Weekend in Tanga

Posted by Ali

This weekend in Tanga was interesting, to say the least. But since it was ADRA TZ's first collaboration with the Tanzania Albino Society, there were bound to be some bumps and hurdles to deal with. All in all, it went pretty good. Here's the bulleted version of the trip.

Friday

• Left the campus just after 8 a.m. with seven people (six male) in the ADRA vehicle; two black African, two albino African, three white. Made good time on the roads even though there was lots of rain. Had a flat tire about half an hour before arriving in Tanga but because of Yona's quick work we were back on the road very soon.

Yona has very varied and valuable skills

• Found the stadium where the event would take place on Sunday, found Soulpeace (the project manager) and the other ADRA/TAS people who went to Tanga earlier in the week. Arrived at Pope John Paul II Guest House on a Catholic campus in mid-afternoon. Ordered a late lunch, got it about an hour later.

My room (opposite the one with the name) had a balcony overlooking the harbour :)

• Simon, Charles and I walked to downtown after eating, found an imported-goods grocery store and an internet cafe. Walked back to the guest house, said goodnight to the others, went to my room and read for the rest of the evening. Went to bed around 9:30 p.m. for lack of anything else to do (and to escape the bugs that managed to find their way into the room).

English/Arabic keyboard at the internet cafe

Saturday

• Slept in, but not as long as I wanted. Heard Max come back to his room (next to mine) and start singing for the next 15 minutes while he got ready for his day.
• Talked to my parents and Jonathan (at different times) on the phone. Did a book of easy Bible-themed word searches I found in my office desk. Got up, had a shower, ate breakfast.
• Waited out a rain storm before heading out for a walk around town. Wandered all over the downtown area, taking pictures, walking into shops and finding discrete places to sit and people-watch.

Sudden rain storm

Tanzanian construction method

Treehole

Seaside park

• Came back to the Catholic campus in time for a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Got there early so listened to several groups singing outside around the campus. Went to the guest house but didn't see anyone else from our group around. Went to my room and sat on my balcony to watch the sunset. Saw Simon arrive. Came downstairs to wait with him and Charles who arrived a few minutes later. Sat and waited for the rest of the group for an hour and a half until Simon moved to adjourn the non-existent meeting.

Catholic church of Tanga

Choir practice complete with electric organ

Sunset from my balcony

• Went back to my room to read. Finally decided to head to bed but just then got a knock on my door from Soulpeace who informed me that he was there to pick me up for the meeting. Grabbed my things and ran to the Land Cruiser where I was stuffed in between Soulpeace and the TAS national chairman, Ernest, in the front seat with many other albinos and Rachel in the back. Drove to Max and Brendon's new hotel (they switched hotels) and had the meeting. Almost fell asleep in the meeting. Finally it ended and everyone slowly got back into the car for our trip back to the other end of town. Made one stop at the stadium to find Yona who was still working there. Didn't find Yona so Soulpeace drove us back to hotel. Changed into pjs and went to bed.

Sunday

• Woke up early so I could be showered and have breakfast before being picked up by Soulpeace. Was ready by the appointed time of 7:45 a.m. Waited. Waited. Waited. Talked to Charles and the other albinos staying at Pope John Paul II who were also waiting. Got out my book. Read while waiting. Finished my book. Finally, at 11:10 a.m., saw Soulpeace walk into the restaurant where we were all sitting. Asked him what was up but didn't get much of a response. Received a khaki polo shirt with the ADRA and TAS logos on the front and a circle of Swahili words on the back.

Probably one of the first non-safari TZ sunrises I've witnessed

Back of our polo shirts
Translated: The foundation of human rights is equality.

• Got into the car with the rest of the Pope John Paul II crew. Got driven around to six photocopy shops so Soulpeace could photocopy some documents. Did a bunch of sudokus while waiting in the back of the car. Finally arrived at the stadium around noon. Found Simon and his girlfriend, Amina, who had walked there a little while earlier and hung out with them since there were no visible jobs for us to do. Took lots of pictures of albinos. Did that for most of the rest of the afternoon. (I especially loved taking pictures of the albino kids and also of the black parents with albino children and the albino parents with black children.)

Fun with water

Filling in a survey

Buddies

Beautiful Muslim boy

Fun with water x3

• At the end of the day I was actually given a job: to hand out zawadi (prizes). After the event was over the ADRA/TAS leaders had a meeting to assess what had gone well and not so well. Then Yona drove some of us to the bus station to get bus tickets to go back to Arusha early the next morning. Got a ride back to the guest house, packed up most of my stuff and went to bed.

Monday

• Woke up at 5 a.m. and was ready to leave the guest house at 5:45. Met the others going on the same bus as me in the lobby but couldn't find the taxi driver we had scheduled the night before. Called another one. Walked out to the road. Met the taxi and got a ride to the bus station. Found our bus and greeted Simon and Amina who were already seated, got settled and sat between Mollel (the chairman of the Arusha branch of TAS) and Charles for the next seven hours.
• Simon and I asked the bus money-takers to let us out at Danish St. (where ADRA is) and were able to get out there instead of having to go all the way into Arusha and take a daladala back to Usa River.
• Put our stuff in our rooms and went down to ADRA for our lunch of hot rice and beans.

And there you have it. The breakdown of our first Tanzania Albino Society registration day and the weekend surrounding it. I had a great second visit to Tanga and I loved being able to see so many albinos all come together in one place. Now, we'll take what we learned this past weekend and apply it to our next registration day in Moshi this coming Sunday. Stay tuned for more on that next week.