Tanzania: This is where we were all created

Man o’ Man I love the time I’ve spent in Tanzania. This country is so so beautiful and the people are so welcoming, smart and F-I-N-E! (Special note to all my single sisters out there).

Where to start, We landed in Dar es Salaam (Capital of Tanzania) on Sunday. I found this sweet house for rent on Craig’s List. This warm, soft-spoken man Jackson Picked us up from the Airport. He run’s the rental of the house… ended up being a good friend. He is finishing up his masters in Anthropology. His Thesis examines the connection of the poverty on the coast of eastern Africa with the slave trade. What he has found is that people would rather do nothing, than be seen doing manual labor, labor that back in the day, only slaves did. So interesting. We were lucky enough to interview him. He could basically narrate the whole film for us, based on his thoughts. He said, “East Africa and the Rift Valley is home to humankind. This is where we were all created. People everywhere should come and see and learn…” The fact that our news in the US paints Africa as a place of wars, famine, and extreme poverty is pretty messed up. Everybody should visit this continent before they die.

From there we flew to Arusha. Love it. So beautiful. Mountains everywhere. Lush, green… amazing. We met Allan, our guide, Translator, and Friend. First day we went to his family village, a Masai Village. Met his parents, talked with people. Highlight… talking to traditional Masai Women. Really the most untouched by the western world that I have ever seen. They had never met a person from America. When asked what they know about our country one said “I’ve heard America is in a war for oil somewhere and that is not good.” When asked what she thought about it, she said: “I am glad they are not here fighting us”.

One day we went to a Masai Traditional Doctor. Got a tea that cures everything. It really does. Allan has never once had Malaria… drinks that tea daily and now I will as well. Over drinks that night Allan mentioned that there was a Black Panther in Exile in Arusha - Pete O’Neal. We talked about trying to meet him.

The next day we went to the foothills of Kilimanjaro and talked to people of the Chaga tribe in a village there. They talked about how the glacier on the top of the Kili is melting at an alarming rate. For all the people that do not believe global warming exists, come and talk to these people. Their lively hood as well as their lives depend on more people understanding what is going on.

On the way back from there we decided to stop in and set up a time to talk with Pete O’Neal. He runs an organization called: United African Alliance Community Center. We met him, talked stayed for dinner. He and his wife, Charlotte as well as her father Sterling are so amazing. Tomorrow we interview Pete on Camera. Today we went and had dinner again and talked with some of the teachers that work there that had a lot to say about America. All very cool. I am amazingly lucky to have an opportunity to be here as well as all the other places I’ve been.

Hope you all are doing well.

Asanteni sana!

Filed under Journals, Carrie Bush, Tanzania.

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