Author Archives: are5049

Back to America

After one last day at a beautiful beach in Zanzibar, I started my 40 hours of travel home on Friday morning.

We first took a ferry from Zanzibar back to Dar where we caught our 4:50pm flight to Dubai. The ferry pretty much sucked. We were going so fast and against the current so the boat was flying all over the place. We had 4 of our students get sick and about 5 more feeling like they were going to be sick. It wasn’t just us either. People all over the ferry were in rough shape. It was kind of amusing in a way but really it was just bad. To top it off, after being on the boat for 2 hours of rough riding we had to go straight to the airport – no showers or refreshment. I bet we all looked good!

The flight to Dubai was alot better than the flight in from Dubai. The plane was bigger and nicer. We had a couple hours of layover in Dubai. That airport is insane. Especially after spending my trip in the rural villages of Tanzania, the upscale, flashy ways of Dubai airport seemed ridiculous to me. We left Dubai for New York at 2:00 am – Dubai time. And after 14 hours of flight we landed in New York at 7:30am. From there I had a longer layover till my flight to Pittsburgh at 2pm.

I was a mix of emotions. Through all the travel I felt fine. Being in the crazy Dubai airport made me a bit uneasy – all that flashy stuff seems silly when you put it into perspective. Through the flights I felt good, focusing on the next leg of travel. My first episode came on the last flight from New York to Pittsburgh. As we were flying into the airport, I was looking out the window and noticed how huge some of the houses are, and how much open land we have. Add in my fatigue and travel-weariness and I was almost in tears. How lucky we are to live in America! My mood improved when I made it off the plane and into the airport. I was very excited to see my family, give gifts and tell all my stories.

The first evening passed by smoothly for me. I was content to be home and happy to be reunited with my family. The next few days however, I have been having a harder time. These new emotions have surprised me. I expected to have some culture shock and homesickness when arriving in Tanzania – but when arriving home? I never expected it to be harder to come home. And for me it has been harder. A lot harder. I felt pretty comfortable in Tanzania. I had a few moments of homesickness and discomfort here and there but I was never that bad. Being back in America has been hard. I know I shouldn’t feel guilty for the way I live but I do. At this point I don’t know how to look at our lives and not feel guilty or wasteful or ignorant. The differences between America and East Africa are bigger than me.  The two places are two completely different worlds. Going from one world to another in a matter of days is hard to adjust to. I’m sure in a few days I will find it easier. The improvement between today and yesterday has already been extreme. I look forward to feeling comfortable again but at the same time, I don’t want to loose this outlook. I don’t want to go back to the way it was- spending money on useless things, being wasteful and secluding myself into work and school. Hopefully, with some thought and effort I will be able to integrate some of the Tanzanian qualities into my own life.

The study abroad trip was amazing. I can’t stop thinking about going back. I don’t know how or when but I am defiantly persistent in making my return to East Africa. The thought of spending my summers or years after graduation at home is really unappealing. I have the travel bug. I’ve seen another new place and now I want to see everything. The whole world lies out there – I’m itching to see it all!

I promised a photo blog entry and it will be coming soon. We all traded pictures so I literally have thousands to go through, transfer and edit. But soon enough I will post them. Expect a couple or entries too. I’ll try to post as I go through them, or else it would be a while for the whole group.


Location: Murrysville, Pennsylvania

Zanzibar, zanzibar, zanzibar!!

Hello, hello, hello! I currently sit at the top of a terrace at the Clove Hotel in Zanzibar. We finished up in Mang’ula and left the monitoring center Sunday morning to get to Dar by Sunday night. We only spent 2 nights in Dar. The first was after travelling and the second was after a day of market shopping! The market was amazing. So many interesting little shops filled with painting, carvings and jewelry. Most of the stuff is pretty much the same from shop to shop. But finding a nice vendor willing to bargain is the hard part. We all made out really well. We didn’t stay in Dar long – leaving on the 7am ferry on Tuesday for Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is so interesting! It is an island off the coast of the mainland. We are staying in Stone Town – it is an old neighborhood filled with stone buildings, tons of history and lots of culture. The entire island is very culturally based. About half the population is Muslim and hearing mosque services is common. We have to dress moderately and public displays of affection are not allowed so we have to adjust our behavior a bit. But I wish everyone could see this place. The buildings are so amazing. Streets are woven all around in every which way and the clear blue ocean is located just a few alleys away. As I type this on the rooftop terrace I can look over to another hotel and see the billowing, lit, canopy tops to other buildings. The whole set up seems like something you could see in Europe – in Greece or Italy. Markets, amazing restaurants and historical sites are right around our hotel. I love it!

The people in Zanzibar are a bit overwhelming. Being white tourists, we easily stick out; and sticking out means getting hassled all the time to buy this or that. One local told us last night, people don’t see us as people – they see us as American dollars. It can get a bit too much at times.

Despite the tourist hungry business, we have all been having a great time. Yesterday we went snorkeling and swimming off a little island called Prison Island. We hired some locals in a little fishing boat to take us out there. I had so much fun! The water is crystal clear and the weather was perfect. Snorkeling along the reef gave us an awesome view of some bright and colorful fish. Snorkeling was followed by drinks and dinner along the beach and then some dessert shopping in the fish/food market. Chocolate banana pizza and chocolate mango pizza – so good!

Today has also been action packed. We left at 9 am for a spice tour. Zanzibar used to be a huge spice trade center. We got to see the spice market, a spice farm, old sultans’ passion baths, slave caves and the beach all in a tour. The spice farm was so nice. We got to eat fresh fruit, taste and smell all the spices straight from the trees. The cinnamon tree was definitely one of my favorites. The leaves smell like amazing cinnamon, the bark tastes like Red Hots and the roots smell like Vicks vapor rub. The air smelled like spices and we had people walking along with us making woven grass hats, ties, necklaces and bags for us to wear. It was fun. The slave cave was pretty disturbing. It was a cave used to hide slaves for the slave trade after slavery had been abolished on the island. I cannot understand how people could treat other humans that way. And it continued for so long, generations after generation just letting it happen. Seeing that sight, even just a simple cave really disturbed me. It makes me wonder what our generation is overlooking. In a hundred year what will the future think of us?

Despite the somber moments in the slave cave, the tour was a blast. Afterwards we returned to our hotel, showered and headed out to do a bit more shopping and watch the USA soccer match at a bar. The game had a great ending (GO USA!) and the bar actually was full of other Americans. It is so weird seeing all these other wazungus (the Swahili word for white-person). I’m so used to our group being the only white group around. We constantly catch ourselves storing at other tourists – curious to see and hear what they are up to. Being in Tanzania for the last 5 weeks has changed us all so much. It has been easy to see with the trip here to Zanzibar and the stop in Dar. Before I didn’t think too much of Dar. Now I can see how big and luxurious it is. We were all so amazed to see what Dar had to offer. Being in Zanzibar has been the same. Seeing other tourists all over the place and getting treated and approached as a money bag is so different to us now. I can’t imagine how the USA will feel. At least we have Dar and Zanzibar to ease us into things.

Anyways I’m gonna go enjoy one of our last nights with the rest of the group. Sorry for the delay in entries – we haven’t had internet for quite a while. But hopefully I can update before we leave. And you will definitely see a few posts once I get home! Until next time!


Location: Stone Town, Zanzibar

Only 2 weeks left?!

Hello all!

In exactly 1 week from today we will be leaving or preparing to leave the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center here in Mang’ula and will be on our way to Dar es Salaam! I am actually going to be really sad to leave the UEMC. We have great locals who work with us and it is pretty comfy. We have all made multiple comments about bringing out cook, Justin, back with us to the US. This guy does amazing things with food. It’s all so healthy (other than the carb overload) and yummy – I will miss him!

In exactly 2 weeks from today I will have been home for almost a full day! How crazy is that?! I can’t believe we are this far in. When I first signed up for this study abroad experience, I thought I would be ready to go by now but I am not at all! I’m already trying to think of ways I can make it back to Africa in the future. I’ve got the travel fever.

 Now it seems like things are moving so quickly. We have our big semester projects to complete before Friday plus a paper due on Tuesday and paper due on Saturday! Wheww! It is going to be an intense workweek here in Mang’ula.

We have all decided and finalized our semester projects. We have such an array of topics being covered. Some are working with the village of Tundu – creating design projects for water runoff, roads, population growth and alternative fuel usage. We have some people working on projects for the UEMC here – designing an alternative fuel demonstration and creating a mock website for marketing the park and local village to tourists. My project is really great for my two majors (management and community development). I will be creating a management guide-booklet for development plans. I am pretty excited about it but I have A LOT of work to do – a lot of people to talk to and a lot of information to find. Plus we don’t have access to internet so we are forced to work with what we got. It should be a huge growing experience. In the real world we may not have internet or alternative databases to work with communities. It really forces us to work harder and stretch ourselves.

Amidst all out work here we have been finding time for some fun. Last night we went into town to watch the USA world cup match against Britain. Although it was something so normal, it was exciting. I’m not really sure what type of building there was but the set up was great! A projector was playing the live game up against the entire wall. We all sat back in our lawn chairs and enjoyed with some locals. It is great how interested people are in soccer. I know we have big fan bases for sports in America but it kind of makes me wish we were a big soccer country. It is a pretty interesting (and impressive!) sport. Plus the US tied so we were able to walk away with some bit of pride. It is just so interesting how a normal day activity can be something completely new.

I made another attempt to post pictures but it failed miserably. So sorry.

I don’t really know if I will have any time or any subject matter to write about for the next few days but you can expect to hear from me once I make it to Dar. Wish us luck on our work and travels!


Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania

Surveys and Safaris

Crazy times in Tanzania, let me tell ya.

You may remember after my last blog we were on our way to start our work within the village. On Thursday and Friday we spent the days surveying a village about an hour away from our campus. The village, Tundu, is pretty large but only having 2 days we had to focus our surveying a bit. It was my first time collecting data and creating maps. Within our group we had 3 different groups of 3-4 people. Each group was assigned a section and was sent off with a translator and 1 or 2 village council members. My group was in charge of roads and pathways. At first glance I was completely stressed out about how many little paths there were to do, but the village council member told us that every space without a house is considered a path – meaning we only had to do “main roads”. We spent the entire day, 10 – 4:30 (including a lunch break) systematically going through paths. Surveying is kind of a tedious job. We had one member who would walk along the path and find a GPS point every 20-40 paces. We then had a member who would write down the GPS coordinates, the point number and any notes. A third member took pictures of every single point and measured the path width while I was the sketcher in charge of drawing an overall map including all the points. Keeping track of all those paths was kind of confusing for me but it worked out all right due to the aid of multicolored pens. The next day, Friday was the same schedule except we finished up the roads mid-morning and switched to mapping the houses. Houses were a little different. Since the GPS satellites in the area fluctuate we couldn’t drop GPS point of the house – instead we had to drop the point at one house corner, measure the length and width of the building, and calculate the wall’s bearing while continuing with data recording and sketching. Whew it was a long day but they did go extremely quickly once we got into a groove. I was the data recorder for the house mapping. It took a lot of patience and a lot of communication but I learned a lot from the job.

Working in the village was nice. We really got free-range. The village council seemed really grateful and pleased by our work. Having a scaled, logistical map of the town will be extremely helpful in helping the village plan for future land use and expansion. With the approval of the village council we were able to do and go anywhere. It really helped me get a better understanding of village life. The poverty would still get to me at times but in this area it is hard to avoid that.

After a few days of hard work we were treated to a great weekend and early week. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go World Environmental Day help at the local elementary school. It was a school competition between 9 schools that created skits and performances to demonstrate the importance of conservation.  Some of the dances, songs and skits by these kids were amazing! It was so interesting to see the kids doing traditional tribal dances to student-played drums. I really enjoyed it. The after the performances we were able to hang out with the kids for a while. The crowd size was extremely shocking to me. While 9 smaller school groups performed there were over probably over 600 kids there to watch. After the performances were finished, the music was kept on and our group danced with everyone. The crowd was so huge we could barely move, let alone dance but it was so fun! They got such enjoyment out of seeing us goof around. The girls in particular got bombarded. They loved to touch our hair and dance with us. I couldn’t even move my arms because I had 4 children holding on to each hand and forearm.

The experience was so amazing but we still had more to come. Sunday afternoon we left for Mikumi National Park for a 3 night 3 day safari. While we were there we stayed at the Angala Tented Camp. For a camp site this place was nice! We had actual toilets and somewhat warm water. It was such a treat! All the game drives through the park were amazing; tons of giraffes, elephants, zebras, impala, wildebeests, warthogs, baboons and the most beautiful birds. I was so surprised how close our jeeps were able to get. The highlight of the trip was Monday evening when we finished off the ride by finding a pack of 7 lions eating a wildebeest. We were so close we could hear the lions eating, and ripping the meat up. It was only 20 yards away. Despite the awesomeness of the lions my favorite animal was the giraffes. It is so big and graceful and interesting. The baboons were very entertaining to watch as well, they make the top 3.

Now we have made the return trip back the monitoring center. It is kind of nice to be back, this place is starting to feel like home! The next week and a half is going to be crazy! We are getting deep into our work and the projects we need to create for the villages. Work, work, work, work. That is all that’s on the agenda. At times I am ready for home but I think I am going to be so sad when we leave here. Oh well, I won’t think about it now. Off to do more work!


Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania

Walking, hiking and running through Tanzania

Time for my official 4th blog entry….or 5th if you count the double entry my stupid internet made. It is currently 3:20 pm here in Tanzania. I have officially settled into our home here at the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center and we are about to start our real work! So far we have been preparing to create plans and such by learning about the culture, conflicts and key issues. As we continue to do that, we need to start thinking of a final project for the summer. On Thursday and Friday we will be heading out to Tundu to survey and map the community. Apparently they are facing a quick increase in population due to their proximity to the sugar cane fields and they need a plan on how they should grow. Currently there are no maps or anything for the village so our work to create a map will be extremely helpful for planners or for the landscape students here who want to design a plan. Surveying is tedious work. We have to write down every single GPS coordinate that is relevant (corners of buildings, road ways, foot paths, etc), sketch the area along the way and record everything with pictures.

Since I last wrote we had some interesting times. One day we went throughout the area to see different places where villages have encroached on the national park land. Just a warning – if a Tanzanian ever asks you to go on a ‘walk’ put on your hiking boots. Our guide had our entire groups scaling the hills, walking through the forest and down steep hills. Of course he was running around with ease but the rest of us were not expecting the challenge and fell way behind. Seeing the park encroachment was interesting though. There were points where the land had been used up so much it was practically a wall of dirt right on the border of the park.

Then this last weekend, some of our group went on a hiking/camping trip up to Sanje falls. In my last entry I was excited about the 150ft waterfall. Sanje falls is 750m. I don’t know exactly how many feet that is but I know it is a lot more than 150! The hike itself was only hard for the second half. The first half was manageable until we got to the first view point. After that the path was pretty much straight up – I thought my legs were going to give out underneath me. We went swimming at the very bottom of the falls where a pool has formed and then again at the very top of the falls. The power of the falls at the top was surprising! The current was stronger than what you would feel in the ocean; the only thing that stopped us from going over the edge was the rocks lined up on along the border. At the very top, the view was spectacular. We could see the whole valley while hearing the falls around us. Once at the top we set up camp and spent the night. It was a hard night’s sleep but well worth it when we woke up early to watch the sunrise at the view. The coloring was beautiful. I have tons of pictures I wish I could post but you will have to wait and see. Google Sanje falls if you are interested in getting a preview.

Yesterday we took a field trip to see Mangombero forest. It is not too far from the national park but it is a completely unprotected piece of forest which sits right next to a village and faces a big chance of being destroyed. Anyways, this trip was hilarious. We had all 11 students, 2 professors and 3 guides walking along a tiny path in the woods. This forest had lots of army and fire ants mounds on this path. At a moment’s notice we would all have to start running to get away from them. Seeing all 16 of us bolt through the woods made me laugh every time. One poor guy in our group, Theo, had been standing on a mound for a few minutes – He had to strip down right in the middle of the forest to get all the ants off! I managed to not get bit due to a pants-tucked-into-socks maneuver but those little ants are tricky; even running I would still end up with some on my pants and shoes. Thank goodness for high boots, high socks and long pants! Overall it was an amusing trip…or at least I found it amusing since I never got attacked by the vicious ants.

Today is a work day for us before we head to the village tomorrow so not much will be going on. We do have a busy weekend coming up – International Environmental Day on Saturday and a 3 day-2 night safari at Mikumi National Park starting on Sunday


Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania

Giraffes, waterfalls and learning…Oh my!

I am now writing to you from the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center in Mang’ula, Tanzania. We have been here since the afternoon of Monday May 24th, 2010. The drive from Monogolo wasn’t too bad. Once we got closer to the national park the road started to get ridiculous with bumps, puddles and holes. I literally thought one of our tires was going to pop off and apparently that road is a lot better than some of the other ones in the area! Part of our drive here was on a road that went through Mikimi National Park. I am happy to say that along this road we had our first wild animal spotting! We are driving on the road and directly to our left, RIGHT next to the road was 2 giraffes! It is so amazing and weird to see this wild life on the side of the road; it is quite different from the deer and groundhogs I see at home! During the drive we also saw wild buffalo, small gazelle-like animals, zebras and many more giraffes. Next weekend we will be taking a weekend-long safari in that same park- I cannot wait!

Since we have been at the monitoring center we have been very bust. First of all – they defiantly are taking care of us here. We do have to deal with cold showers, no electricity (due do a broken transformer) and a really terrible internet connection but the food is great and accommodations are really good for the circumstances. The food usually consists of homemade giant bread rolls, yummy jams, fruit, coffee and tea in the morning and then rice (or beans) with some kind of vegetable or meat stew and a side of vegetables. The best thing is all the food is locally and organically grown. I have literally never had better vegetables – and this comes from a girl who is not a vegetable fan.

On our second day here, we went on a hike into the Udzungwa National Park. It was quite the hike! We only spent an hour and half going up but it was some steep climbing! Add in the heat factor and some major humidity and we were all tired and drenched in sweat. I must say the work was worth it though – once we got the peak of the trail we were at a huge waterfall. I would estimate the height to be about 150 ft. The power and wind that came off the falls was amazing and immediately helped to cool us down. If we hadn’t already been drenched from the rain that started during our hike we would have been soaked by the mist of the falls. Our guide told us we could go into the water and off our hiking boots and socks came! The water was cool but it was a good refresher. We stood under the falls and felt the pressure of the water on our backs. It was amazing and I was surprised of the force of the water. It was such an amazing, freeing moment – standing in the falls with the whole group after a hard hike up the mountain. It was my favorite moment here so far.

But it has not all been fun and games here, we have lots of work to do. We have been doing lots of readings to get acquainted with the culture and circumstances in Tanzania and having daily seminar meetings. Today we went around with a park worker to see the areas of park encroachment. The villages around here are really faced with a problem. Tons of people come here to live because the land is so fertile but then the population grows so quickly they need to expand. The problem is the valley is located right up next to the park so they barely have room to expand. They cannot build into the park and they cannot build further out because corporate sugar plantations are throughout the valley. This is one of the problems we have come here to work on – making community plans for these types of villages who are faced with tough decisions. The villagers also have a second problem of firewood. Currently they are allowed to the entire the park to collect the dead wood to use as firewood – the main source of energy in these small villages. The problem, however, has been that the removal of dead wood is affecting the national park because it takes away the habitat for bugs and small animals. As a result the national park is making it illegal to collect the firewood from the park starting next year. But what do the villagers do? They need energy sources from somewhere. It is just one of the many considerations we have here.

Next week we will start or work in the villages. As part of our courses we have to create a project for the village. The more we learn here the harder it seems to help people. With so many concerns and conflicts it seems almost impossible to find a solution to anything. But that is why we are frontloading our trip with academic readings and learning. Hopefully after we all have a better understanding we will be able to come up with a plan.

I am learning so much on this trip. We have come here to work and give to the villages and the country but I feel as if I am getting much more than I am giving. The way we live in America can be so distorted sometimes. We work and work and work while shutting ourselves in. Here, community is so important. Everyone greets one another and there is ALWAYS people sitting out in the streets, at a bar, under a tree or on a porch talking and just hanging out. There are so many people at home who probably know nothing about their neighbors. It seems so sad now after being here and seeing the closeness and relationships amongst these communities. But that is not the only thing – after seeing a totally different way of life I have realized how wasteful and unhappy people in America can be compared to here. EVERYTHING these people have is put to good use. I have just realized how ridiculous dogfood is! Dogs do not get special food here – they get whatever is left. Every part of the agriculture is used if possible and nothing goes to waste. We waste SO much at home. Just because we can afford to waste does it give us the right too? I have also seen differences in attitude. Tanzanians seems to be so happy and content with what they have – when many of them have very, very little. I have seen a kid playing with an old rubber tire and having so much fun – no videogames or fancy toys, just an old bike tire. Then as we were walking through the village the other day and we saw a woman sweeping her front doorstep. Her front doorstep was dirt – she was sweeping the dirt! That shows how much pride she has for her property and things, even though someone in America might be ashamed of such a thing. It shows me that happiness doesn’t have to come from what you own. For these people who have so little, to be so happy goes against what I have seen in America. It really brings up so many questions about the way we live.

Okay, I better stop – I’m starting to sound like a hippie :] I hope I will be able to post somewhat regularly now but who knows with this internet connection. If you want to read a different perspective you can read the blogs of my lovely roomies and fellow travelers: Katie, Abby and Rachel.

Until next time!


Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania

Starting Life in Tanzania…

Mambo!

First of all, sorry I haven’t updated in a while. I arrived at JFK in New York at 7:30 AM on Monday May 17th. We actually arrived to our hostel in Dar es Salaam around 5:30 PM on Tuesday, May 18th (Tanzania time). Once we were actually into our hostel – surprise, surprise – we didn’t have internet service. So now, we are currently in Morogoro, we have internet service and I will do my best to catch you up on my adventures so far.

Tanzania is pretty awesome. Dar es Salaam, or ‘Dar’, was our first stop. Dar spoiled me. Our hostel was surprisingly nice. We had air conditioning, our own bathroom and a comfy, foam mattress. After talking to a local we found that the neighborhood our hostel is in is a ‘rich’ neighborhood. Now that is rich for Tanzania, not for America. Granted the neighborhood is pretty nice compared to others we have passed on the street but these conditions would not be accepted by the wealthy in the west. While in Dar we had 3 lectures at the University of Dar es Salaam. What a difference there is between Penn State and the university here! The campus was nice – every piece of nature here is beautiful – but again, the conditions would not be accepted in the west. Electricity flickering on and off during lectures, hot stuffy rooms. Students at Penn State would withdraw if they had to deal with that! It really shows me how lucky we are and that’s when looking at the one of the most prominent universities in the entire continent.

Other than our lectures, we spent a lot of time stuck in traffic, eating out and walking around. We visited downtown Dar which was nothing like our downtowns. The food in Dar was pretty awesome. There was nothing I had that was bad. The only thing I received but didn’t eat was raw vegetables and some rice with curry (I’m not really a curry fan). The second night we had gotten dinner at a restaurant right along the waterfront. It was very nice but kind of white-person-central. It was very odd to see foreigners dressed up and looking nice coming into the restaurant when I knew of the poverty that lay just down the street.

Life in Dar defiantly is different from that in an American city. The urban poverty is obvious. People are out on the streets, on the sidewalks, in alleys trying to sell something to get some cash and they are there at all times. They literally have EVERYTHING to sell on the streets. For example, when we were driving in from the airport one guy was walking through the traffic lanes with a fish aquarium on his head. Need a fish aquarium? He was your guy.

The mixture of styles in Dar amazed me. You would have some people walking along the street looking like they just stepped out of an American mall while you have others – like the Maasai tribe – who walk around in traditional African attire. I guess it shows how globalization and the western world has influenced these people, but not taken over. I hope they continue to keep their culture. It is unique and very beautiful.  

In Dar we didn’t have too much time to truly interact with the people and the locals. We did spend some time talking to adults who knew English and playing soccer with some school children, but other than that our interactions have been somewhat limited. I am defiantly a minority here, that much is obvious. Being in downtown Dar was a bit much at times. Having so many people stare at you can get kind of old.

Anyways, that was a quick summary of Dar. We left there Friday morning and arrived here in Morogoro where we have been the last few days before we leave for Mang’ula and the Udzungwa National Park tomorrow morning.

Morogoro is gorgeous. The mountains in the background and the green environment all around. I wish I could show you some of the pictures I’ve taken so far. The city is nice. It is smaller than Dar but I think it is nicer. The people are kinder and the environment is greener, more welcoming and easier to appreciate. Traveling here we went through the rural countryside and got a glimpse of some more rural type poverty. The mud houses and limited access were hard to observe, especially when we waste and have so much. However here in Morogoro, people seem to be doing well for themselves. There are many tin roofs which shows a higher income status compared to thatched roofs.

Here in Morogoro we have been spending time doing a lot of work. Yesterday we had 5 lectures at the Sokoine University of Agriculture. We learned all about the agriculture system in Tanzania, deforestation, rural sociology, etc.  It is shocking home much forest land has been altered and degraded here. The mountains shown about normally would have been covered in forests but deforestation for firewood and farming land has removed most of the trees.

This is a topic that has repeatedly sprung up here in Tanzania. The people, government and economy are trying to develop and advance but at the same time the country is rightfully concerned about environmental damage and degradation. Finding a balancing act is going to be difficult. When is ruining the environment okay? And where do you draw the line between environmental rights and human development? In America we have been lucky to develop and establish our country in a time where environment didn’t have to be a concern. Now we are trying to clean up our mess but Tanzania has to consider this from the beginning. Putting more pressure on Tanzania is the extraordinary importance of their land; agriculture and ecotourism are huge parts of the economic sector. Additionally, this country has the most amazing, diverse environment. It would be a shame and a loss to the whole world to see more lost than what needs to be.

Well, that is all I have time for now. We should have internet regularly now so I should be able to post more frequent and more detailed entries for the next few weeks. I can’t post pictures with this internet but as soon as I get back there will be a photo-blog post!


Location: Morogoro, Tanzania

1 month – sayyy whatt??

Hey there everyone. Welcome to my blog.

Currently, I am sitting here nice and comfy in Boucke on campus. Abby sits right next to me with the other girls in the trip scattered throughout the room. We have gotten acquainted with the geoblog system and now we are set for the summer. Oh, I should probably do the introduction stuff first??

My name is Andrea. I am a sophomore here are the lovely Penn State. I am majoring in Management and CED (Community, Environment and Development). This summer in about 1 month I will be jetting off to Mang’ula, Tanzania for 6 weeks. Totally crazy. I can’t wait.The program is through the LARCH college and will have about 11 other students going as well.  I think all of the girls are blogging so check out their blogs too. It might be kind of interesting to compare all of ours.

Anyways, I digress. Today has actually been a pretty busy day in regards to this trip. I got my immunizations from the health center – Hep. A, Typhoid and Polio Vaccines – and I just turned in my Visa paper, pictures and passport to get the visa. Notice I said mentioned no Yellow Fever vaccine. I will not be getting it because of the medicine I am on and all this nonsense. Let’s hope I stay Yellow Fever-free! I’m really not too worried about it but  the nurses and my mother make me think I should be….oh well. We will take a little risk, see what happens. We also got our final flight itinerary today. That means as of noon on May 17th I will be on my way to Tanzania!

I am so excited for this trip. Nervous – yes! Overwhelmed – a little. But excited – of course. I still have a lot to do before I am ready to go. Supplies and such need to be purchased, information needs to be read, mothers need to be calmed and the semester needs to end. But through all that I am super pumped. I was reading some of the other blogs when I should have been paying attention to the training session – but the other blogs made me anxious to get there. I am pretty sure I will hit some hard culture shock – something I didn’t see to much in other blogs. If you stick around prepare for some intense blogging on my culture shock and hardships. You will not be spared from these details.

Tanzania better get ready – 1 month!


Location: State College, PA