May has migrated...

Hello folks, I know things have been a little quiet in Jambo-la-shani land. My sincere apologies. I’ve been away leading a trek for three weeks, and life was typically chaotic pre-departure. Below are the last of my May musings, which I intended to post pre-departure...

Monday... Spent a while out at Kili Kids & put bandaids on a few wounds. Every time I put one on a child I end up with a little crowd showing me their various injuries/ailments, real or imagined, all hoping to receive a bandaid too. "Aunty, aunty, plaster, plaster" they cry in their high-pitched voices.  Some of the littlies are obviously picking off old scabs just to get a bandaid. I wish it wasn’t so exciting for them.

I had to laugh at the sign on the door of one of the internet cafes. It said something to the effect of “Please check you have your valuables before living.” Hmmm!

Hostel Hoff, aka home, with cutsey dog Butter in foreground

Tuesday... The long walk from home to Kili Kids is an endless series of greetings. Today, an eleven year old schoolgirl attached herself to me, attempting to walk beside me. Unfortunately I was striding along too quickly for her to keep up. She was very determined though, marching, arms swinging, as fast as her little legs would go. She would regularly lose ground, then break into a little run to catch up. She kept saying “You walk quickly”. After a little while this became “I’m tired”. I just laughed and continued on. She even had to pause to remove her jumper, she was getting so hot from her exertions. I thought she might give up at that point, but the patter of little feet caught up once more, and she accompanied me all the way to my turn-off.

Gee, the women (& girls) do it tough in the cleaning department here. Floors are mopped daily (necessary particularly when it’s been raining). No mops in sight though, it’s all done with large cloths wiped back and forth across the floor by women standing almost straight-legged, bending at the hips. What this does to their backs day in, day out, I’ve no idea. When we visited Malasita, all the kids carried back branches from a particular bush, as they make good brooms.

Wednesday... Today’s task was to measure the kids’ feet, & assess those in most dire need of new school shoes. I cobbled together my own foot-length measuring device using a ruler and the spine of a large lever arch folder. It was entertaining trying to get some of the kids to understand where their feet should be placed – I had kids trying to stand backwards, or sideways, or with one leg crossed over the other.

In town it isn’t uncommon to see ladies walking around with a shoe balanced on their head. Yes, a single shoe on top of their head! They have shoes to sell & are “advertising” the fact I guess. Can you imagine the looks someone would get doing that in Sydney? There would be a lot of strange looks and “loco” signs going on behind their back.

My major achievement for today was purchasing a bicycle. Hooray! I’m now the proud owner of a second-hand mountain bike. It’s a little rusty but overall it’s in pretty good nick. The tyres have good tread, brakes work & at least one of the inner tubes is brand new. Twist-handle 21 gears. All for the grand price of 125,000 TSh (roughly AU$113); not brilliant, but not bad either.  Christened the "Silver Bullet."

Thursday... Kili Kids purchased a Butterfly treadle sewing machine. It came in parts, so I had the fun of assembling them into a workable machine with no tools beyond the two little flathead screwdrivers that came insitu, and no assembly instructions either.

It was a real “Liza” undertaking. As in, “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza... with what shall I fix it?” Darn, I need a Leatherman in this country! I was bemoaning my lack of pliers, scissors, knife, awl, you name it. I had to join and re-join the leather belt four times, with gradual trimmings between each join, until I got the correct tension. After a good three hours or so of effort, including committing the sacrilege of using the first aid trauma scissors to cut away some of the plywood casing, I finally appear to have a workable machine.

Friday... Afternoon brought a grand expedition to Arusha, cruising in Margaret’s friend John’s Pajero... with a single Country & Western compilation album on repeat, so I was subjected to it three times over, at high volume! I had a productive meeting with Joyce of Tropical Trails (Back Track Adventures’ local operator) confirming pickups, briefings, mountain crew, tent numbers, etc. for our trek next week, and had an orientation tour of the divine “Karama Lodge”.

Business done, we clambered back into the Pajero & headed back to Moshi, hurtling along in the dark at up to 140 km/hr, with John overtaking everyone else at every opportunity, then braking heavily so we didn’t become airborne over the speed humps. I admit to caressing my Celtic knot pendant for a good portion of the ride whilst simultaneously sending up a quiet prayer to make it back safely.

Saturday... caught up with Ramson (our Head Guide on Meru & Kilimanjaro last year) for a drink. It was delightful to learn that his wife Upendo is pregnant, so Ramson will be a dad by the end of the year. And quite flattering to learn that, should the baby be a girl, she will (apparently) be christened with my name. And I guess, if it’s a boy they can call him Ned.

Sunday... a quiet day. I enjoyed listening to the tales of fellow-Hoffers who’ve just returned from safari. Mel has just had the crowd chuckling with an impersonation of Alison’s night-time tent nervousness. Hyperventilating, clutching her Swiss Army knife close, and doing a swan-dive back into the tent post toilet-squat. They’re all completely blown away by their experience.

Monday & Tuesday... wow! In the last two days I’ve sewn and sewn and sewn. I finished sewing enough sheets for every child to have a top and bottom sheet. This involved cutting huge hospital sheets in half, and hemming the cut edges. So (no pun intended), in the last couple of days I’ve managed to create and hem 32 sheets. Tuesday was an absolute sewing marathon – totalling about 7 ½ hours of solid sewing!

Wednesday... Back Track Adventures’ Kilimanjaro Safari 2010 commences tomorrow. In contrast to last year, when I was so nervous prior to my first-ever trek leading job that I felt like I was being led to my execution, this year I’m eagerly anticipating the pleasure of a role I actually feel competent in. I have gazed upon the snowy flanks of Kibo every time Kilimanjaro has shown her face since my arrival, thinking “Soon I’ll be up there...”