Updating a blog

... is a pain sometimes. There is a lot going on right now, with final grades due soon as well as the approaching holiday season. To pile on, I leave for Kilimanjaro three weeks from tomorrow. I'm putting some finishing touches on upgrading/modifying/securing my laptop computer and over the next three weeks I'll update my contacts on my cell phone and work on packing.

I picked up a couple of smaller things for the trip today - smaller, yet just as important as anything else. Got some more Immodium, some Tums, some toilet paper (ELCA's suggestion, not mine), and some pre-packaged, additive-enhanced snacks (peanut butter crackers - yum!). A friend of mine told me it might be a good idea to pack some pre-packaged snacks for both the flight over as well as for my time on the ground. According to him, sometimes a snack from home just hits the spot. If I can find a jumbo pack of Slim Jim's, I think I'm in business.

I think what might be scaring me the most is just the sheer amount of stuff I'm packing. I'll only be there for three weeks but it feels as if I'm packing for three months. I think I'll be able to stuff everything into one suitcase and one backpack, but it will be a tight fit. Part of the problem is that I am bringing several gifts for my host and her students - gifts such as school supplies and a notebook computer. The way it looks now, I'll head to Tanzania with a pretty heavy load and come back home much lighter. The school supplies alone should reduce my load quite a bit.

I guess I'm being a little AR about all of this because this is the first time I've ever set foot off of the North American continent, and I just don't know what to expect. I've heard and read a variety of stories discussing what Tanzania, Kilimanjaro, and Moshi will be like and when I think about it, it makes my head spin. Add the wonderful joy of 19+ hours of flight into the mix and the spinning continues. The longest flight I have ever taken before was over 5 hours from Chicago to Vancouver several years ago. I know I need to bring several things to read and make sure my batteries are all charged before the flight.

I really have only two more things to do before the trip. For starters I need to make an appointment with my doctor to have my ears cleaned. Say what you will about that. Second, I need to get my hair cut before I leave. Not a buzz cut, but very short at least. I have to consider the very real possibility that I won't get to bathe every day while I am there and for me, the shorter the hair the better. I'll probably hold off on the hair cut until right before I go.

Tanzania is 8 hours ahead of my home-based time zone (Eastern Standard). That means right now at 9pm EST, it is 5am there - jet lag is another thing that worries me some. And don't get me started on leaving the family behind, the drive from home to IAD, missing the first two weeks of the semester, planning for at least 8 lectures to classes in Tanzania... no rest for the wicked, they say.

Are you freaking kidding me?

I know its been awhile since I last posted but between the start of the holidays, working on grading, and the usual hub-bub it seems time has been slipping a bit. Other than needing to drop in to keep this blog somewhat active however, I recently found some disturbing news about the area I'm traveling to in January. It seems that there is a kind of "trade" in the selling and purchasing of the body parts of albinos in Kenya and Tanzania. Read this and tell me it doesn't make you sick -

For those not in the know, albinos are human beings - humans with little to no melanin in the layers of their skin. As a result, persons with albinism have very white skin that usually burns easily. In addition, albinos tend to have very light colored hair and light blue eyes. They're pretty easy to spot in a crowd, and I imagine even easier in an area populated mostly by darker skinned individuals. Not only does melanin act as a darkening pigment for most skin, it also acts as a defense against harmful UV radiation. As you might imagine, persons with albinism get sunburned very quickly and often suffer tremendous pain as a result. The constant threat of skin cancer is just one of the health issues every albino has to live with. Albinism is natural and exists among many animal species. As if living in Africa with albinism were not bad enough, like I said apparently there is a trade in the exchange of albino body parts. We're talking about hacking albinos into pieces and selling their body parts to those who believe they bring good luck. Of course it is irresponsible to blame the entire populations of both countries for the maniacal acts of a handful of their citizens. And arrests have been made (although as far as I know at this point, charges still have not been filed). But give me a break - in this day and age, you mean to tell me that there are still some people somewhere who believe in this? And that they're actually willing to go as far as literally chopping up another human being into pieces and selling those pieces - and that there are actually people out there who would buy them? EPIC WTF???? Why does this issue hit me hard? A couple of reasons I guess - for starters I can't stand to see members of any minority group persecuted simply because they are different. For me, this is an almost visceral feeling. I can try to explain how I feel, using terms such as "unfair" and "just plain wrong", but that doesn't work effectively for me. This is a feeling that just seems to occupy every fiber and molecule of my being - it quite frankly just pis**s me off to the very core. I guess this is one of those things I can "feel" better than I can "tell".

I also feel I have a bit of a personal stake in this. I'm not sure if anyone knows this or not, but yours truly has a skin condition known as vitiligo. Vitiligo is the partial loss of melanin in the skin. IOW, my skin is dark in some places, light-to-white in others. And when I say "white", I mean albino-white. I don't cover it up - basically I don't care what anyone thinks or says about it if they notice. My vitiligo is something that I came to terms with a long time ago (get a few beers in me and I can tell you some stories). When I was younger I would tan like nobody's business in my "normal" areas - but my white areas would burn pretty badly if I didn't protect them. The joke most summers was that I would soon be entering my "Neapolitan" stage - chocolate (brown skin), vanilla (white skin), and strawberry (slightly burned pink skin).

In a sense I've always felt some attachment to the albino community as a result - even though my hair is dark and my eyes are brown. I've known several albinos in the past and I still consider them my friends, so when I hear something like this it gets to me. When I hear what is specifically happening and the subsequent "fleeing for your life" thing as a result, it really makes me mad.

Like this kind of mad

So I've decided that when I am in Tanzania I want to learn more about this and I want to see what I can do to help stop this madness as much as I can. Hopefully I'll be able to post updates about it here. I can say one thing with complete honesty - if on the freak chance that someone comes after me for my body parts... f*ck that sh*t. I'll douse myself with gasoline and set myself on fire before I let that happen.

"Tell me more about... Tanzania"

So what do we know about Tanzania in the first place? Is it not it a good idea to know a little bit about a place before you visit it? I mean, this isn't like a trip to Philadelphia or anything. I have to admit, when I first applied for this trip (more details on that to come) I was not completely certain about the country, who lived there, what languages were spoken - heck, I wasn't even completely certain where Tanzania was!

So lets start there. Tanzania is a nation in Africa, located on the eastern side of the continent, between one degree and 12 degrees south latitude. As such, it is very warm (even hot!) there. From what I have seen, being located so closely to the Equator means that the sun rises at 6am and sets at 6pm (give or take a few minutes). Tanzania shares borders with Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The east coast of Tanzania runs smack into the Indian Ocean.

Tanzania, as it currently exists, was "created" in 1964 when the nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged. This came shortly after both nations were granted independence from Great Britain.

According to the CIA's World Fact Book, Tanzania hosts Mount Kilimanjaro, which is the highest elevated point on the continent (5,895 meters or just over 19,000 feet). Tanzania is about twice the size of California.

The main languages spoken in Tanzania are Swahili and English. The country's population is a little over 41 million; almost 1.5 million Tanzanians are HIV positive. According to the CIA, the average life expectancy is 52 years; the AIDS infection rate is over six percent. An estimated 96,000 people dies from AIDS complications in 2007.

The literacy rate is over 69% and on the Tanzanian mainland, religious preferences are just about split between Christianity, Islam, and "indigenous beliefs". On Zanzibar, the primary religious belief is Islam (99%).

That's just for starters, and that's also just the topical, "official" information. I am absolutely certain that as time goes on, and as I actually set foot in Tanzania, that I will learn much more about the nation and its people. I know its going to be pretty crazy dealing with 100 degree weather in January - it will almost feel like living in Texas again!

First post

Its a good idea (I think) to start off the blog by explaining what its about. This particular blog is primarily intended to document my experiences leading up to - and through - my three-week trip to Tanzania coming up in January of 2010. I intend to use this blog as a means of documenting my trip as well as providing information and updates to my peeps back home at Susquehanna University and in Selinsgrove, PA. Several specific issues & topics to be addressed via this blog:

• Why am I going to Tanzania (Kilimanjaro, to be more specific)?
• Where is Tanzania?
• What is it like in Tanzania?
• What is it like traveling to Tanzania?
• Does is snow in Tanzania?

There will be other topics and questions addressed as I go along, I'm sure. I just thought this might be a good place to start.

Anyway, I'll do my best to update the blog as I go along. Stick around - "and if you're not careful, you may learn something before its done!"