Tanzania - very real

We continue to report from Usa River, now from Werner's house. Yesterday we received information that the car for Chamchuzi should be ready this week. We are excited and still relaxed.

When we moved into Werner's house, we had space for the first time since we've been on the road. We were able to spread out everything we had with us and enjoy having a place to stay. When we got here, the first thing we had to do was do the laundry, in the traditional way, without a washing machine. Then we stocked up on groceries and are happy that we can cook here too. Although eating out is a dream compared to New Zealand, it's cheap and really tasty!

As the project in Chamchuzi is still a long way off, we have spent the last two weeks with an organization/farm called ECHO. Despite a 2-hour journey from Werner's house to ECHO, we decided to stay here and not look for accommodation there. The journey was exhausting and when we returned in the dark (it gets early here) we were really tired, but also exciting. That was OK for a few days. The journey was with an intercity bus, a Dalla Dalla (VW bus) and a Boda Boda (motorbike). You have to imagine that 40 people are shoved into the first bus and 25 into the VW bus, including luggage of course. I even saw 5 people on a motorbike once! Unbelievable, but of course also dangerous.

ECHO is an organization that fights against food shortages in 190 countries around the world. The farm was founded here near Arusha in 2012 and helps small farmers in particular to become self-sufficient using simple technologies, training, and organic seeds and plants. We were given a warm welcome and felt very comfortable, met lots of great people, worked and helped a bit, but also learned a lot ourselves. One day, Erwin Kinsey, the head of ECHO, invited us to his home to show us how he makes cheese. The best experience, however, was when we brought trees to a primary school and were able to plant the first ones with the students. On Friday, we went to a kind of agricultural fair in Arusha with an ECHO stand. We were the only stand without pesticides or other poisonous substances. It's shocking how much is sprayed everywhere here, without protective clothing of course! But it's nice that so many people showed interest in the ECHO stand, because these methods are not only more environmentally friendly, but also much cheaper for the poorer farmers.

This weekend, as you might know, birds are being counted all over the world. We usually like to do this with our jetty in the garden, but this time we took part. Joseph (a local NABU employee and our neighbor) took us to Lake Duluti, where we were pleasantly surprised by how many young people were there. Equipped with binoculars and a camera, we walked around the lake, which was also very scenic.

We'll have 2 or 3 more events with Joseph this week, we're looking forward to it. Apart from that, we're a little sad that things are finally getting exciting in German football and we're not there. But everyone here is football crazy too and there are TVs everywhere showing football.

"Baadaye" (means "see you later") dear ones!