The Village Raises the Child

I have to share a story from a bus trip that Maiken and I took last weekend:
We were sitting on a bus heading from Arusha to Moshi, and seated next to us was a middle-aged man traveling by himself. Maiken and I were sort of spacing out, looking out the window and nodding off to sleep. As we pulled away from one of the bus stops, all of a sudden the bus ticket collector handed the man next to us a little boy that had been acquired at the last stop. The boy was maybe one and half years old, and definitely was not accompanied by any adult who knew him. He was such a cute little guy! As people got on and off the bus, the child just got handed to different adults to sit on their laps; if he got fussy, some woman nearby would take him and comfort him, and when he needed to nap, someone would offer their shoulder for him to lay on.

At some point, we must have approached the town that the bus driver knew he needed to be dropped off at...several of the adults onboard started discussing in Swahili who would be getting off at that stop with the child, and how would they pay for his ride? The woman who was holding him at that moment reached into the pocket of his little jeans and pulled out a bus fare that someone had stuffed in there...perfect! She paid the bus driver, and at the next stop she got off with him and, I hope, found whoever was there to pick him up.

These are the kinds of things that 1. could never happen in the US and 2. I will really miss about Africa!

It was really an unbelievable thing to watch happen. The little boy was so comfortable being passed around from person to person, and the adults seemed to take him on as their own child for the brief duration of the bus journey. Maiken and I talked about how in the US or any Western country, you could never put your baby on a bus with some bus fare in his pocket and just hope he got pushed out at the right stop! But that's how things seem to work here in Africa, with the whole village taking care of its children.

Family trip to Egypt!

After a few weeks of traveling around Tanzania, my family and Brandon and I went up to Egypt for a much different kind of African adventure. We spent most of our time around Cairo, which is a much bigger and more modern city than I thought! Eighteen million people live in Cairo, and the city is a unique blend of traditional (almost all women cover their hair, there are countless mosques and men have marks on their foreheads from praying so much, fewer people speak English than might be expected) and modern (sushi restaurants and night clubs, an efficient metro system, tall buildings and new construction everywhere). The ancient historical landmarks are mixed in amongst the apartment buildings and shops throughout the city:

Above, views from a minaret that we climbed.

Below, Mom and I visiting one of the famous mosques in town.

We spent some time in a huge marketplace called Khan al-Khalili, which was a colorful and crowded adventure of navigating narrow streets and haggling our hearts out:

We of course stopped to smoke some sheesha and drink some Turkish coffee:

Sheesha is ubiquitous in Cairo; for example, this dude below was just hanging out by his bread stand, smoking on the street:

Below, a view of the Nile in downtown Cairo.

After a few days in downtown Cairo, we crossed the Nile to the neighboring town of Giza, where the famous pyramids and sphinx are located.

The size of the pyramids is an optical illusion: from far away, the pyramids seem pretty close together, but once you stand at the base of one, you realize that even each individual stone is overwhelming in size and, I'm sure, weight:

The pyramids and sphinx are surprisingly close to downtown Cairo...it's like a little plot of desert preserved in the middle of the huge city! We took advantage of this fact, stopping for a bite to eat at the Pizza Hut across the street. Below, Mom and I on Pizza Hut's patio, which had such a good view it was just silly:

During one of our evenings in Cairo, we took a dinner cruise down the Nile, which was complete with a belly dancing show!

Kev and the belly dancer.

The crew at dinner:

After my brother and parents left for the US, Brandon and I made a quick trip up to Alexandria, the beautiful former capital of Egypt founded by Alexander the Great. Alexandria sits right on the Mediterranean Sea, and has a phenomenal sea front:

The Bibliotheca in Alexandria was one of the highlights of the whole trip:

It was built in the 1990s right on top of the site of the original library, which was constructed in the third century BC during the reign of Ptolemy. In its prime, the ancient library was famous for housing "all the world's knowledge" and, later, when Julius Caesar supposedly burned it down accidentally!

Above, modern residents of Alexandria (including women in burqas) enjoying their library.

The library also houses some cool art:

The entire modern city of Alexandria is built right on top of the ruins of the old city, which are still being excavated via underwater archaeologists just six meters under the water. They have found things like Cleopatra's Palace (sweet!) and other ancient buildings.

The city was more relaxed and artsy than Cairo, and we enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, since I call alcoholic drinks "drinkies," I was pretty happy when I saw this place:

Above, a parting shot of our last night in Egypt, spent at a beautiful open-air restaurant on the beachfront in Alexandria. Overall, a terrific trip!

My Family Visits Tanzania

For the past couple of weeks, I have been hanging out with my mom, dad, and brother in Tanzania. We got to check in on the Gracious School, where a new classroom and playground have been built, a proper bathroom is under construction, and a new teacher has been hired, all thanks to the funds that everyone has raised (many thanks!). Above, the new classroom (built adjacent to the pre-existing schoolhouse). Below, the inside of the new classroom, the new playground, and the kids enjoying the seesaw!

Mom got to spend some quality time with the kids – below, the kids show off art projects that Mom helped them with. There's also a picture of them petting her hair...they just couldn't get over how soft it was and how different it was from their own hair!

The whole fam also went on a safari to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater:

Giraffes and buffaloes at one of Lake Manyara's watering holes.

Above, the stunning view from the rim of Ngorongoro Crater (a caldera that has virtually every type of animal you'd want to see on safari, including lions, rhinos, and cheetahs!). Below, zebras inside the crater.
The coolest animal by far was a cheetah on the prowl…we lucked out and got to see her only a few feet from our jeep!