Chilly weather! Its crazy but its down to 70's and sometimes 60's here and I get a little chilly sometimes. I know I know, hot and beautiful to everyone else. What can I say.
So all's well on this end of the woods. Overall. Just getting done with a meeting in Dar (peer support and diversity network) which has been alot of fun. It makes you really realize how you respond to things when you realize what are good ways to talk to people who are hurting or frustrated. Did you know "why" questions are the wrong ones to ask? Never use "why" if at all possible.
We talked about that, and open ended vs. close ended questions (used to keep a person talking instead of eliciting only a "yes" or "no" response). Also the danger of not giving advice but getting a person to think of it themselves. As well the need to be careful not to couch advice in a question. ("Did you think about calling her to talk"...etc.) Its real interesting.
But Zanzibar power crisis, still mostly continuing, though hopefully soon over I believe. Its really been an interesting month because the power has been out for most of it (except when I came to Dar). You see Zanzibar gets its power from the mainland via an undersea cable and about a month ago that cable fried where it connects to the overland cables, and screwed up a power station. So its been a month of electricity-less adventure. What has it involved? Night time lanterns and candles, day time its as usual. Except very little computer use. For water, yours truly has been a'carryin it. Yup. There's a well about 1/3 kilometer down a path where all locals and yours truly have been getting water. It has a stick across center and you throw a small bucket tied to rope down to the bottom, then pull up the bucket and empty it into your big bucket, and repeat until your big bucket is filled. And for going home, well, thats just lugging as usual. I gotta tell ya, using a well though, that can seriously build up your arms if you do it alot. Just pulling up water from the bottom! - depending on how big your container is. And also, this whole bucket on your head thing, really really smart actually. It saves a ton of effort if you can do it right~ big if on my part. BUT I finally carried it on my head without spilling it too! Wooho! Though I still had to use my hands for balance this was a significant step forward. Hopefully there'll be electricity by the time I get back though...but really not sure. Apparently stonetown has power now, but in the villages, with power out for so long, people have been vandalizing and stealing cables, so even with power restored it might not reach. And I'm a ways out of stonetown. We'll see.
Dar is good for time being and so are most volunteers I saw. Its getting crazy but in less than a month and a half I'll be headed to my close of service conference (cos conference). We feel so old! Naw. Its great. I'm ready though. In Dar I got to meet alot of the newer volunteers. The 1st year health and education and environment group. Its been really quite nice. I like to expand my circle of people. And they are all really great! I love it. Also the new trainees for health and environment have arrived, there's like 48 of them! Neat right?! They are now in training doing there level best I'm sure to be happy healthy newbies! Also fun stuff, just yest, was at the Ymca and ran into a guy who had just arrived in dar es Salaam that day and he was headed to Zanzibar to be working their for a few months . So cool right?! I love just meeting folks on the street. Anyway, (and this would be REALLY intimidating to me) he arrived alone and is staying for a few days in Dar alone! Eeek. Anyway, we totally invited him to hang out with us and he did and it was great. So yea, I'm psyched to meet new friends. (To compliment the recent one I made on the islands in town) But everyone's leaving in August! Yuck. Seriously. People come and go SO quick it seems.
On other notes I have to say, this situation in Zimbabwe to me, is....completely unbelievable. NO ONE is taking responsibility. NO one. I'm sorry but GET OVER IT to all the african leaders out there who still remember Mugabe and want to respect his glory days. HE IS A HEINOUS MURDERING RAPING POWER HUNGRY PSYCHOTIC DICTATOR. Seriously!?!?!! South African leadership is absolutely disgusting, and I'm not just talking about Thabu Mbeki. Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, seriously grow up. Give a shit. They have 3 MILLION percent inflation, the highest ever in the history of the world (it was the highest ever when it was 155,000% inflation and now it, 80% un-employment, and one of Mugabe's most recent moves has been to kick out the food-aid organizations and all NGO's (NGO stands for non-governmental organization which is basically what all aid groups are who aren't directly affiliated with a certain country like for example USAID). According to many aid workers who left this was because he didn't want any outside witnesses to the mutilation he's perpretating to the country-side. According to Mugabe this is because all the NGO's have been campaigning for the opposition. Broken legs/faces/bodies etc of opposition supporters. And deaths and disappearences. And arrests. Apparently much of the rural country side has torture camps where locals are "educated" on the correct way to vote. Also the UN. Not helping. And US and UK EU groups, I'm sorry I feel like we're all implicated too. Why aren't we there? Cause lets face it, it does not directly threaten us nor does it offer our capatalistic system any incentive. (no oil/gold/super wealth in the area). I'm afraid I'm really quite cynical enough to believe that after this blows over if anyone mentions it, it'll be to wonder why we weren't there earlier and how we can stop this from never stopping again, and in the meantime the next one will come up. But seriously, I think despite the cultural issues, its the African countries leaders who need to say it first. They need to. They have needed to months ago.
Anyhow enough on horrific situation in Zimbabwe and how horrified I am by the world response to it.
Hope you all are well. Congrats mom!! I heard and saw the pictures on the horses. I love it! Angel loves babies! how amazing. I even had a dream about a little black baby horse the other day. Also fun stuff, I went to the movies last night, for the first time in a year and a half and saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The 3rd indiana jones is still by far my favorite, but I had a good time, and really, I feel like if there was every a time to see Indiana Jones, its in a theatre if you can. So yea. Good times.
But thats all I got for now. Best of luck to everyone at home, I can't wait to see y'all again. Its 21 months away here and counting. Love!