Mail address

My mail address in Arusha  is:
Chrisc Tanzania
p.o.box 15951
Arusha
Tanzania

I'll be very happy to recieve mail, but don't send any valuable things. I've heard things can disappear at the post offices around here.

A football team needs a ball

In Arusha there are many football teams of the ages under 14 and under 12. CHRISC organizes a football league in Arusha for these age groups. Both CHRISC teams and other teams can participate. Last time I was at Kaloleni zone and watched them playing. The volunteers who were responsible for the matches were one hour late, so I got time to have a talk with one of the teams. Luckily there were some who spoke a little english. I didn't get very far by speaking my faulty swahili. However, they dared to try to speak english when they found out that my swahili was a lot worse. It didn't take long before they asked me for economical support to buy a new football for the team. The old one was almost worn out. And how can a football team train without a ball?
I wanted really much to give them a ball, but I've been told that it's a too simple and short-lasting solution to give away money. It creates dependence. Instead I tried to ask them what they could do to fundraise in order to buy a new ball. There weren't many suggestions. "We don't have money". I thought about what teams in Norway do to collect money. I suggested to find a job for the whole team. "There is no work." I suggested to ask the parents for a little support, so that they could save money for a ball. "We have no money." After we played a funny game and than the league matches started. On the field, the kids seemed happy and they played hard to win the games. Luckily, fun has no cost.
Later that day I couldn't stop thinking about that team, lacking a football. In Norway, many teams have one ball per player. Too many teams in Tanzania don't have footballs at all. I felt both powerless and frustrated. Why don't people want to share. One football costs so little, and can cause so much joy. Why can't their parents or community afford such a little thing as a football? I can't write more questions, because this post is allready too long. Look at some pictures. And see the CHRISCblog post about youth league.

Pray before play

Me and Idrissa, field manager at the league

Snake park and wild monkeys

On Sunday we planned a little trip to a village called Usa River, not far from Arusha. We hoped to see some nice nature and landscape, and maybe some wild animals. The trip was 15 kilometers of walking on the road, a visit at a lokal snake park, and a visit at a safari lodge with "wild" animals. We also saw Arusha national park from the border, but it was too expensive to enter for only a couple of hours. Hopefully we will spend a whole day there later. Luckily we saw some wild monkeys on the way back. We are very grateful for Emanuel who showed us the way and guided us in the Usa River area. He is tour guide student in Arusha, and offered to show us the area, even though he didn't know us very well. Hopefully I will get better at taking pictures of people on the next trip. Watch more pictures in the Web Album

Sometimes the birds come very close

Video 4

Lasse has published a new video: http://www.lasseiafrika.blogspot.com/

Video 3

Lasse has made a video from the trip to the waterfall: www.lasseiafrika.blogspot.com

A sunday trip

I like sundays. They are the most relaxed days, and they really charge my batteries. A sunday is resting day, and you can do whatever you want. Last sunday we went to Napuru waterfall, a beautiful place only two hours of walking from our home. The Tanzanian scenery had allready surprised me, so I had quite big expectations to this place. Four of our friends in Arusha followed us to the waterfall. After paying for entrance twice, and after passing beautiful forests and maize fields, we finally walked down to a small, steep valley. After some weeks in the city, I felt very happy about coming to this place. It was so beautiful and peaceful.

We stayed at the waterfalls for two hours. We had a bath in the surprisingly cold water and relaxed. What was strange was that we didn't see any other people. We were alone in this small paradice, one our of walking from a city of more than 1 mill people. I can't stop wondering why nobody else visited the place. Our friends told us that people are going to church on sundays, and therefore they don't go to the waterfall. But the first service is finished at 0800 in the morning, so people have plenty of time for going there.

Many people have to work also on sundays. And I guess the Tanzanians don't have the typical sunday-trip culture as we have in Norway. People prefer to stay at home and cook some nice food after church. However, like this make it a lot easier to stay away from the Norwegian scenery I like so much. I'm looking forward to see more of Tanzanias beautiful places. 

I felt quite tiny

Walking along a maize field. Mt. Meru in the background.

We followed the creek towards the waterfall

Refreshing shower

Everything was green in the surroundings

It was lovely to bath in the cold water