The view from the new building being constructed at KCMC
The third bracelet
Kilimanjaro.....
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Infrastructure - Or lack there of
I’m beginning to feel more at home in my homestay and in Moshi. Although I am still receiving a lot of stares while walking to class, I receive a lot of friendly greetings. However, I will not begin to let my guard down.
Not a huge amount has happened since my last post. My group members and I have started to develop our own case study that we will examine throughout the next three weeks. We have chosen the topic of “Health & Body Image” in Tanzania and will focus on the social conceptions of body image, as well as creating recommendations that will encourage healthier consumption choices.
Traveling into the central town of Moshi, my fellow white students and I receive a lot of attention from the street peddlers. Waving strands of beaded bracelets and necklaces, they continually say that they will give you a “great price” for their items. Last Friday, we all went to the city and I bought a small bracelet from a young Tanzanian who brought me into his shop to show me his paintings.
While waiting for a daladala (crowded van that serves as public transportation) ride back toward the hospital / our classroom, another street peddler tried to entice me into buying another bracelet. Beginning to tell him that I already had one, I thought it’d be interesting to see if I could trade him. I wasn’t extremely interested in the bracelet I currently had and looking back I think the trade worked out in my favor.
I have now developed a game that I play with the local peddlers. It involves trying to see how often I can trade for a new bracelet without spending any money. Today in town I managed to trade for a new one which is made entirely of coffee beans. I have posted a picture of it on this blog. It is my third bracelet thus far. The second one had coffee beans and yellow, black, and blue beads, while the first was slightly thicker and had red, green and yellow smaller beads and large pink beads. Not my favorite. I’ll try to take a picture of every bracelet I acquire. Hopefully this game will add some enjoyment to the tiring act of dealing with the street vendors.
Also, I finally found a gym in Moshi. After class this Monday, I ran to the Agme Lodge with Brenna and Chelsea and we signed up for a monthly membership to a fairly small gym. I wasn’t really concerned about the equipment, as I was simply happy to have some weights to swell with.
Over the course of my trip, one thing that has come to my attention is the infrastructure of Tanzania. Turning from a popular street to a side road, the ground turns from tarmac to compacted dirt and rock. The prevalence of rock creates very bumpy car rides and unhappy joints during runs. This lack of infrastructure also creates economic difficulties that businesses can not afford.
This past Saturday, I went on a tour of traditional Chagga culture with Professor Moseley and the other Cornell students. There had been a few light showers early that morning, creating a thin layer of mud on the unpaved roads. While taking a rented bus to the tour location, the bus got stuck in the mud, tires spinning, sliding centimeters at a time down the slope. At one point, I stepped out of the bus to help a group of local men push the automobile up the hill. To avoid an additional delay to our trip, we ended up walking to the tour location.
If the roads and other infrastructural issues on the way to the tour location were addressed, it would definitely increase the amount of tourism that could reach the remote location. Also, it would make the local coffee growers in these areas more accessible to coffee traders, thus promoting the general economy.
Along with the dirt roads throughout Moshi, I have noticed a lot of trash scattered throughout the streets and walkways. Where does all this trash end up? Probably in the drinking water and crops that lie within meters of the trash piles. If sanitation practices of this area were increased, it would help to relieve the health demand on the local health workers as well as possibly increase the agricultural yield of the local farms.
I think I mentioned this in my last post, but at the beginning of my trip I began reading “Mountains beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder. The book is about the life of the famous Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health. Dr. Farmer has his M.D. as well as his PhD in anthropology and spent a majority of his undergraduate and graduate life in Cange, Haiti working to promote the health of the towns’ inhabitants. The author states that Dr. Farmer continually expressed how easily the town could be improved if it had adequate infrastructure, such as paved roads, running water or sanitation. An entire town can be revitalized with simple improvements in infrastructure. I guess these issues are potential projects that I can work on if I return to the Moshi area.
Not a huge amount has happened since my last post. My group members and I have started to develop our own case study that we will examine throughout the next three weeks. We have chosen the topic of “Health & Body Image” in Tanzania and will focus on the social conceptions of body image, as well as creating recommendations that will encourage healthier consumption choices.
Traveling into the central town of Moshi, my fellow white students and I receive a lot of attention from the street peddlers. Waving strands of beaded bracelets and necklaces, they continually say that they will give you a “great price” for their items. Last Friday, we all went to the city and I bought a small bracelet from a young Tanzanian who brought me into his shop to show me his paintings.
While waiting for a daladala (crowded van that serves as public transportation) ride back toward the hospital / our classroom, another street peddler tried to entice me into buying another bracelet. Beginning to tell him that I already had one, I thought it’d be interesting to see if I could trade him. I wasn’t extremely interested in the bracelet I currently had and looking back I think the trade worked out in my favor.
I have now developed a game that I play with the local peddlers. It involves trying to see how often I can trade for a new bracelet without spending any money. Today in town I managed to trade for a new one which is made entirely of coffee beans. I have posted a picture of it on this blog. It is my third bracelet thus far. The second one had coffee beans and yellow, black, and blue beads, while the first was slightly thicker and had red, green and yellow smaller beads and large pink beads. Not my favorite. I’ll try to take a picture of every bracelet I acquire. Hopefully this game will add some enjoyment to the tiring act of dealing with the street vendors.
Also, I finally found a gym in Moshi. After class this Monday, I ran to the Agme Lodge with Brenna and Chelsea and we signed up for a monthly membership to a fairly small gym. I wasn’t really concerned about the equipment, as I was simply happy to have some weights to swell with.
Over the course of my trip, one thing that has come to my attention is the infrastructure of Tanzania. Turning from a popular street to a side road, the ground turns from tarmac to compacted dirt and rock. The prevalence of rock creates very bumpy car rides and unhappy joints during runs. This lack of infrastructure also creates economic difficulties that businesses can not afford.
This past Saturday, I went on a tour of traditional Chagga culture with Professor Moseley and the other Cornell students. There had been a few light showers early that morning, creating a thin layer of mud on the unpaved roads. While taking a rented bus to the tour location, the bus got stuck in the mud, tires spinning, sliding centimeters at a time down the slope. At one point, I stepped out of the bus to help a group of local men push the automobile up the hill. To avoid an additional delay to our trip, we ended up walking to the tour location.
If the roads and other infrastructural issues on the way to the tour location were addressed, it would definitely increase the amount of tourism that could reach the remote location. Also, it would make the local coffee growers in these areas more accessible to coffee traders, thus promoting the general economy.
Along with the dirt roads throughout Moshi, I have noticed a lot of trash scattered throughout the streets and walkways. Where does all this trash end up? Probably in the drinking water and crops that lie within meters of the trash piles. If sanitation practices of this area were increased, it would help to relieve the health demand on the local health workers as well as possibly increase the agricultural yield of the local farms.
I think I mentioned this in my last post, but at the beginning of my trip I began reading “Mountains beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder. The book is about the life of the famous Paul Farmer, founder of Partners In Health. Dr. Farmer has his M.D. as well as his PhD in anthropology and spent a majority of his undergraduate and graduate life in Cange, Haiti working to promote the health of the towns’ inhabitants. The author states that Dr. Farmer continually expressed how easily the town could be improved if it had adequate infrastructure, such as paved roads, running water or sanitation. An entire town can be revitalized with simple improvements in infrastructure. I guess these issues are potential projects that I can work on if I return to the Moshi area.
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