Maisha: January 2012

Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having playing reggae violin? Almost every Tuesday evening I jam with a group of reggae musicians at Empire, a local night spot. Since anyone can come and bring their instrument to the jam, the group on the stage changes periodically and so does the style of the music! Some of it is good old roots reggae, some is more modern Tanzanian reggae and dance hall, and there is some Tanzanian pop music in the mix as well. All great fun to play along with. I listen, figure out what key the song is in, and then my fingers take over.... it usually works just fine.

On Saturday nights at Empire there is a regular band, Warriors from the East. They invited me to play with them last Saturday and I had a wonderful time. The band was so much tighter than at a jam session because they rehearse and play together regularly. And they played some great reggae standards by Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Miller and Bob Marley, as well as some Tanzanian music. There were many people dancing. A great time was had by all!

Umoja has a very exciting project in the works. I will write more about it soon, but for now I'll whet your appetites by saying it will include original music composed by Danielle, projected visual images by a French artist, choreography by Tiana, the Umoja Ensemble kids, some of the students from Umoja Music School, an ensemble of Umoja teachers, singing, drumming, dancing, and a story about magical children who turn into ants! The performance, titled Ndoto (Swahili for dream), will take place in June. I am excited to be part of it, and one of the great things about having Danielle for a roommate is that I get to hear her think out loud as some of her compositional ideas evolve. More about Ndoto soon! Meanwhile here are links to two videos of some of the kids rehearsing. There's a part near the end of one of them where I'm playing a drum with David.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAVLoJ1NIpI&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAVLoJ1NIpI&feature=youtu.be

I arrived back in Tanzania on Monday January 9 after a fantastic time at home. (Thank you to all who were part of it!) Fortunately I still had a week of holidays! My friend Verna came to visit and we spent the week travelling and doing things in Arusha. It was fun to show someone else around, and also to see more of this beautiful country.

We spent three days on a walking safari in Monduli. On Wednesday morning we were picked up from home by our driver George, our Maasai guide Jacob, and our cook Sudi. After an hour or so of driving around Arusha in the safari jeep collecting things that were needed for the trip (camping gear, food, water, etc.) we headed out of the city and into the mountains. An hour’s drive brought us to our campsite on a mountain – and much to my surprise it was the one place in Monduli I had been before! I had gone there with friends for a picnic one day in November. It is a gorgeous spot overlooking the Rift Valley. The camping gear was unloaded from the jeep, and after lunch we headed down into the village of Monduli Juu where we saw a Compassion orphanage school (no one was there because school was not yet in session) and the inside of a Maasai home. We then set of with Jacob and his friend Leskar on an easy two-hour hike up a mountain, to be rewarded with a truly awesome panoramic view. The rest of the afternoon and the evening was spent relaxing at the campsite. Sudi prepared a delicious dinner, and after dinner we all sat talking around the campfire, looking at the amazing stars and watching the moon rise. Jacob warned us that the next day we would be walking all day, and that it would be hot!

The next morning we started out early with Jacob and Leskar. The first part of the day was easy, downhill and while it was still relatively cool We hiked down into the Rift Valley. Verna’s goal for the day was to see a giraffe, and within the first two hours of hiking we saw several! At the bottom of the valley we visited a village and had lunch. Jacob asked if we wanted to climb up the ridge on the other side, but we figured that if we did we wouldn’t get back to our campsite before night! As it was, we had a strenuous hike ahead of us because of the heat. We walked along the Rift Valley plateau for a while, heading back toward our campsite by a different route. We saw many zebras clustered under trees to escape the heat, as well as four ostriches, a few gazelles, and more giraffes. It was very hot and we drank a lot of water. Our Maasai guides said they are used to this kind of walking and could have walked to our campsite and then set out on another trip! Fortunately I am in good shape, and as long as I drank enough water and we stopped for shade breaks, I was fine. Verna also did well. The last part of the trip was uphill, but since we took the road it was not as steep as the way down. In total we walked for more than 7 hours. When we returned to the campsite, there were showers waiting for us! Water was heated and put into a bag with a shower nozzle which was hung from a hook. We were able to wash off some of the sweat and dust. After another delicious dinner we spent another evening around the campfire talking with our guides and the Maasai campsite staff, but we all went to bed early after our strenuous day.

The third day we walked with Jacob to his village, visited his home and several other Maasai bomas, and then visited a local primary school and met one of the teachers. The school has 1000 students and only 11 teachers. There is not enough classroom space and supplies are limited. It really got me thinking about how fortunate we are in Canada with good public education. The school is looking for international sponsors so that they can expand their facilities, hire more teachers, and provide school supplies for students.

After visiting the school we headed back to Arusha in the jeep. We arrived home tired but happy, and unpacked and re-packed quickly so that we could head to the beach the next day! More about that in another post.