Beach Lodge.  The came to pick us up and we stayed with Gloria and Thomas.  She was from Hempstead, but had moved to South Africa for 30 years.  Thomas was German and they moved to Zanzibar and built the 8 rooms Lodge, 4 years ago.  As opposed to the Old Boma, it was very well run.  There were only two other people there the first night as it is still the rainy season and not many tourists come to Zanzibar or do the Kili climb or the Serengeti at that time.  They left the next day and three Americans came that evening but we never saw them.  It was raining when we first came.

They had great food, such as local octopus and shrimp, etc.  That evening the tide that runs 12 feet was low, so we walked on the exposed reef, while the locals collected seaweed to dry for Japan and China and hunted among the rocks for octopus and other edible stuff.  I local guy came by and we hunted around together.  I found a sea snake, which was orange and white striped.  I didn’t have the camera as it was raining slightly.  I asked if they were poisonous and he said yes.  Then he tried to flip it up and kill it with his pliers so he could eat it.  Thankfully it got away.  I found a small crab and showed it to him.  He put it in his pocket to eat that night.  It turned out he was from the shops nest to the large Italian hotels down the beach, and he tried to get us to buy things.  That was a bit irritating.  

The next day the weather looked spotty.  Donna was tired and needed some downtime.  She went for a run on the long and mostly deserted beach.  I went for a walk. 

I wanted to try to fish so I went out with Zanzibar Game Fishing out of Nungwi.  Chris Goodwin, who moved to Zanzibar from England 13 years ago, runs it. I went out on the SuliSulli with Ofsthman, the Captain and his mate Stone.  The captain was from Zanzibar, but Stony was from Tanga up the coast to the north.  We meet a lot of people from Tanga.

We trolled swimmers and ballyhoo on out riggers.  Had one runoff, probably a Wahoo.  Then saw tuna, but couldn’t get a strike.  Saw dolphins.  Then had a 20lb bull Mahi Mahi on that jumped and threw the hook.  We were all disappointed.  I was sad not catching anything and they were sad not eating fresh fish.  But it was nice to relax and talk to the crew.  Stone was very nice and we talked about many things including Joe.  He had some interesting views on concubines, raising kids, Obama etc.

Our last full day in Zanzibar, we wanted to go snorkeling.  It turns out that I met the Zanzibar Divers desk person, Fin when I booked the fishing trip.  He was from England who was a dive master, traveling around the world.  He spent 4 years at Sharma-el-Sheik diving in the Red Sea before coming to Zanzibar.  He was planning to dive Indonesia next.  I mentioned to him that we wanted to snorkel the Mnembe Island Marine preserve and he organized everything with Gloria.

That morning we took a taxi out to Nungwi, and were met by Fin. The motorized dhow came from their other dive shop with about 15 scuba divers and three other snorkelers.  Stoney was one dive master and Ofstman was the skipper.  

We met a kid from Florida, Mark, who had visited a friend in Kili who was on a mission, then came out to see Zanzibar.  He was in computer technology. He knew our name presumably from hearing it at the airport.

We also met some Canadian young men who had gone to climb Kili then went to Zanzibar for R and R.  Some made it up.  They were college swimmers in the recent past, some from Waterloo.

It was interesting to see the changes in Scuba diving equipment and procedures.  Some of the group was doing open water certification.  I realized that it was 40 years to the month that I was certified as a scuba diver and things had really changed.  The first dive site was too shallow and had current.  Plus, two of the snorkelers wanted life jackets.  The orange vests really hampered them.

I was disappointed.  However, it was a two-tank dive so we had lunch and moved to a wall site.  A wall has a deep drop off.  As such it was much richer in sights.  It was probably the best dive site I have seen for size, variety and numbers of fish.  The coral was OK and the visibility was good.  The water was warm.  Plus, the weather had turned sunny.  It was a nice day.  We got home and had another great dinner.

We woke and again ran/walked the deserted beach had breakfast and took the taxi to Stone Town.  We walked to narrow winding streets and saw the carved doors.  All the shops had the same stuff.  Amanda had told us of a sandal maker and we were hot to get sandals.  Initially, we couldn’t find the shop, and I told Donna just to get the sandals we saw in every shop.  But she persevered and we found it!  It was hot and we went to a restaurant, Archipelago recommended by Amanda and had octopus and shrimp and Tanzanian coffee.  Then the cab brought us to the airport and we flew to Dar to be picked up by Moshi and taken to Andrea’s.  

We cleaned up and she had a dinner party. 

One thins we talked about was Lolionde.  Lolionde is witch doctor that has “discovered” a bark that cures HIV and cancers when made into a tea.  He sells the stuff and it is terrible, because people rush to take the tea and forget safe sex and anti HIV medicines.  He links it to “faith” so that if you are not cured, it is because you didn’t have faith, not because the tea didn’t work.  The tea probably has some medicinal effect as the Masai have used it for years.  But it cannot cure like he says it can.

We got up early this AM and had breakfast with Andrea and Mustafa, got to the airport and are now on the 10 hour flight to London.

I realized that we have gone to the Dar airport more than any other international airport.

It was amazing that such a complicated trip with so many events and people involved and with such distances to drive and multiple flights actually came off without a hitch.  It is totally due to the help of so many people, but particularly Andrea, Jen and Amy Parker.

I am sorry this has been so lengthy, but the trip was important to me and I didn’t want to forget anything.  Donna has a diary, but this is easier for me with my poor penmanship.

Love Ray and Donna

Rays report to Family IV

When we arrived at the airport Toby and a volunteer, Amanda Boyle, met us. Amanda is an environment volunteer from the Michigan Upper Peninsula, teaching about sustainable forests by helping plant various species such as pine for wood and teak plants to sell for reforestation elsewhere as a cash crop. She had been just a few months in country when she met Joe out in the southwest of Tanzania. The day before he died, he spent 10 hours on a hike with Amanda from Mbuji over the mountains to Lake Malawi. They talked the whole time and it was very comforting to me to know that Joseph was with people he was happy with. He was comfortable with Amanda, and told her so many things about himself, his plans and our family. He was happy. He was studying for the MCATs. They went to a graduation dance at St. Luises’ the two days before he died.

They took us to a restaurant, the Black Tomato and shopping area, then we went to the Slipway and bought some Kitengas or colorful cloth wraps. Typical tourist trip.

We then went to the Peace Corps office and saw Andrea, Country Director, who had come back with Joe’s body. In Tanzania you cannot keep a body by itself at night so Mary Sunny, and Salome and Saria had taken turns staying watch over Joe’s body for the days it took to get to Dar. We were able to meet and thank all the staff that knew Joe and helped after his death. It was quite emotional, realizing how many people were affected by Joe’s death and how many had helped. I realized that one VERY difficult thing for us as parents, was not to be there and be able to help your son. All of these people stepped up and stood in for us when we couldn’t be there for our son. We thanked them and told them so. It would be a theme throughout our visit. Everyone had pitched in.

We then went to Andrea’s home for the night. We met her husband, Mustafa who is from Senegal and is Muslim. Coincidentally, Andrea is from Southern Long Island, near Robert Moses Park, the daughter of two teachers. Her sister in law actually is Head of Geriatrics at Montefiore Hospital and lives in Tarrytown. Small world.

We got up early the next day and were picked up by a new driver, Saria in a PC Nissan Pathfinder. With him was Amanda, who would be with us for the southwest trip and then go to her site in the southwest, and head of PC Tanzania Safety and Security, Salome. Salome and Andrea are like the Good Cop, Bad Cop Mothers of the PCV’s. They have to watch over all 137 volunteers. She has tons of stories about the kids getting into trouble. Andrea has to be the firm one. She will talk to the offender and send them home, or punish them with PIP. Personal improvement Plans. There were lots of stories about kids getting caught and “Pipped”. Salome is nearing retirement, and I think had been PC for 25 years. It turns out that it was she and Saria who drove in that same car for two days, for what is easily a three-day trip to get out west to deal with the police, autopsy and funeral home. Saria actually had to go and buy formaldehyde to preserve Joe for the long trip back to Dar; it also turns out that it was Salome and Saria that drove Joe’s body in the back of the Nissan in two days (and stayed up at night with him) back to Dar. This was another instance of people stepping up when Donna and I couldn’t be there.

We drove to Morogoro, which is a turnoff point to Arusha and Kilimanjaro to the north. We stopped for lunch in Iringa. We stopped that night in Njombe at the Agreement Hotel. We were on the road about 11 hrs. The next morning we got into the jeep and drove around 4 hours to Songea and had lunch and met PCV Veronica. She is an Educational Volunteer, an Engineer from Chicago, teaching at Songea girl’s school. During the long car ride, we had lots of time to talk to both Amanda and Salome. It gave us a better view of the PC volunteers and the PC administration. We were very impressed.

That afternoon we got in the car and drove 6 hours to Mbuji on a very, very bad road that is the major road between Malawi to the St. Luise Secondary school run by Sister Janeth Hyera, for the St. Vincent order.

Two years ago, Joe had been staying there with his friend, and Amanda had tagged along. This was the region where Joseph had spent his last days. He had gone to the nearby Hagati school to see graduation, then to some native dancing, and also went to the graduation for the St Luise Girls, and danced and played the piano. The school has been there for about 10 years, and is just starting to fill out A level classes. It is a beautiful school, with all the girls dressed in green and white. They all help out in the large gardens and grounds, as they grow food for themselves and to sell to support the school. Sister Janet was wonderful. We had dinner and she told us how Joe came on their campus and immediately fit in and both the school and he were comfortable with each other. She really remembered the Joseph that we knew.

We also met Greg who is a former PC in the nearby town of Mikilani. He taught there and extended a year. His second project was Life Skills around which he set up debates between the 5 local secondary schools. The debates would be about all sorts of issues, such as the pro vs. con of western vs. traditional medicines. He is involved with a group of returned PCV, RPCVs that founded an organization, TETEA. Greg is from Illinois and is going around looking at regional health clinics. He starts Harvard Medical School this fall. I lobbied for him to think about Infectious Diseases as a specialty. He actually had a delivering villager die during childbirth from bleeding while he was at one clinic. It is quite common in Tanzania.

Before dinner we took a quick trip to the library in the town which was named Maguu that we help sponsor with TETEA, and the reading room is named after Joseph. We met Simon Mahai, who is a retired Peace Corps Staffer and Education Ministry Official. He was great. He will watch over the library. It was getting dark, so we promised to go back to see the inside of the library in the morning. We slept at St. Luise and rose for breakfast for a very difficult day.

The next morning we went to see the library. We met two young librarians, and found out that in less than 250 days, over 3000 people had visited the library. It is situated in town, not at a school, so there is no possessiveness about the usage.

There are 5 secondary schools around the town and a number of primary schools. It already has more books than the district library. Because it is not a lending library, we will focus more effort on magazines such as National Geographic, Boys life, Zoo books, Highlights, Ranger Rick etc.