Journey into the heart of Tanzania (Part 2 - Complete)

I was told that my blog was very 'dead' from a couple of friends. Guess what?!?! I am back. In order to make up for the time that i have lost, i am pleased to present you the summary of my Voluntary work in Africa.

Let's just say that this entry is rather long. I would like to remind you all to frequently refresh your eyes by shifting your gaze to distant objects for a couple of minutes before continue reading the rest of my post.

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In Africa, everything was done slowly. There are no means of rushing, for Africans believe that rushing is bad luck. And so, while we arrived promptly at the bus station in Dar Es Salaam at 10 minutes before 7. We ended up leaving an hour later due to what ever reasons I failed to comprehend. After safely loaded our baggages onto the bus, we climbed on board. The bus looked as if it was from the 80s; the aisle was narrow as a result of the five-seater cramming each row. On board the bus, we had sacks of rice piled along the aisle. That was not the only excess baggage that was brought on board by the locals. I have also spotted two roosters under the seats of the passengers sitting across me. Their feet were bound together, yet these little creatures could still manage to jump occasionally leaving us in awe. Overhead compartments were loaded with excess of small suitcases, plastic baggage, even things like loaves of bread. I knew right away that this would be one ride that I will never forget or possibly impossible to forget.

I took a seat by the window and there were plenty of Tanzanians selling bottles of water, peanuts, biscuits and etc around the bus. Yes, literally around the bus. Some would shove their products against the frame of the windows to get us interested while others would whistle to attract our attentions. As they were not allowed to come onto the bus to do business, hogging around the bus like that was the next best thing. We wanted to purchase a few bottles of water in order to keep us hydrated from the blistering afternoon sun. However, we were told by Nicholas to ensure that the caps were tightly sealed like brand new before purchasing. After all, there were incidents where the locals would refill these bottles with unpurified water and hence putting our health at risk of parasites. After checking, we bought 2 bottles each and some biscuits for the long journey ahead. With what seem like an eternity, the bus finally departed slightly after 8am.

Selling drinks on the road!?!

As the bus pull down the freeway which was nothing more than just a single dirt lane into the savannah plains, I recognized the distant plain. It was commonly found on Discovery channel of footage on Africa overland: Dry, brown dirt with leafless, thorny trees. Every few miles or so, we would come across mud huts whereby the local would stood under shade less trees shielding themselves from the scorching sun. Deeper into Tanzania, I saw in the distant fields were rows of plantations of stiff fibre called Sisal. It is used primarily for making ropes. As agriculture dominates the economy of Tanzania, Sisal remained as one of the important cash crops. However with the development of synthetic fibre, the Tanzanians have to divert their resources to other cash crops due to the falling demands and pricing. Yet, most other cash crops that were produced in Tanzania faced similar problems. Crops like coffee, tea and cotton were well known for their poor pricing in the world market and hence disrupting the agriculture sector and suppressing the local farmers.

Baobab Trees!

With the exploitations of middle men, farmers were succumbed to poor cash flows and only gotten poorer leading to a shift to subsistence farming. Farmers that were once promised to receive incentives by government remained as empty promises. In addition to that, the prolonged drought that has struck East Africa for so many years has led to many Africans leaving on one meal a day. Everyday, we would see headline on the press stating the obvious fact: Urgent Food Aid for Half a Million. For only three days since I have been in Africa, I have already managed to see things that only convinced me more that Africa was crying for help and whatever foreign aid that has been contributed to the continent has yet to produce solid results of improvement for decades. Well at least not in East Africa. What in the world has gone wrong here?

We arrived late that evening in Singida at about 7pm. At the bus station we were greeted by the founder of Health Action Promotion Association (HAPA), Mr Mweko. He is a very solid man even for his age; a big guy of an average height, he speaks with confidence and definitely very knowledgeable. While putting our bags under the carriage of the bus seems effortless, retrieving it was an entirely different story. Firstly, there were not much street lights, so it was hard to spot for a specific bag. Then, there were these people who were not passengers and were yelling or shouting all over the place. Mostly locals, looking for people who were interested in transports like cab or bus to the next destination. It was very chaotic and the distractions made the retrieval more difficult. Soon enough, we did get our bags eventually and headed off to our accommodation. Under the bright moonlight, the words ‘Helen Keller International’ came to view on the signboard at the entrance to the compound.

As the jeep pulled into the compound, we could hear some group singing on a building to the right of us, kind of like a karaoke session. On further inspection, it was more like a social event for self-help group participants. Inside, there were African people standing together in a circle singing just like those church services we see on television. The jeep came to a halt in front of a staff house lot with two sleeping quarters: one for men and the other for women. We checked in into our rooms and the condition was far better than the one in Salvation Army. The lights were working and there was hot shower. On the following day, we had our breakfast at the dining hall and left early in the morning to the HAPA office, conveniently located by the Salt Lake of Singida. It was here that we met the rest of the team of HAPA.

HAPA's Office

Yup, the locals still use them to transport goods.

The salt lake is behind me. Beautiful!

My first impression of HAPA was: “This might actually work!” The office itself was basically converted from a single storey bungalow with a small number of staffs. This was so as to keep the running costs low. In addition to that, each staffs were very dedicated to their jobs and share the same vision in providing support to community initiated efforts that engage in the development of health, education and good governance of the people in rural Tanzania – similar to what I have read from the description of the organization. These people did know what they were doing and what was at stakes. Accounts were screened annually by foreign experts to ensure that things were done in black and white with no sign of corruptions. As Mr Mweko put it, with solid accounting consolidation, people from abroad are more willing to donate to the organizations and hence, keep the projects going thru to completion.

Group pic: Volunteers and Swahili teachers

On the final day of the language training (was a Friday), Mr Mweko gave us a talk about the history of HAPA and how the organization strives to uphold its core values. I admired his work and the method he used to achieve the goals of the project. The aim was not only to build the infrastructure, the organization also aimed to ensure that the government does its part on supporting the community. Therefore, HAPA spent a huge amount of time negotiating with the government for the necessary post-project supports: supplying staffs and medical supplies to the dispensary, providing more teachers to the rural village and etc. This in itself was necessary so that the newly built buildings will not be abandoned as it was the case for many projects all over Africa.

Singida is considered by many as the poorest region in the whole of Tanzania. It was here that I saw kids begging on the streets literally asking me for money. They would usually come in groups and follow you within a distance from behind. Some would hold your hands after a while, looking into your eyes as if to send the message, “I am hungry. You need to give me money, after all you are a Mzungu.” Mzungu is a term used by the locals to describe white people. No, I told them I am not a Mzungu. But they did not care. I took out a bottle of water and gave it to them. On that same afternoon after our lunch, we packed leftovers like fruits from our meal for these kids. That was all we could do. Giving them money would do them more harm than good as it would only encouraged them to beg for more.

Despite a lot of people living as destitutes, some with no formal education or a job - Tanzania remains as a peaceful country. Strangely, I somehow recalled about a particular lecture that I had attended while in the University. It was the International Business Economics regarding Formal and Informal Institution and one particular chapter was about the relation between Social Capital Index and the crime rate of a particular country. In the case study, we were looking at the crime rate in the United States and to seek an understanding to one simple question: What causes the rise or fall of the crime rate in the US? Social Capital Index (SCI) represents the strength of the social interactions between people and a higher capital index would mean that people go for events together in the neighborhoods, developing a sense of familyhood; whereas a lower capital index would mean that people have become more individualistic and prefer to stay indoor than to mingle with neighbors and friends alike.

Statistics have shown that SCI has been falling in the United States in all major cities since after World War II. In fact, economists suspected that the dropping in SCI was one of the causes in the rise of the crime rate. By taking that into account, I was not surprised that Tanzania had a very low violent crime rate even though Tanzania was the second poorest country in the world. In saying so, I used to assume that people in poor countries were more likely to commit crimes due to the lack of proper education and social security, high unemployment and etc. But I was wrong. I still remember the United Nations guy that I had met in the Matumbo village. He has once said over the meeting with us, “Tanzania is a very peaceful country. You could sleep by the road and feel safe. The only thing that might happen to you is if there’s a passerby, the Tanzanian might invite you to his or her house to sleep and offer you some food”. I would not take his word for real, but it did look like a very peaceful country when I was there. After all, committing offence like stealing would gain the criminal a harsh moral incentive; usually end up beaten to death if the criminal was caught.

The peacefulness of the country was highly attributed to the works of the late President Julius Nyerere or what Tanzanians usually referred to as the ‘Mwalimu’ – teacher. He was the driving force behind stressing the importance of familyhood, preserving the traditional values of people among other things that influence by his idea of Socialism. The economic model may have failed, but the core values of the Tanzanian people was so strongly preserved that that has made the country peaceful even after independence – absence of tribunal warfare, coup d’etat, revolution and such.

Towards the end of the first week on Saturday, we could not wait to see the village and work on the development project after hearing so much about the development through past volunteers. I would say the language training was sufficient enough for us to communicate effectively with the locals. We could even buy stuffs from the market at the bargained price that we intended to. I was assigned to work on the dispensary project at Matumbo village with 5 other volunteers while the rest would be working on the school project at Nkuninkana village. Each volunteer was given a budget of Tsh14,000 (about USD14) to spend on food and utilities each week and hence, careful planning was required when it comes to purchasing goods. We were informed that throughout the project, we will live in a basic camp in the village and only allowed to come to Singida every Saturday to replenish the supplies of food and other essentials.

Once we have bought the necessary stuffs (a week’s worth of food, washing powder and etc.) for our camp in the market, we returned to Helen Keller’s to load our backpacks onto the jeep. We left Singida town at about 4pm in the evening into the rural part of Singida region thru the dirt road of Africa. The road towards the Matumbo village was rugged and bumpy and it amazed me how could a vehicle even pass through such terrain. It was here that I got my first experience of being a true alien on this continent. Kids who have spotted us on the road would chase after the vehicle waving at us while exchanging the common greeting, “Jambo! Jambo!”; to which we replied promptly with the same phrase. For many of them, it was literally like seeing a walking ghost or something. While the adults may have gotten used to seeing us or even anticipated the way we look, the poor kids were excited and frightened to see us at the same time.

Even though the villages were about an hour ride from the Singida town, one could see how different the life in the rural was compared to those in town. While the people in town may not be rich, at least the clothes they wore were in much better condition than those found in the village. If those in town could afford buying rice once in a while, the only thing the villagers could have is maize flour courtesy of their subsistence farming. Unfortunately, the wet season in Tanzania consists of one short rainy season from November to January and one long rainy season from April to May and may vary between regions of Tanzania. Of course, one would expect more rain at further North of Tanzania on the highlands as compared to the flat central part of Tanzania.

Unfortunately, much of the crops that grow in this region depend heavily on the long rainy season in May. As for the dry season that starts from June and ends sometime in early of November, these are those few crucial months of which the farmers was left with nothing much to do on the fields. It was only when I started living in Matumbo village that I realized how dry the land could be. The grass was golden brown and I could see how those cattle struggled to find the nutritious one among the vast golden fields of dry sunflowers; another local cash crop where the seeds were used to make sunflower oil or general consumption. The people were not the only one here who looked malnutrition, their live stock like chicken and cattle were not spared either. It did not occurred to me how true it was until Ocean said that there was a difference between the meat in Hong Kong and those found here in Tanzania. The former was found to be more juicy and succulent while the latter was clearly dry, tough and rubbery. Very shocking indeed...

Campsite near Matumbo Village

After more than an hour of drive on a bumpy road, we finally reached our camp site. It was located 10 minutes by walk from the actual Matumbo village. The camp was more than just basic as mentioned from the manual. It was an enclosed area of about 3000 squared feet with fences made of dried sunflower stalks patched together using strings made from Sisal. From the entrance, to my left was the community area where volunteers would cook and dine together. There were two benches and a table for dining. Two shelves for storing our food supplies and another huge table for general usage with a shed built over it to shield the place from the sun. To my right there was the latrines and shower area. The toilet was basically a hole of the size of a brick where one would defecate into the 12 feet deep hole. For convenience, we used portable solar shower bags and all that was needed to be done was to fill these bags up with water and let it basked under the sun for a few hours and it would be ready to use.

To the north of the entrance was where our camp was located; the tent was fairly huge such that it could fit ten beds inside with mosquito nets. From our camp, there was a nearby bore hole from which the locals would go to get water supply using buckets. On an average day, there would be over 50 people queuing up to get water. It took about an average of 15 minutes or so to fill a bucket of 25 litres of water and it was very exhausting for some of the Tanzanians who have walked for an hour or so just to get a bucket of water under the hot blazing sun. There were times when they would have to wait for the well to replenish the limited supply of water, sitting under the nearby shades of leafless trees. During the dry season, the average time to fill up a bucket would take even longer and hence sometimes, these people would leave their buckets by the bore hole and return later the day after to get water.

The fact that our camp was so close to the bore hole within a minute walk, we had decided to get our water supply at night. Sometimes, we would even help to fill up the buckets of those who had failed to get water during the day and left it there for the night. For the next three weeks, we did what we were set out to do in Africa which was to provide support to the local community. At the building site, we were shown of the things that we could help to do. During our first week at work, we were designated the job of floor leveling. It was a very painstaking process of moving sands from one place to the building and then leveled the floor using a leveler. There were no trolleys hence the sand was transferred using metal plates not larger than 50cm in diameter.

Work Progress: On my first day at work

Work Progress: My last day at work

After a few days of floor leveling, we were shown how to make bricks on the site. It was also there that I have learnt how to make cement from the builders (skilled workers employed by HAPA). For the rest of my volunteering time in Matumbo, we had been making bricks everyday because those bricks will go into building the staff houses for the dispensary and at least 5000 bricks were needed for a building about 2000 square feet. On a typical day, we would usually make about 200 bricks (about 40 x 18 x 14cm). Everyday, one volunteer would have to stay back at camp to prepare food for the rest and clean the camp as part of the duty. Some of the typical work at the camp would be sweeping the floor, bleaching the dining tables, toilet and shower, doing laundry and etc. At the end of the week, volunteers would usually get ready to go to town again to replenish the supply of food and other basic utilities like toilet paper and bleaching powder.

Solar Shower Bags: That's how we got hot water for shower purposes. Tanzania is quite cold despite the scorching Sun.

The cycle repeated itself for the following two weeks until my volunteering time in Matumbo came to an end. It was amazing as I got to work closely with the local community and to be given the opportunity to learn about their culture and language. They welcomed us with open hands; they have shown us their courage to survive in such harsh conditions with smile on their faces. I will definitely do the volunteering project again in the near future as it is considered one of the few reliable organizations that actually contribute back to the community after receiving all those funds from abroad.

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The account above was just an overview. Perhaps the next post will just be me posting some of the pics that i love most while in Tanzania.

Journey into the heart of Tanzania, Chapter 1: See it for Myself

Welgevonden, South Africa (src:http://www.5stardestinations.com/)

When people talked about visiting Africa, one could instantly imagine people living in tented lodges, going on a game drive – fully equipped with khakis and funny looking hats, fine dining and etc. But that was hardly a genuine African experience at all. What I really wanted was to visit Africa not as a tourist, but rather as an independent traveler who seeked to understand the state of Africa.

As many people would have raised some questions regarding why in the world Africa is still struck with poverty, famine, tribunal wars and diseases even after decades of its Independence. Foreign aids have been pouring into Africa since the 60s, but what has it change? All I could hear of was Africa had become worse than before. Just look at the headlines over the years: genocides in Rwanda, farm invasions in Zimbabwe, three years of drought leads to famine. I was always keen in volunteering, but at the same time I was a bit skeptical as to whether these foreign aids were making any differences in Africa.

Of course, one would have heard of Peace Corps, People to People, Madadventure and plenty more well-established organizations in the world that are keen to raise millions of dollars running various projects across Africa. But little did we hear about their impacts of their work in Africa. In order to understand truthfully whether foreign aid really helps, I instead had chosen the path of walk the walk – it will be my mission to go to Tanzania and work on a development project so as to gain the first hand experience. Aside from my intentions of wanting to help rural Tanzanians improving the medical facilities, I also selfishly wanted to know find an answer to the question: Does having foreign aids help to alleviate the social and political upheaval in Africa?

After raising sufficient funds for the development project that I have signed up on Volunteer Africa, I departed from London Heathrow to Dar Es Salaam via a transit in Dubai. It was a long flight, but was incomparable to how long I have prepared for the next few weeks in Tanzania – the second poorest country in the world. Less then half of the population hardly spend over a dollar a day. It has a flourishing Tourism Industry, but whether that’s sustainable and sufficient for Tanzanian economy is an entirely different story. On arrival, I went to the immigration desk to enquire about my visas exemption certificate. What seems to take less than a minute of clerical work has stretched to over an hour. At the end of the day, I did get my exemption but it was a temporary one that will expire within 1 day after which I need to request for an actual exemption from the Immigration Office in the city.

As soon as I stepped out of the airport, I searched for a guy who should be holding a sign saying ‘Volunteer Africa’. Surprisingly, he was easy to spot. His name is Musa, a veteran teacher who is currently based in Dar Es Salaam – supervising a group of teachers in KIU Training Services (based in Dar). He greeted me in English and asked me to stay put for another hour so as to wait for other volunteers to arrive on the very same day. It was there that I met the other fellow volunteers – Ronan from Ireland, Sandra, Lauren and Michelle from UK, Kate Gordon from USA. Together, we headed to the KIU headquarters located conveniently in the suburbans of Dar Es Salaam in a local cab.

Market at Dar es Salaam

Tanzania is the typical African country that one would have expected to see. Roads were dusty and full of dirt, while the residential areas were nothing more than slums piled along the road where we could see old women squatting by the road trying to sell their goods. Kids running around bare-footed playing football whereby the ball was made of pieces of cloths entangled together. Men gathering around under a tree did absolutely nothing other than sitting around. As the cab pulled into a compound I spotted a signboard with bold letters depicting ‘Salvation Army’. We were told that we were going to spend two nights here before heading deep into the heart of Tanzania to Singida – it was where the rural development project was taking place.

At KIU, I met the remaining volunteers in my group - Ocean from Hong Kong, Lauren Loftus from Detroitte, Lucy Pollock from Manchester. These people were some of the most diverse that I have met in years. I would never have thought elderly ladies who already have kids attending University would come to Africa and work on a rural development project. It was hard to believe but it did not took me long to realized that age matters not. They were both physically and mentally strong – guess that was partially fuelled from years of accumulated life experiences. There was even a survivor from the tragic Egypt tourist bombing (2004) in our group who told us about her narrow escape. As the night drew closer, we retreated to our accommodation to rest. It was a simple two bed room with mosquito nets, porcelain basin with a leaking tap, bathroom with no working lights. I showered in the dark and ironically as it may seem, I look forward to our Swahili lessons on the following day.

The one with no lights & leaking taps

We woke up the following day at about seven, had our breakfast around half seven and proceeded to the classroom slightly before eight. Inside the classrooms, I saw three African ladies and three African men. I guessed that these ladies would be our teachers and some of them were in their late 20s. Outside the realm of teaching, they would dress modestly in Kanga – a popular African garment with messages on it. It is very popular women attire in East Africa. Most of the women I saw on the streets wore them. A third of the population in Tanzania was Muslims, so dressing modestly were part of their culture. As for the men, trousers were commonly worn and people were advised to wear nothing shorter than knee-length shorts.

A man name Faraji introduced himself to us as the Director of KIU and followed by the introductions of the remaining Africans in the room. They are Nicholas, Musa (the guy who picked us up at the airport yesterday), Jane, Nancy and Zuhura. We were told that Nicholas and Musa were teachers for many years in Dar Es Salaam and now work as supervisors to give guidance to the younger generation of teachers. Apparently, female teachers were uncommon in Tanzania as female were once prohibited to work unless as housewives. And only until recently that the government has come to realize the need for more female teachers; this new generation of teachers will serve to displace the males from monopolizing the workforce.

Soon enough after the introductions, we were briefed on the structure of the Swahili course. Basic Swahili words will be taught along with forming sentences of daily conversations that cover greetings, places, asking for directions and learning how to bargain for a product at the market. The course will last for five days and consists of class room teaching, individual assignments and group exercises. The volunteers were split into 3 groups and will be assigned one teacher each. Rotation of teachers will be made on a daily basis.

Teacher at work

Zuhura was assigned to my group. It was not as easy as I have expected for a beginner’s class. We kind of have to pick up bits and pieces here and there to solve a huge jigsaw puzzle. After all, she taught us everything in Swahili. She refused to explain anything to us in English so we were guessing the meaning of the phrases more than half of the time. But I found that Swahili is a very phonetic language and hence, pronunciation is not a problem for me. As for forming sentences in Swahili, the rules of grammar are less complicated as compared to that of English. The lessons ended sometime before lunch. At that point, we were also informed that we will depart first thing in the morning on the following day to Singida at about 7am. There is no official time of arrival given; after all it was assumed that traveling in Africa will always take a few times longer than usual given the condition of the road. And the Swahili lessons would be resumed in Singida at the HAPA (local NGO that Volunteer Africa is working with) headquarters.

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Coming up of Journey into the heart of Tanzania, Chapter 2: Bus ride from Dar to Singida

Review: Dark Star Safari - Paul Theroux

I do not personally regard this as a proper review but more like to illustrate why i love this book, just the way it is. I have never read books about travelling before and needless to say, i thought i would be bored over reading it. But when i saw one of my friend, Lucy read it during our stay in Tanzania...it occur to me that maybe reading it would help rekindle the times i spent in the Savannah plains, deep in the heart of Tanzania. I miss the place very much.

This book may not have described that exact same place that i have been in Africa, but it certainly described well of how Africa it is now, in general. For outsiders, Africa may be associated with poverty, political instability and diseases. However, i was given an opportunity to see and experience it for myself of how an average African might live in a rural area. They may have all the problems as mentioned above, but they carry these burdens with a smile on their face. Their strength amazed me to an extent that i myself believed i would not have been able to survive given those conditions of a rural life - anything more than a couple of months.

Anyway, this book is very powerful, as described by Sunday Times:

'A wonderful, powerful book, a loving letter to the continent of Africa'.

I love how Theroux described his journey and voiced his opinions about the state of Africa. You should not hesitate to read this book if you plan on visiting Africa. Many people would have dreamed of an ideal vacation in Africa - living in exotic tented lodges, going on a safari game drive in a Land Rover and fine dining. But that is not a genuine African experience at all! Ask yourself whether seeing animals in Africa really truly represent seeing Africa as a whole. Think again...

This book has the answers to the unknown and the unexpected of traveling in Africa. Given the time and the money, i would have done the exact same thing he did. But i guess, reading Dark Star Safari for now is the closest i could get to experience Africa once more.

My favourite tv shows

For this post, i will talk about some of my favourite tv shows. For the past four years, i have literally survived in Cambridge without having a tv thru watching my favourite tv shows right from my laptop. Credits should go to the creator of Bit-torrent. It really makes my live simple.

Everyday with only a couple of clicks, i will be on my way to watching the latest tv shows within hours. I like movies, but tv series are entirely different stories. The characters' development are usually slower and greater which makes it more interesting.

Here is the list of some of my favourite tv shows:

1) Grey's Anatomy

I like how the characters develop on this show. It is fun to watch these medical interns trying to struggle between their personal and career lives. Ups and downs, high and low... whatever you can think of in life...can be found in this tv show. Grey also likes to give her thoughts throughout the series that kinda makes u ponder at times.

2) House

I wasn't keen on watching it initially but somehow, i was inluenced by my medic friends. The show focused on the live of this really smart doctor (Dr. House) who works in a hospital - Noooo, he's not a surgeon. The show describe him as an infectious disease specialist whereby he usually takes on weird cases, diagnosting and treating patients with rare diseases. Usually those disease occurs to a person in 1 in a million chance. But anyway, it's fun to watch because i somehow like Dr House character on the show. Besides that, he has recruited this team of specialist who works under him and each of them has a well-defined unique character.

3) CSI (LVPD)

This used to be my favourite show on tv before i left for UK 4 years ago. After a while, it did not seem that appealing to me anymore. Still, it's fun to watch once in a while and it's definitely better than the CSI NY/Miami.

4) Survivor

Who doesn't know what this show entails? Was my favourite reality show but not anymore. This show reminds me a lot of my time in Africa.

5) The Amazing Race

Oh, what a fun reality show to watch. I like to travel and what more could i ask for from this show?

6) Lost

Great first season! Slow second season but they managed to still keep me interested. Just started watching season 3 and it seems they have more surprises than we thought they could give.

7) Prison Break

I was impressed by the 1st season. Still waiting to see how second season turns out. On episode 7 now...

8) 24

Okay, honestly i don't like it initially. But then i grew to like it more. Perhaps i have read too many fictional books on fast pace action thriller. Still i don't understand why everyone dies on the show apart from Jack Bauer. He is an unbelievable bullet dodger, superb risk taker and all. Guess i will have to put up with him for another two more seasons.

9) American Idol

I like the judges but Paula has gotten on my nerves lately. Simon being the usual arse but he's fine. We shouldn't hate him for voicing his opinions/critics, that's what his job is about on the show. Randy is a 50/50 guy. I do not see the consistency in his taste for music. As for Paula, she just wants everyone to win on AI. Bugger off! There is only one room for AI...so please, shut up!

10) Project Runway

Okay, this reality show has been on for a while. But i have only started watching it 2 months ago - thanks to a friend! I quickly breezed thru the first season and now i am watching the latest season (3) and the finale will be out next week. Fashion designers should really watch this show.

11) Heroes

This is the one of the newest tv series from the US! Mainly about superpowers and how this group of people discover their inert abilities and later use them to save the world from some nuclear disasters. The show has a funny japanese guy who can control the space/time. Two brothers who can somehow fly without wings. A beautiful porn star that tries to make ends meet while discovering that she has a monster living on the other side of the mirror. A young teenage girl who can never die due to her fast regeneration tissue (something like Wolverine minus the alloy). A hispanic that can paint the future. A police officer with enhance hearing ability plus mind-reading capability. And finally, i suspect one of the villain of the story has telepathic and flight capability (like Jean Grey). What are you waiting for? Go download it!

12) Desperate Housewives

Let me be clear, this show is not meant just for housewives. And i like it. So what? Bite me...
To summarize, the show revolves around the lives of these four ladies (housewives of course) and the strange events happening around Wisteria Lane. Lazy to elaborate... just go watch it.

13) The Apprentice

It's Donald Trump! Nevermind, go figure it out why i like it.


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All these shows can be downloaded online, so why bother waiting for it to arrive a year later on Astro/Sky Tv?

My Little Safari in Tanzania (II)

The day i left for Tanzania was the 22nd of July 2006. Weather was fine while i was busy getting ready to leave my friend's house in Cambridge. It was also the first day i started taking my anti-malarial tablet prescription. How stupid was i..i thought, since i took the pill with an empty stomach. While checking my lugggages, i felt extremely nauseous just a few minutes right after i swallowed the pill - cold sweaty palm with a faint trace of wanting to vomit. Oh bugger... I knew it was the stupid Doxycycline that was playing its tricks inside my gut. In any case, it's time for me to leave the house.

A mixture of excitement and anxiety struck me while i was on my way to the bus station. Have i left out anything important? Let's see, there is my passport, insurance policy, anti-malarial prescription, digital camera & a manual one just in case, a copy of the necessary contact details upon on arrival at Dar es Salaam and of course the few hundred US dollars that i have exchanged from a local bank. Seems about right ...

Finally, this is the moment that i have been waiting for. I am ready to leave the comfort of my home and to go to a place that i heard so much about and yet knew so little of it personally.I have done enough to get me this far and let's see what Africa has in store for me. While i would love to tell everyone all about my adventure in Africa, why not we rewind the time for a bit and to see what my thoughts are about the things i did for the past few months prior to my departure.

During the past few months, i was busy dealing with my fourth year of studies in Cambridge that raising funds was sort of like the thing i would do last minute. Well, i did raised some amount of money to fund the development programme by selling doughnuts but that was the only one thing i did. It was quite a painful process as i needed to take pre-orders before going down to London to collect these heavy doughnuts and brought them back to Cambridge so that i can deliver them. In the end, i raised about 160 pounds which some may say that it was not a lot of money but hey, it was fun.

I remembered how i have asked Lawrence to help me go to London to get the doughnuts. I was not asking him to help me with ten doughnuts here, nor fifty but rather 47 dozens of it! We arrived at Harrods (London) with my huge backpack only to be told that they do not allowed people bringing huge bags into the premises. What the hell... Anyway, i asked him to wait for me outside of Harrods while i went in alone to get the doughnuts. I struggled with 47 boxes of doughnuts initially and we divided them equally among us to carry it down the Underground...fighting our way thru the crowds until we reach the Kings Cross train station. Everyone was surprised that we managed to come back to Cambridge with the doughnuts remained intact and pretty much retained its actual form.

Despite the ordeal that we have to go thru in delivering those doughnuts, we had a 100% of satisfied donors from the fundraising event. Besides 'raising my own fund', i managed to apply to a number of trust funds and fortunately most of them gave me a lot of support. Before i knew it, the amount of money that i have raised exceeds 1400 pounds. It basically covers the 950 pounds for the voluntary programme and the remaining goes to fund my airfare. (I don't want to tell you this but my airfare costs me 740 pounds okay. So i did used my own savings in the end to cover the rest of the expenditure)

I am glad that i have a group of very supportive friends who were willing to help me fundraise. And what was even more surprising for me was to see that there were some kind of interest generated among the crowd about my volunteering work in Africa. After all, it is not easy to convince a person of Chinese origin to pay for something that doesn't benefit him/her. It's in our blood, so just bloody admit it that we are quite $$$ minded and there is never in a million years we would feel generous to give away money. Which is why i go for the Krispy Kreme Fundraising Event in the first place... at least the donors will get Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a token of my appreciation for their generous offer.

When the funding is settled, everything is pretty much set in place where all i need to do now was to go with the flow. And before i knew it, i was sitting by the departure gate in Heathrow waiting to board the Emirates flight to Dubai and then take a connecting flight to Dar es Salaam. The nausea from the Doxy has subsided but my palms were still sweaty. Strange... Plenty of questions raced through my mind and i don't even know answers to any of those random questions.

What if this whole voluntary thing is just a scam? What should i do if there appears to be no one at the airport picking me up? What if there is no such NGO in Tanzania? What if... say, if i do get pick up by a local, will he sell me off as a slave somewhere deep within Africa? Great, so how am i gonna get out of there then? Oh fuck...

Somehow, volunteering doesn't sound that appealing to me anymore for a brief moment.



...to be continued...



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Side note

Rural Development Programme - Singida

4 week programme

Currency	UK£	US$	CAN$	AUS$	NZ$	Euro	HK$
Volunteer Programme	450	810	1,080	1,150	1,185	675	6060
Development Programme	500	900	1,200	1,280	1,315	750	6740
Totals	950	1,710	2,280	2,430	2,500	1,425	12,800

Volunteer Programme. This includes recruitment, selection and pre-departure support and then language training, food, accommodation, travel within Tanzania and equipment. It also covers the core costs of running the charity.

Development Programme. This is the donation to host programme which supports the work of HAPA-Singida and Hisani in Mwanza.

Source: www.volunteerafrica.org

My Little Safari in Tanzania

It was a long story. Indeed, long enough for me to talk about it for the rest of my life. It all started 9 months ago when i decided to look into volunteering in Africa. Yes, it was the one word that you often heard nowadays especially when we talked about Africa. People from all around the world would sign up for either a teaching, conservation or a development programme.

I am fascinated about almost everything that Africa has to offer. I have long dreamt about going to just anywhere in Africa and to see all that i would like to see there while keeping the time still. Of course, i would love to see New York, Rio dJ, Tokyo, Shanghai and etc..but come on, Africa is different. I somehow felt what Paul Theroux said in his book 'Dark Star Safari' pretty much sums up about my reasons of wanting to go to Africa.

Africa is one of the last place on earth one can vanish into.

By telling my friends that i am heading to Africa, it caught them by surprise. Some of them were quite cynical and have blasted me with a series of rhetorical questions. "Why would you want to go there? It is dangerous, you know? How can we contact you? Will there be enough food for you? Why don't you just donate money and not go there? Volunteering work is pointless!" Oh bugger...

This is exactly what i wanted to do. For the past decades, i felt as if my life has been pretty much sucked into this social cycle that left me with no choices but to follow the trends of our community life. Just ask anyone and you will find that almost everyone spend at least half of their time a day in front of a computer either on Msn, Hotmail, Google, Wikipedia... Goodness, somehow we have become freaks ourselves.

Imagine, the first thing i do when i wake up in the morning is neither to brush my teeth nor wash my face, but to friggin' turn on my laptop! What comes next is very much anticipated by everyone. MSN messenger signing in, and with a click on the Mozilla Firefox, i am sent directly to BBC NEWs and Google mail. The usual routine would also includes checking the latest torrents for downloading the lastest episodes of TV series and reading friends's blogsites. Only after all these that i am ready to go to the bathroom to freshen up myself. Bad...very bad.

Hence, Africa is sort of a gateway to paradise for me to literally get away from the cyber-reliant world. Not to mention the entirely different experience one may find while in Africa. What if i could stay at a place far away from cities among the Acacia trees, no traces of concrete jungle nor the sound of the hustle and bustle of human traffic. A placethat is so remote that there is no access to electricity and convenient water supply - tap? Sounds good... I am hopeful that in Africa, there will be a place where it remains untouched by the outside world. As much as i wanted to do voluntary work that truly makes an impact on the community, i am also looking for a place where i can escape and to enjoy the traditional way of living, getting water from a well, start my own fire, cook food using charcoal and etc. I am selfish in a sense that the volunteering work that i plan to do will instead allow me to gain more than what i am giving to the community. Guess everyone is selfish in this world. After all, there is no such thing as selfless service - what a bullshit phrase.

Believe it or not, most volunteers would have told you the very same reasons why they wanted to be involved in such a thing. The usual theme would be, 'i wanted to help, reduce poverty or immerse in a different cultural experience'. Every year, thousands of people fly to Africa in order to make a positive impact on the continent, thru various non-profit organisations. But seriously, only a handful of these organisations have visions that strife to improve the state of Africa today.

I like to do volunteering work but unfortunately money is the only necessary and sufficient condition to get one involved in a volunteering programme - at least in most cases. By saying this, i am referring to those 'commercialised' volunteering programme. All you need to do is to sign up for the program and then you will have this so called 'screening interview' which is more likely to be rather informal and pointless. The next thing you heard from them is that you need to raise a minimum of 1200 dollars for a four week volunteering programme and off you go.

These organisations is capable of sending you rather colourful brochures and to follow up with calls to get you interested. There is a catch here. I wonder how much of those money we raised actually goes into the development work. For instance, will more than half of the funds be spent on buying the materials for the development work? Most of these NGOs will never give you a clear breakdown of their costs. WHY? Who in the right mind would break their own rice bowl? (in other words, they won't be stupid enough to tell you that only a small portion of it will be contributed DIRECTLY to the development work).

As a result, i became more skeptical and questionable - whether the volunteering programmes run by these fancy organisations will benefit the local people of whom we are targetting to help. Despite that, i am still keen on working with a reliable local NGO that is willing to put forth the community's best interests at top priority. I looked thru numerous websites online for about a day until i stumbled upon Volunteer Africa. My initial thought was rather fascinating. It was a mixture of both pros and cons. At first glance, it looks just like those fancy websites with tabs that get you to know more about the volunteering programme and 100% positive feedback from past volunteers. Sounds too good to be true, eh...

But as i moved on to reading the content, the website seems rather simple to navigate and literally gets straight to the point with very little nonsense. Call me a psych or whatever but i felt that the website was rather believable and genuine that it seems to have given me a good impression that they indeed look out for the local community's best interests at heart in whatever programmes they offerred.

Needless to say, i applied for a place in summer 2006 with Volunteer Africa to work on a development project in a rural area in Tanzania. After an initial phone interview and a confirmation from VA, i have embarked myself on a journey that will change my life forever. Fine... i know that is a bit dramatic but it did change the way i see things differently in life for a short period of time..


...to be continued



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Trivia

sa·fa·ri (s-fär)

n. pl. sa·fa·ris

1. An overland expedition, especially one for hunting or exploring in eastern Africa.

2. A journey or trip: a sightseeing safari.

In Swahili, safari literally means journey so do not assumed that someone is going on a game drive in the National Park when one said that one's on a safari. It was intended to mean that he/she is on a journey to somewhere.

Tanzania, here i come!!

Yayyy, i'm going to Africa soon. Precisely in a few hours time, i will be sitting at the airport waiting to board the plane to Dar Es Salaam. This is so exciting. You will hear from me again in about 7 weeks time.

Let's hope that it is easy to get online in rural Tanzania. Fat hopes..., i know.

Dum de dum...

Graduation photos...

Senate House - Here, you will find a lot of people in gowns. The one in red is usually the Master or the President of a college in Cambridge. This is the place where Cambridge students graduate from their degrees.

The whole process is quite simple, really. First of all, I have to wake up quite early in the morning (at about 8am) just to collect what i usually term as quite-useless-graduation-formal-attire. That includes a college gown, bands, bow-tie and the hood of the highest degree to be received for the Congregation. But they look great from far. And all these have to be worn on top of my suit. Hmm, ten minutes down the road I felt like a walking sauna in summer for the mere 29 degree celsius.

Anyway, then comes the photo shot in college as seen below (10:20am). Try to imagine how hot standing there under the sun (4 layers) waiting for the photographer to take 5 shots. First you get sweaty palms, then perspiration starts to take place on your forehead. Then perspirating even more here and there and finally somewhere. By the time it gets to really taking the picture, the whole body somehow felt like it was immersed in a hotpot.

When this is done, a half an hour break was given whereby graduands have to gather in the Wolfson hall for a short rehearsal (11:00am). Here we were taught of how to hold our praelector fingers before proceeds to kneel in front of our college Master to receive his blessings/confirmation that we have indeed graduated on that faithful day. (1 July 2006 - quite easily remembered for the rest of my life)

By 11:40am, all of us who are graduating on that day will gather in front of our college to march to the Senate House for graduation. The walk takes 15 mins under the scorching sun - since it's almost midday. Fast forward - graduated at about 12:30pm - then more picture taking sessions with friends and family.

Now, it's not done yet. Here's where Cambridge starts ripping me apart even on my final day as an undergraduate. 47 pounds for framing my cert. Then another 22.50pounds for a picture taken inside the Regent House where cameras by the public are not allowed to be used. Ironically, there is even an option to buy an alternative certificate that costs 25 pounds (i didn't go for this one - just a stupid paper). Dot..dot..dot, speechless i mean. All these can be done instantly upon graduation since it is conveniently located inside the ground of Senate House.

That's a bit painful, don't you think? Oh well, I kept reminding myself that it is a once in a lifetime thing. Yeah, bite my head off please. After donating 'some' money to those bloodsuckers, we (me and my family) went back to college for a late lunch at around 2pm. And again, the graduands photo that i have taken earlier (just under 4 hours) are now gorgeously placed by the front entrance to tempt individuals like me. How convenient. Don't worry, it's only 25 pounds (yeah, i have to admit this one looks good especially when i agreed that i looked good on it despite occupying only 1/250th of the area).

Graduands photo - Close up view. Oh well, there aren't many people of chinese origins there on the picture. So i am sure you will figure out roughly which one is Jr.

Tip: Most good looking one. Haha :)

Graduands photo - full shot. It was taken on my college ground. It was not taken by a professional photographer but good enough for your viewing pleasure. Many thanks to my bro for standing under the blazing sun for this shot.

As for the rest of the graduation pictures, they will be kept away from the public so as to protect my family members. Nah, it's more like they do not wish to be featured on the blog. Some say they looked either too fat/thin/big/small - whatever...

Graduation - Africa - Malaysia - ???

Yes, indeed. By 1300hrs on the 1 July 2006, i am officially a B.A/MEng degree holder graduating from Cambridge class of 2002. It has been a while. Being able to spend the past 4 years of my life in Cambridge, is truly a blessing experience. It was both an honour as well a curse as an undergraduate.

Believe it or not, the exams and lectures here sucks for Engineering (and so it is a cursed for me). However, there were many things that make up for those loop holes. Firstly, meeting with people of other races are ... fun. Not to mention meeting them in a place like Cambridge. Here, geeks can be found discussing the 3rd law of Thermodynamics ; hippies with rather out-of-this-world hairstyle; extremely genius people does exists after all besides Einstein and finally people like me.

Who am i? A person who is neither a geek nor a genius who somehow manage to sneak my way into Cambridge and survived all those years...Cheh! In any case, i'm kind of glad that everything will be over for me in Cambridge. It's time to move on. As much as i enjoyed my stay here, i believe this is not the place where i belong. Enough is enough. There is no room for phD.

I have other plans ;) Next stop is Africa. It will be my only chance to see something that is totally different from what i have experienced so far before i head home. 5 months before this, i never thought that i could have actually signed up for something as crazy as volunteering in Tanzania. It is not an easy process where you can just say GO and there you go.

Well, to start off...nothing beats having three jabs of immunisation in 3 consecutive shots that protects you against Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Diptheria, Polio, Tetanus, and Meningitis ACWY. Then, there is the issue of fundraising. Thanks to all my wonderful friends from Cambridge & London, i have raised about 200 pounds just by selling Krispy Kreme Doughnuts! Apart from that, i managed to gain support from some Trust funds total to an amount of 1300 pounds. Their generosity is very much appreciated.

Besides that, insurance is another requirement before going for a trip far-far-away for a long period (more than a month). My insurance must cover light manual building work, medical repatriation to UK and high-level trekking. After searching endlessly on the web, i settled down for an insurance policy by Endsleigh that costs me 97 pounds. Grrr...now, everything is about $$$. But then again, i'm not complaining. Insurance is necessary, especially for places where the nearest medical centre is 8km away and the means of transpotation are poor in the region (Singida, Tanzania).

Sighh, so what else Jr.?? Alright, there is also this small thing call Malaria? Most places in Africa are prone to such infections from mosquito bites. Bloody hell. Before heading to Tanzania, i need to purchase Malaria tablets as a secondary safeguard besides mosquito repellant. I don't want to complain but really, pharmaceutical companies should burn in hell. Why? No reason, really. I heard that they are the world biggest bloodsuckers, more dangerous than infectious mosquito bites. 30 pounds for 6 weeks - 1 tablet a day. Good news: Malaria tablets are not 100% preventive. Feck it! - Irish way. I should have purchased a tablet that prevents bloodsucking by these companies if there's one!

Anyway, the preparations was fun though. As for my graduation tomorrow, there is nothing much to talk about. Since pictures speak more than words - i shall post them once it is available. Besides that, i haven't told anyone about my latest trip to Switzerland. I like everything about Switzerland apart from the food & the pricing for it is absolutely insane! I was not fed well there. I REPEAT, going to Switzerland has left me hunger for days.

But its scenic views beats my growling stomach. Best advice for those who intend to go to Switzerland, only board the plane if you do not mind eating bread 3 times a day. (well, sort of...)

Final destination for this summer is Malaysia. Yes, i am heading home for good. I am pleased to inform everyone that my arrival will be a BIT late say end of September? It is only a few months away. See you soon, Malaysia.

Calling for donors: Volunteer Africa - Tanzania 2006

Dear all, I am back after a long hiatus. This time, there is no more movie reviews or books recommended for read. Rather, i would like to share with you about the volunteer programme that i have joined.

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1) Proposed Project: Rural Development Programme in Singida, Tanzania


Volunteer Africa is a non-profit organization dedicated to working with local communities in Africa. I have been selected to take part in their 2006 Volunteer Programme of development work based in rural Tanzania.

The Volunteer Programme will take place in Singida, Tanzania this summer which starts from 24 July 2006 for four weeks. I will work alongside villagers on community-initiated building projects. Past projects have included health dispensaries, school classrooms, pit latrines, homes for teachers and medical staff. Volunteers live together in camp conditions and meals are prepared together each day. As a volunteer, I will be fully supported during my time in the villages by Health Action Promotion Association (HAPA) staff backed up by Volunteer Africa. The conditions are tough and most villages that I will work in do not have electricity or running water.

On arrival at Dar es Salaam, I will join a group of volunteers for the language (Swahili) training for one week. After which, Volunteer Africa will send us to work on a dispensary project in Matumbo village and a school project in Nkuninkana village. We will help the local villagers to build a new dispensary in Matumbo, which is one of five villages in Makuro Ward. (The Ward is in the Mtinko Division of Singida Rural District.) Currently there is only one dispensary in the ward and this is nine kilometres from Matumbo village. As for Nkuninkana, we will support the community of Nkuninkana with provision of building materials for completion of two classrooms and for construction of two new teachers’ houses, school desks and furniture for the teacher’s office.


2)Project Justification


Matumbo

Currently, the ward is served by one dispensary in Ghalunyangu, which is about ten kilometres from Matumbo. The villagers usually walk at least 8 kilometres to health services at Mtinko Hospital. Matumbo, Mkenge and Mpoku villages receive a mobile clinic services once a month from Mtinko Hospital.

Normally pregnant women walk long distances of 8-10 kilometres to Mtinko Hospital for ante and neo natal health services. There are also inadequate family planning and Maternal and Children Health (MCH) services. As result there is high birth rate in the area. Most families have more than six children and because most of households do not have adequate economic means to sustain their children, there is also problem of malnutrition in the area.

A health centre such as a dispensary would influence a change of some of traditional behaviour and practices that have negative impact to peoples’ health through provision of health education, and by offering delivery services to pregnant women. There are some incidences of VV Fistula in the area. HAPA managed to identify two women with Fistula from this area.

The expected outcome from the project will be such that the health service will be improved and health education easily provided. People will be encouraged to adhere to good hygiene and sanitation practices. With more easily accessible healthcare the health of most of the village population will improve. Hygiene and sanitation practices will improve in the village. Finally the community technical and management skills will improve.


Nkuninkana
The village has some services including a primary school of 16 streams with a total of 628 school children whose 298 are girls and 330 are boys. The school currently has a total of 8 classrooms out of the 16 that are required, thus a shortage of 8 classrooms. The school has a shortage of 15 desks, 15 tables, 9 cupboards and 15 chairs for teachers. There is a government directive that requires the community to reduce the school furniture shortage by making furniture. Books availability in the school is average to good with a ratio of 1:2 i.e. two pupils share one book in all subjects with exceptional of social science and vocational study books where the ratio is1:4 and 1:5 i.e. four and five pupils share one book respectively.

A total of 16 teacher's houses are needed but currently the school has only 2 permanent and 6 temporary houses. It was found that the Government workers i.e. teachers, health staff, etc. who are assigned to villages are usually provided with housing. A lack of suitable housing can make it very difficult for the authorities to persuade good staff to work in areas that are often very remote.

The expected outcome from the project will be such that the quality of education will be improved. In addition, the community technical and management skills will also improve from involving in the construction.


3)Funding for the Project

In order for the project to take place, each participant volunteers has been asked to contribute £950 to the development project. This covers all costs of participating and provides funds towards the project I will be working on. Approximately 50% of the money raised goes to the community development work in Tanzania. Apart from that, I have to raise funds for my airfare, medical insurance and vaccinations which total up to be about £1000.

I am currently planning to raise money through several events including selling Krispy Kreme donuts, cocktail night or car wash service around my neighbourhood. Besides that, I am expecting to get a travel grant from my university of about £400 towards my funding. If you want to know how to make a donation to my funds, please email me at cys25 at cam dot ac dot uk


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Please help me spread the words around or put my link on your blog. Any donations made will proceed to fund my programme and the excess will be made as general donation to Volunteer Africa so that they can continue to support the NGOs in Tanzania. Unlike general assumptions made by most people, i DO NOT raise funds for my leisure travel in Africa. The money i use to travel after the programme is of my own.


For further information about Volunteer Africa in general, please click here.