Weekend in Moshi

Posted by Ali

This Tanzania Albino Society (TAS) registration weekend was very different from the last one in Tanga. Since the town is only about an hour and a half from Usa River we didn't have to go days early just to be there in time for the event. But some of the other volunteers and I had been saying for a while that we wanted to spend a weekend in Moshi together. So Danielle, Jordan and I took a coaster bus up a day early to explore the city a bit. Danielle wasn't feeling the greatest so she did a lot of sleeping that afternoon while Jordan and I wandered the area around our hotel and discovered neat shops, fun sights and interesting people to talk to.

Jordan & lady making kanga bags pose with a Zain sign and a Kikwete (TZ president) hat
(Photo from Jordan)

We came back to the hotel just before dark and then hung out in the room with Danielle talking. Simon, who stays in that same hotel every weekend, popped his head in a couple times to say hi and let us know the progress on the supper he and his girlfriend, Amina, had decided to make for us. When it was ready we went upstairs to the rooftop dining area and had a fabulous meal. Amina is such a good cook and the rice and vegetables she made were delicious! They had also bought fresh fruit in the market. It was all so good. After supper we lingered and talked for a bit, hoping Mt. Kilimanjaro would emerge from her cloudy shawl, but she must have been too shy that night. Finally we said goodnight and went back to our room where the three of us girls pushed the two beds together and tried to find comfy positions for the night.

The next morning I met Simon and Amina bright and early at 8:45 a.m. and we took a taxi together to the university stadium, which meant we arrived pretty much right when we wanted to (a huge improvement on last week's arrival time). Yona put us right to work. Simon and I helped with numbering, organizing and distributing the albino surveys. Amina was even given a job to do helping albinos fill out registration forms and administering the surveys. Those jobs kept us occupied the whole morning and into the early afternoon before a district official arrived and the speeches started. After speeches came lunch although the lines were so long that we had to sit and wait a good long while before being able to partake. By that time the fresh fruit and vegetables were finished so I fell back on my old standby, rice, and left the rest of the meat to the people who I knew would enjoy it. After lunch we formed an assembly line and got ready to attach the new TAS member's pictures to their ID cards and registration forms. It was a five person line and we thought we were fully organized and ready to go. The only problem was that the photographer had decided to take ALL the albino pictures before printing them out. That meant we just sat around and waited for an hour or so until he was done taking the pictures and printing them all. And then we were flooded with people pushing and shoving to get their pictures glued to their registration forms and ID cards. It was a bit stressful, but we managed through it. Then there was a rain storm and people had to take cover under the grand stand roof. Once the storm was over we faced another challenge: finding the people to finish the last of the registration forms. That took probably close to another hour. By that time it was starting to get dusk-ish. The clouds had cleared after the storm and Mt. Kilimanjaro loomed large over the stadium grounds. It was so beautiful so while the TAS leaders and Soulpeace hurried to give out the prizes I snapped pictures of Kili and then sat on the grand stand to take in the beautiful scenery. When the evening grew darker flocks of bats flew overhead, all headed for some mysterious feeding ground, no doubt. It was amazing to see so many huge bats migrating over the stadium for about 10 minutes or so. Finally the prizes were given out and the equipment was taken down and packed into the ADRA cars and we climbed in and headed for Usa River.

Fancy stage and Kilimanjaro Region TAS leader Peter (R)

Patriotic decoration

Water for the crowd

Kanga-clad school group singing albino advocacy songs

Kilimanjaro Region TAS leader Febronia

Waiting out the sudden rain storm under cover

Post-storm rainbow

This little girl named Elizabeth attached herself to me in the afternoon

Kili after the rain storm, just before dusk