Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a Lutheran service here in town. We had the option of going to a Catholic mass or the Lutheran service. I chose the Lutheran service because we were told the Catholic mass is almost identical to a mass at home and I wanted to see something different. Also, we have been invited to go to mass with the children next time we have a community service event at the school. We started walking to the church around 9:30 yesterday morning and got there just as others were starting to arrive. There were about 8 of us and we attracted a lot of attention. All positive though of course. Just like everywhere else I’ve been here in Africa, everyone is extremely kind and welcoming. The pastor was full of energy and asked us to stand in front of the congregation and introduce ourselves (there were about 80 in attendance). Everyone was so pleased that we could introduce ourselves in kiswahili and say where in America we were from. We finally took our seats and just tried to capture as much as we could of what they were saying – the whole service was in kiswahili of course. My favorite part was probably the music. It was so beautiful. I managed to record a few songs but I don’t think I’ll be able to upload them here. The only instruments were their voices and a drum but it sounded like so much more. Somehow, everyone knew exactly which parts to sing and how to sing it well. It was so beautiful that I desperately wanted to participate and ended up just making up my own words and trying to follow along with the melody. The whole service lasted about 3 hours but it only felt like 1. We were invited to the pastor’s home afterward to chat and sign his guest book. I could tell he was sorry to see us leave but we promised to return!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at this beautiful art gallery where we got to relax in thick cut grass and enjoy spinach and artichoke pizza and cinnamon ice cream. I haven’t had ice cream since I left home and this was seriously the best ice cream I have ever had. It tasted exactly like a snickerdoodle! Yesterday was a great day

Today, we had another travelling lecture. We first went to a rice farm and talked with the head farmer about his biggest issues. He was surprisingly uneducated and sadly misinformed. That’s actually a big issue with farmers here. He thought that all the water he gets for his rice came from the Nile River. It comes from surface runoff from the mountains. Because he thinks it comes from the Nile he has no interest in supporting local efforts to conserve water in the watersheds and reservoirs. It’s really sad… Education is seriously the biggest problem here. So many of their issues could be fixed with simple, focused education. They don’t need math, science and english. They need education on sustainability, crop management, geography and business. 
Our next stop took us to Maasai land where we sat in the shade of a gigantic baobab tree watching the boys drive huge herds of cattle across the flood plain by Lake Manyara. The view was truly beautiful. There were a few zebra in the distance along the water’s edge and the horizon was a flood of pink from all the flamingos. We were lectured by Frank and Kioko about the relationship between the Maasai, livestock and the wildlife of Lake Manyara National Park. An issue of great concern is disease transmission, particularly rabies and canine distemper. Veterinary care in this region is rare and very expensive. Most cattle owners buy medication and vaccinations for their cattle from local stores that some how have easy access to veterinary products. Kioko compared it to buying sugar here, because it’s so easy and anyone can do it. Every town has their own store that sells veterinary products for livestock owners. Frank told me about how there are initiatives in some parks such as Serengeti to vaccinate wildlife and protect them from rabies and distemper. I think the problem originates from the hundreds of dogs that are running around this area with lord knows what diseases. They pass the diseases to livestock and then the  wildlife get it when they come in contact with the livestock or when predators hunt the livestock. There was an SFS student a couple years ago who actually graduated from this program, went on to grad school in Nairobi and now works for an NGO vaccinating dogs and livestock in the area to try and solve this problem. What a job that would be huh?

There is so much room for improvement in this area and the locals desperately need our help to teach them how to deal with these issues and live sustainably with the wildlife and natural resources. It really doesn’t have to be the people or the nature that survives. Both can coexist and flourish if we can only teach them how…

Well time is going by so fast! Wednesday is our next game drive to Ngorongoro crater, next week are our final exams and the week after that is our 5 day expedition to Serengeti National Park! We are all so excited to spend time camping out in the national park!

Until next time! 

Location: Rhotia, Tanzania