Ninaishi

-I’m Alive
So I know it has been forever since I have posted a blog entry, but believe it or not I actually am alive!

It also turns out that I have survived my first disease in country: Strep Throat. Sorry that it wasn’t anything really cool like malaria, or ebola, but I can only try so hard. Thanks to an American nurse who lives nearby and our Peace Corps medical doctors for helping me get the right medication. Turns out that meds are really cheap here and surprisingly easy to get. Just walk up to the local Duka la Dawa (medicine store-I would say pharmacy but that would be a vast overstatement) tell them you want some Amoxicillin and pay the equivalent of $1 in local currency and you have yourself the cure for strep.

Now the harder part comes when you try to explain to the locals what you have, and its not malaria
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It turns out that there is quite an international presence here on the Island. Apart from the 4 Peace Corps volunteers, there are two American families (with 3 and 4 kids), 4 VSO volunteers (Belgian, Canadian, Dutch, and Kenyan), 3 Philippinos (working for various companies), and Pemba Mike (a former PC volunteer who moved here after his service and married a local, needless to say the locals love him). As well over the past couple of weeks I have met many other groups of travelers: 2 Slovaks, 3 Spaniards, 6 PC/Zambia Volunteers, 1 Canadian, 2 Canadians (VSO/Mwanza), 2 Canadians (VSO/Zanzibar), and 3 Americans (research abroad)

This past weekend I got to work on a project with Community Forest Pemba. I was introduced to this organization by Pemba Mike (actually it was only this week that I learned that he actually has a last name and Pemba is not legally part of his name). It is a great organization that is a subsidiary or Community Forest International. The local branch was started up and is almost entirely run by locals. With them we went out to the small island of Uvinje to build a water catchment system on a Mosque.Obviously we were the center of attention having 3 white people in our group. First we had to wait around awhile the fundis (repairmen) got to work fixing the edge boards of the ceiling. After they had finished we were able to get to work putting up gutters to catch the roof’s runoff water, and pipe over to the huge cistern that can hold a couple of thousand liters. We actually got a nice simulation when it started raining about halfway through the installation and we managed to collect about 40 liters using about an eighth of the roof in 5 minutes. We also managed to pull down 2 trees the locals were taking out, helping to ensure that they didn’t hit our project in the process. Mike promptly pointed out how ironic it was that we are helping to remove these trees while working for an organization that promotes the planting of trees.

As everyone knows every good village or town has a good crazy man. We had a couple of encounters with the Wete one this past weekend as well. First off no matter how hard you try this guy will find you, and immediately make a beeline to you. Unlike most though he is actually fairly coherent in what he is actually saying, just the meaning is hard to get. I managed to meet him that morning in which he asked me a bunch of questions including, “How many Christians are there in Makengale (an area in the north of Pemba),” “Where is all of America’s money” [In America?], and “Is the White House where Obama lives in Europe?” He also always ask us where Mbarouk, who is the director of Community Forest Pemba, is, which we have no reason to know on a regular basis. So that evening after watching Kickboxer with Jean Claude van Damme at the Wete theater, Dave and I went to get ice cream. (Yeah you can go to a theater and get ice cream there:) While there this guy came up to us once again. After a little bit of talk he then asked us once again where Mbarouk was, which of course we had no idea. He then went off saying stuff that neither of us understood for a minute and then at the end said, “Here we have Mbarouk, in America you have Reagan!” and then walked off, leaving everyone around laughing hysterically.

Other things that have happened:
-I was told that some baby chicks, which had clearly been dyed purple, got their color from the sun.
-I had someone tell me that it is necessary that Americans learn Swahili for when they travel to Africa, because all Africans speak Swahili.
-I am constantly asked by people were my wife is, my answer to this one seems to change every time it’s asked. Regardless of what my answer is however I am told that I should get a Pemban wife.
-People here are very excited that Obama won the election. I even had people congratulating me on his victory.
-We are actually moving into our new school tomorrow! It will be so nice!