Alright! Oh Yea! Uh-huh!
Climbing Mount Meru was quite an experience, and if I had a list of things to do in my life, I could now check of "climbing a mountain" with a big bold check mark. It took us 3 days to climb up, and one day to descend. We climbed about 1000m/day. Except on the day we summitted.
On the summit day we were up at 1am, starting to climb the mountain at 2am, and reached the summit around 6:45am. It was like I was back rowing, accomplishing that much before 9am! Luckily for us, there was a full moon just a few days before summitting, so even though it was the dead of night, there was hardly any need to use my headlamp. In fact, often times we were casting shadows across the rock faces. It was pretty darn cold up at the top, between the elevation and the wind, I was all bundled up and glad of it (quite a change from the first day, when I wore shorts and sneakers). And then after summitting, there were 4 more hours of hiking down to follow. I slept quite soundly that night.
After climbing Meru, Tim and I spent one last night at CCS (where we'd left the majority of our gear -- don't need too much on a mountain). I was lucky enough to talk to Isaac and the new volunteer at CCS. Isaac said that E's case is still being "investigated" (harumph!!), but that he's going to school now as a day-schooler. And he and I checked with the registrar before I left to make sure that he could switch from day-schooler to boarder whenever his case is resolved. So it's freaking annoying as all get out that he's still staying at Juvi, but it's good that the warden will let him go to school during the day (and it's lucky that this wonderful school is just a 5 minute walk away). The new Juvi volunteer said that he loves Juvi, would love to add some musical notes to the mural, and I made him promise to send me pictures.
And now I'm in Mombasa. An eight hour bus ride across the country side on Saturday (Valentine's Day) brought Dana, Tim and I to the shores of Kenya. But tomorrow we're heading out again (with one more person, Michelle decided to extend her stay, yessss!), down to Dar and then on the ferry to Zanzibar.
I'll try to post some pictures from the mountain, etc soon.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Climb this!
This morning, in just a few short minutes, Tim and I are heading up and out. Two days ago, on a whim, we decided that we're going to spend the next 4 days (until Friday) climbing Mount Meru. It's the second highest peak in Tanzania, 5th highest in Africa, and it's supposed to be a pretty cool trek.
Keep your fingers crossed for us and I'll let you know how it goes!
Keep your fingers crossed for us and I'll let you know how it goes!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Law Day
Today was three things:
1. My last day at Juvi
2. E's court date
3. Law Day
Let me explain "Law Day." It's a annual holiday for law enforcement and judicial officers. What does that mean? That means that all defense attorneys, prosecutors, police officers and magistrates have an in-service type day. They all get together and learn about interesting cases, have guest speakers, and don't hear any cases. It's not something that was a surprise, this event was planned way in advance (so why was E's court date scheduled for today?...) That means that when I showed up at Juvi this morning, E was all dressed up (black slacks, collared shirt, leather shoes) with no where to go, literally. Court date #18, moving right on to #19.
This unexpected turn of events (although looking at the evidence --18 court dates-- perhaps I should have expected it more) left me in a dejected mood for my last day of Juvi. A day which I also hadn't planned any activities for. So we passed the time with music, a bit of chess, a bit of soccer, and then Issac and I went to the court to see if we could talk to the pp (polisi prosecutor) for E's case. He said to come back on Monday and they could talk.
Basically, what E's case is boiling down to is money. The people who accused him have stopped coming to the court dates but the magistrate is prolonging judgement in the hopes of getting money. E's school will allow him to go as a day-schooler while he's still in Juvi and once he's released he can attend as a boarder. But to see the look on his face this morning, all of his things in a pile on his bed, ready to go, ready to leave, and he can't. So, I've decided to participate in the oh-so offensive practice of bribery. Apparently the magistrate can delay the case as long as s/he wants. But, if I can give the magistrate some money, and that will make the magistrate show up and dismiss the case, fine.
Well, today wasn't the happiest of endings, but and ending isn't the whole story. I've greatly enjoyed my time at Juvi, getting to know the boys and providing a distraction. I suppose that today is just an example of the reality of these boys' situation. You do what you can, with what you have.
1. My last day at Juvi
2. E's court date
3. Law Day
Let me explain "Law Day." It's a annual holiday for law enforcement and judicial officers. What does that mean? That means that all defense attorneys, prosecutors, police officers and magistrates have an in-service type day. They all get together and learn about interesting cases, have guest speakers, and don't hear any cases. It's not something that was a surprise, this event was planned way in advance (so why was E's court date scheduled for today?...) That means that when I showed up at Juvi this morning, E was all dressed up (black slacks, collared shirt, leather shoes) with no where to go, literally. Court date #18, moving right on to #19.
This unexpected turn of events (although looking at the evidence --18 court dates-- perhaps I should have expected it more) left me in a dejected mood for my last day of Juvi. A day which I also hadn't planned any activities for. So we passed the time with music, a bit of chess, a bit of soccer, and then Issac and I went to the court to see if we could talk to the pp (polisi prosecutor) for E's case. He said to come back on Monday and they could talk.
Basically, what E's case is boiling down to is money. The people who accused him have stopped coming to the court dates but the magistrate is prolonging judgement in the hopes of getting money. E's school will allow him to go as a day-schooler while he's still in Juvi and once he's released he can attend as a boarder. But to see the look on his face this morning, all of his things in a pile on his bed, ready to go, ready to leave, and he can't. So, I've decided to participate in the oh-so offensive practice of bribery. Apparently the magistrate can delay the case as long as s/he wants. But, if I can give the magistrate some money, and that will make the magistrate show up and dismiss the case, fine.
Well, today wasn't the happiest of endings, but and ending isn't the whole story. I've greatly enjoyed my time at Juvi, getting to know the boys and providing a distraction. I suppose that today is just an example of the reality of these boys' situation. You do what you can, with what you have.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Oh yea! Uh huh!
Well, my second to last day is over...and the mural is finished!
Our work party yesterday was very successful, we finished the touch up of the yellow outline, and fixed the paint that had dripped down -- the blue is all blue now, the black all black -- and we made sure everyone had the appropriate number or arms/legs and the right size of head -- some how a couple people had acquired an extra arm and two people's heads doubled in size.
As of today the last coat of paint has been put on the walls (for now anyway -- any future volunteer out there is welcome to add some embelishments; if I had more time I'd love to add some musical notes/bars around the boys)! I'm very happy with the way it turned out, especially because we all did it together!
Putting some finishing touches on the wall...
Some of the boys busting a move in front of the newly finished mural...
Tomorrow is E's (18th) court date, and I'm hoping for the best (which would include the magistrate coming to court and E being released). If you've got a spare moment send some good thoughts this way!
And as of Saturday Tim and I are heading to Arusha to go to the UN's Tribunal for the Rwanda genocide on Monday...where we're going after that is anyone's guess! But I would love to see some more giraffes, and Tim's got a hankering for elephants, so I think we'll try to scrounge up some of those.
Our work party yesterday was very successful, we finished the touch up of the yellow outline, and fixed the paint that had dripped down -- the blue is all blue now, the black all black -- and we made sure everyone had the appropriate number or arms/legs and the right size of head -- some how a couple people had acquired an extra arm and two people's heads doubled in size.
As of today the last coat of paint has been put on the walls (for now anyway -- any future volunteer out there is welcome to add some embelishments; if I had more time I'd love to add some musical notes/bars around the boys)! I'm very happy with the way it turned out, especially because we all did it together!
Putting some finishing touches on the wall...
Some of the boys busting a move in front of the newly finished mural...Also, when we went out to play soccer today you could see Kili. The boys all pointed it out to me and were very excited about it. Here's a picture of the boys with Kili in the background:
Tomorrow is E's (18th) court date, and I'm hoping for the best (which would include the magistrate coming to court and E being released). If you've got a spare moment send some good thoughts this way!
And as of Saturday Tim and I are heading to Arusha to go to the UN's Tribunal for the Rwanda genocide on Monday...where we're going after that is anyone's guess! But I would love to see some more giraffes, and Tim's got a hankering for elephants, so I think we'll try to scrounge up some of those.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Seriously!
Alrighty, here are some pictures of the mural's progress thus far...we really are getting there! And it's been a solid distraction from the sadness of Jane's departure. Of course, on Monday quite a few boys asked me where she was and asked me to say hi...Hi Dada Jane!! This afternoon there's another mini muzungu work party planned to put the finishing touches on the mural! Woot Woot!
On Monday we painted over all of the chalk outlines (that miraculously survived the weekend) in yellow paint...
and then at the end of today, this is what the mural looked like. Not to shabby, aye?
On Monday we painted over all of the chalk outlines (that miraculously survived the weekend) in yellow paint...
and then at the end of today, this is what the mural looked like. Not to shabby, aye?
It's crazy to think that I only have 3 more days at Juvi...time seems to have flown by. And E's court date is this Friday; he's been accepted to a very good boarding school here in Moshi, so please think good thoughts Friday morning (really Thursday night in North America)! And Tim and I are working on our travel plans for when we leave Moshi (which is this Saturday).We're not sure where we'll be heading, and if anyone has suggestions I'm all ears...it's coming up soon!
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