30th of August 2010 (hb)
Busy transferring the present site into WordPress format to allow more interaction and allow more possibilities. The idea is to transfer the entire solum site. However there are many photos and I have not figured out how this works. So for now it is mainly the log. If somebody has suggestions on nice photo-plugins, please...take a look at wordpress solum site

26th of August 2010 (hb)
There is quite a bit of uncertainty in our household, which is mainly driven by the ending of my contract at IITA November the 7th. Up to this date it is not certain if the contract will be extended. This in itself is not such a big issue. However, the birth of our second child soon after complicates matters. The choice is either: go to the Netherlands for delivery and return or alternatively not return. If we return there are few complications. If we do not there are many logistic issues like: moving, terminating contracts with our personnel, selling of assets, etc.
The funny thing is that I thought it was quite an event when we moved here in such a short time which would probably not be matched in future. Now matters are more complex with stakes a lot higher (family and all). I wonder how it will look like in 10 years.

25th of August 2010 (hb)
Two fat envelopes with newspaper articles in the mail, huray! During our stay in Tanzania my mother loyally cuts interesting articles from the NRC and Volkskrant and sends them by mail every 2 to 3 weeks. We developed a good understanding about what is interesting and what is not. So we are lucky to receive a perfect selection, without the rubbish that most of the papers (especially Volkskrant) are filled with. My personal favorites are the chess articles, two per week. This time there was an envelope in my father’s handwriting. From this I conclude that there are major shifts going on as a result of his pension. Have not seen the articles yet but am keen to see the difference in content.

11th August 2010 (hb)
Ramadan is coming. According to Maya it starts tonight. Since weeks we have been gently reminded by the many minarets in the near vicinity. I prefer the sound of the singing imam over the sound of the singing Pentecostal priest. It is somehow more monotonous and you tend to forget it is there. I rarely wake at 4 in the morning when the believers are summoned to pray.
I write because the internet connection failed while I was playing a nice game of chess. So I lost, which cost me 20 points of my rating. Here at home the internet connection allows me to finish a little more than 1 out of 4 games but I will never attain a rating of more than 1550. So it goes.

8th of August (hb)
Sunday morning starts nicely with Tarek not starting at 6. He lets us sleep until 7:15 after which a clear and repetitive ‘Maya’ can be heard from the room next door. I walk to his bed pick him up and put him on the dressing table in the bathroom. From the contents of his diaper I can tell he was already awake for some time. I put him on the toilet to ‘pipi’ some more. After this he walks to Maya and climbs on our bed. I follow and cover myself. Tarek pretends to sleep for about two seconds after which it is time for his on-the-bed-habits: 1) drinking from our water bottles and endless opening and closing of the lids, 2) throwing duplo on the bed, 3) running from our feet and jumping on top of you, 4) reading one or two books, preferably the zebra book, 5) and yes of course another attempt to press the intruder alarm button. Around this time Maya tells me she is hungry so after a bit of postponing I take a shower and make breakfast. The BBC tells me the Russian finalist of the world cup sauna sitting has died in a 110 degrees warm Finish sauna. First a bowl of muesli, weetabix and yoghurt topped with extra raisins for Tarek. Fried eggs with sausages and croissants from the oven for all for us. And of course passion fruit, pineapple and bananas to ensure our daily fruit intake. After breakfast Tarek takes his bath. This is necessary because he is covered with yoghurt. His favourite pastime in the bath is filling a shampoo bottle with water and then emptying it in a small bucket. When full the bucket he pours the contents over his stomach. I add a complication to the game by constantly putting a plastic donkey into the bucket, which he always removes immediately. When he starts to pour cups of water from the bath on the bathroom floor I take him out.
It is perhaps unfortunate that Tarek does not need his morning nap anymore. Now we are deprived from our quiet cup of coffee on the veranda. Instead Tarek insists on playing with Trudi. The boys start with their sand moving rituals. The sun is already strong and the efforts to let them play in the shade remain without result. For some reason water becomes a necessity. Maya does not want this, as it is in her opinion too early to be covered in mud. Our neighbour however wants to give them water to recapture the peace. 15 minutes later Tarek is covered with mud and happily moving mud from one bucket to another. The buckets are Trudis and after a while Trudi insists on having them back. Tarek does comply so Trudi starts beating on Tareks hands. Tarek starts crying. I pick up Tarek and move him to the outside water tap in our garden, remove his clothes and wash the mud away. We move inside and skype grandpa and grandma. The connection is a bit shaky but good enough for communication. Tarek understands the concept pretty well and shows off his toys and tries pressing as many buttons as possible on the laptop.
For lunch we eat baguette with cheese, tomatoes and sambal brandal from the oven, for Tarek only his favourite ‘kaas’ and a bowl of yoghurt with apple-passion compote. After lunch Tarek successfully pays the toilet another visit. Without a single protest he takes his afternoon nap. Maya joins him. A good opportunity arises for me to get some updating done to our blog.

3rd of August (hb)
In the morning it started raining and it did not stop for 5 hours. This is quite remarkable as this is supposed to be the driest month. The plants were very happy and now (5 days later) we have a blooming garden. It is very satisfactory to start seeing the effort we put into the garden the last few years. The bad thing about gardening for an instant result based person such as myself is the delayed response. Especially because our water is at 4 USD per m3 too expensive to allow large scale irrigation But our newly planted forest in the back of the garden is starting to get denser. Some compost heaps are getting in the final stage of decomposition. Some of the walls are getting covered with climbers. The second banana is developing a flower.

28th of July (hb)
Tonight we will eat red snapper. The snapper is brought to the compound by Mr. Jaffa. He has built a small engine on his bicycle. The engine is connected to the rear wheel with a second chain. When I asked for a demonstration the engine did not work but it normally does, I was assured. Anyway I call Mr. Jaffa and then he brings me the fish I want. We tried Tuna and Red Snapper and the taste was excellent, both at 4 USD a kg. The snapper you see below weighed 7 kgs of which about a third is filet. I divide this into smaller portions and push the button ‘Quick Freeze’. Head askari Nico is always very happy with the other two thirds of which Naomi makes excellent soup. We fry it or make nice curries from the smaller pieces. Tarek likes white fish.


Making Red snapper filets

16 July (hb)
Almost a week back in Dar after three well spent weeks in the Netherlands. We had a more relaxing homeleave compared to last year which was a bit chaotic because we had made too many appointments. This time we spent the first week in Amsterdam, the second week int he rural parts and the third and last week again in Amsterdam. We met a lot of 'old' friends and family, which made me again aware of the positive side of knowing people really well. No complications and hardly any fake appearances. We visited the zoo, had many drinks, some braais, sailed on the canals and watched a lot of football. Maya had a succesfull 20 week echo. Appart from the first two days the weather was hot and dry so we felt a bit at home. Tarek had his first real sickness, the sixth disease and I was enjoying the good old hayfever.
Upon return we found the house in immaculate condition because Cecilia had cleaned two days before. The garden looks beautiful although the dry season is already moving in as some trees have shed ther leaves, including my little baobab. The bananas grow slower than I thought. The temperature is lovely. Today I walked outside at noon in full sun without sweating! At work I am tryng to pick up the pieces which took some effort but I managed. On Wednesday Caroline came by to say goodbye. She is off to Belize, another friend moving away. Nanja arrived today. She will stay for some ten days, going to the beach and maybe Mikumi.

10 June 2010 (jmc)
Just finished the final teaching day at school. Only assembly remains for tomorrow. Unfortunately this does not mean my work is done. After last weeks’ frantic grading and report writing I was planning on spending this week ensuring I leave my work in such a way that the next teachers at least have something to go by. Somehow that hasn’t worked out. The saying goodbye to colleagues seems to be sucking up all my time. Hein travelling to Nairobi for the second consecutive week doesn’t make it easier. I also dislike most of the suggestions for the new Dutch coalition government. The horrible traffic here isn’t helping my mood either. It’s now 15:15. The whole school teachers’ party started 15 minutes ago. I promised I would show off my dancing skills and have even arranged for an all night baby sitter but I really dread having to get back on the road.
Anyway – all this to show you: No I have not forgotten about the blog. Anyone who ever taught in a school will know, the end of the year is too hectic to breathe, let alone keep a blog.
That may have been a lot of nagging and complaining and therefore we shall end this rambling tale with a funny picture. A sunbird on the compound has become very fascinated by its own reflection.

Who’s that smart looking bird?

22 May 2010 (hb)
The rainy season is near its end But today is day of rain, a lot of rain. I am happt for this because quite some plants in the garden do not look like they are ready for the long drought. The most obvious are the bananas of which one is actually flowering. At this moment the bunch has six hands with each about 12 fingers, so 72 bananas. You can see this on the picture below. In principle there could be other hands hidden in the flower that might be revealed tomorrow or so, but I think this is it. I am quite excited and hope the monkeys will not devour the bananas like they have done with all other edible plants (except for the red peppers).

First flowering banana (or actually plantain)

This morning we paid a visit to the National Museum of Tanzania. My colleague Catherine had organised a Biodiversity Day. Basically it was a big drawing competition between 7 schools. Funny enough biodiversity is often linked to destruction, as became apparent from many of the drawings. It was nice though and I think the children enjoyed it despite the rain. For me it was an opportunity to visit the centre of town once again, as we normally stay in the suburbs. After this we considered going to the annual goat races. But we did not and merely went to the peninsula to buy some bread, the new Economist and have some lunch at Epi d’Or. And now we are on the good old compound again. Tarek and Maya are both taking a nap and I am drinking coffee and eating scones. Tonight I am meeting Jonne, Caroline and Marjan in the Q-bar to watch the champions league final.

16 May 2010 (hb)
Lunch at Caroline’s place on a nice Sunday afternoon. Tarek loved the sea and Maya got quite wet trying to save him while running enthusiastically at full speed into the waves. Families of new colleagues (from IITA Uganda) were also present. Danny already started and Fen will come in June, good company. Happy to get something alive again in a mostly dead office.
Might be the last time here as Caroline is now definitely leaving to Belize at the beginning of July. Such a shame, many of our friends have already left (Claudia & Harry) or are leaving (Dolar & Marjan, Suzanne & Josephine, Anne & Rommert?). Alan explained me the 3 year expat-cycle. Most contracts are 2 to 3 years. New people start to hang out, just like people with common interests hang out together. So if you are relatively new you lose friends. Some people extend their contract and stay for another 2 to 3 years (Kristian & Christel).When you stick around long enough you do not notice anymore because you hang around with people who stick around. So it goes.
Who knows why we only hang around with expats. I have had this discussion quite a few times with expats who also only hang around with expats. We talked about racism, snobbism and capitalism but there does not seem to be a distinct reason. At the end it is often agreed upon that it must be cultural or wealth related.

2 May 2010
After more than two weeks it looks like out internet connection is up and running again. To quote a very popular toddler phrase: Wow!

May 1 2010 (hb)
A productive Saturday. After Tareks morning nap we went to the IST for a Table Top Sale. Here we bought quite some nice toys and books for Tarek. Afterwards we did shopping and bought gas and drinking water. Tomato soup for lunch. With Alfons, a cutting session in the Garden. All were happy with the result, even neighbour Roland.

April 30 2010 (hb)
As tradition goes there is a reception for the Dutch community in Dar es Salaam to celebrate the Queens’ birthday. This year it is not at the ambassadors’ residence but in the most expensive hotel in town. I always thought the Dutch government paid huge amounts of rent for the ambassador’s residence so it would be suitable and representative for these kinds of gatherings. But the new ambassador (A. Koekoek) apparently does not want strangers on his compound. Besides he just constructed a swimming pool so his huge garden is now too small for parties. Fortunately I do not pay tax so I was not too bothered about this double spending. I was more bothered about the traffic to the hotel and the lack of parking spaces. As I heard later, quite a number of cars got stuck turning the hotel meadows to hotel mud pools. After the reception there was an ‘Orange Party’ on the Slipway Terrace. A big band had been flown from the Netherlands and Maya danced quite heavily. I drank mainly beers although considerable less than last year.

April 14 2010 (hb)
Kingday for the 35th time. Tarek forgot about my birthday completely. Maya gave me a nice little board game called Pandemic which would prove to be a great success a week later. At the office there was actually a cake and my colleagues even sang. In the evening some people came over to have some drinks and bites. Unfortunately quite some people could not come because of the horrible traffic.

April 6 2010 (hb)
National holidays are a treat in Tanzania. In Europe we only have the Christian ones. Here we also have the Muslim ones. In addition there are quite a few national ones. All in all there are about 20 a year. If you add to that the 30 I get from work, I come to 50 a year. Not bad. Today is Karume day in honour to the president of Zanzibar. It gives me some time to write about our Easter trip.
We left on Good Friday together with Susanne and Josephine and their kids Mattis and Hannah to Amani forest reserve in the Usumbara mountains. These mountains are part of the Eastern Arc Ecosystem and are one of the remnants of tropical rainforest and extraordinary biodiversity. Amani forest is the wettest part of Tanzania with an average humidity of 87%. Most of the forest has been chopped down as we discovered during our previous trip to another part of the Usambaras, around Lusotho (pictures 2009/09). Now we went to Emau Hill Forrest Camp, close to the Amani Forest reserve, a more remote and less disturbed place. From Dar it was about 5 hours of driving on nice tarmac to Muheza, followed by 2 hours on pretty rough road. We hired one of my company’s vehicles because our personal car is considered to be untrustworthy. The rough road led us uphill through some villages, forests and sadly clear-cut ex-forests. Further up, the road got worse and the forest more beautiful. Finally we arrived at the camp which consisted of 5 large canvas tents with a straw cover. It was pretty basic with no electricity and running water but the setting was marvellous, on a hill with large trees all around. There were many different birds and the owners were proud that quite a number of endemic species could be seen on-site. And indeed, particularly in the mornings from bed, the songs of the birds around were beautiful. Down the hill through the trees with impressive rock outcrops was a small stream. I had always looked forward to playing with Tarek in a stream and build dams as I had done so a lot as a kid in France and the UK. We found out Tarek is still a little too young for this but the other kids (at almost 4) where already quite dedicated. Many of the rock formations around were covered with African Violets, the original violet which has unlike its intensely crossed family members, small and subtle purple flowers. At the camp we got introduced with the game of Kubb, which is basically knocking over blocks of wood with wooden sticks. There was a very suited field and we could all join the game. Tarek was the distraction as he did not listen when the rules were explained. I do recommend the game which is particularly suited for the late afternoon with chilled white whine. In the evenings we played board games, adults only, glad to get some time off with children gone to bed.


Emau hill forest camp (left) and the small stream (right)

After three lovely and relaxing nights we returned to Dar. We decided to take the shortcut via Bagamoyo so we had 60 kms of nice sandy road. I felt like a rally driver and resolved again to participate in a long distance rally through Africa in the future. When we arrived at 17:00 at the compound we discovered that Amani was not the only place in Tanzania where it had rained intensively over Easter. The garden is considerably greener. The temperature has seriously dropped and yesterday Maya was even complaining about cold legs. Unfortunately with the rains the mosquitoes are coming, but: you can’t have it all.

31 March 2010 (hb)
With Tarek to the IST clinic. He has been coughing a lot the past week and the coughing sirup did not help. Doctor Belia diagnosed children asthma, which she ensured was not asthma but quite common for small children. Now we have a kind of gasmask to give him Ventolin three times a day. He does not like it but it does help (6 days later). Hopefully he will be released soon.

30 March 2010 (jmc)
I stayed at home from work yesterday and today, sick and with no voice. Hein went to work with a throat ache and Tarek has gone back to coughing like mad. All in all, we’re doing great. And because I’m not doing well, the only reason I’m sitting down here now is a sense of obligation. What’s lacking is inspiration. It seems like we haven’t been doing that much to write about. Ever since Heins’ family left we’ve been hibernating. Getting reacquainted after Heins’ plentiful travelling in the past 8 months.
Us not doing much else than leading our day to day life is probably the reason for not writing much. How about I’ll show you our day to day experience?

In the morning, around 6:15 we start getting up. If I don’t have to start at 7 in the morning, we have breakfast as a family. Around 7:30 Cecilia arrives. Tarek starts saying bye to us at this point as he knows that we’re both getting ready to leave. Around 8 Hein and I both leave for work. Tarek hangs out with Cecilia, helping her by grabbing the broom so he can sweep the house. Recently, according to Cecilia, he took her to his bedroom to show her he was tired and wanted to go to bed. He normally sleeps from 8:30 to 9:30, the time Leonarda arrives. 15 Minutes after that, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday a taxi arrives to pick up Tarek and Leonarda. Together they go to kindergarten where Tarek has picked up the Italian word for balloon (la pala?). So far, his first word was in English (Bye, he still over abuses it), he appears to say poa (cool) in response to mambo (what’s up) in Kiswahili and he does know the occasional Dutch word: gekko for example, a very typical first word don’t you think? As if that wasn’t enough, he is now picking up Italian. Poor kid, the part of his brain that deals with speaking must be thoroughly meddled up.
Sometimes the time Hein comes home from lunch coincides with the time Leonarda and Tarek come back from kindergarten. That means they all sit at the table together, before Tarek goes for his second nap. His afternoon nap is normally the time I arrive home from work. Cecilia goes home around this time and after Tarek wakes, Leonarda takes him outside to play and explore. This gives me a chance to get started on the cooking (if I am inspired that is - that’s definitely not every day). If we’re having a good day, dinner only needs heating by the time Hein gets back from work. This is actually the nicest time of day so we spend it outside. It has recently started raining more so there is a bit of a mosquito threat but so far it’s not been too bad.
After a family dinner (this is a good day remember, on one of the plentiful not as well organised days one of us feeds Tarek while the other cooks) Tarek may have little sip of breastmilk before he goes into his bath and then to bed. It’s by now 19:15 or 19:30. A whole evening lies ahead of us. It’s probably the fact that this routine takes place in a continuous 29 degree centigrade/90% humidity climate that makes me so exhausted every night. We don’t appear to have energy for much else than slouching on the couch, watching a movie, reading, or playing the odd board game. We’re normally in bed around 22:00.

Wednesday 24 March (jmc)
Sitting in endless traffic jams watching numerous daladala’s (mini buses) I’ve almost figured out the different colours that match with neighbourhoods and towns: Daladalas that go to Bagamoyo always have a purple side. Purple is difficult though, it seems that most daldala’s have a purple side. I think orange is for Kawe. I can almost explain to Tanzanians where to take which daladala from in order to get where they need to go. I’ve seen the ‘Zulu Boy’. Read the ‘Get rich or die trying’, the ‘Bin Laden’, and the ‘Allah Akbar’. Reading the fronts of the Daladala’s has even taught me some Swahili: I know Mungu means God and I know wishing someone a good night is Ukisku (=night) Mwema. So putting 2 and 2 together I realised Mungu ni Mwema means God is Good. So yes, reading the daladala’s, even though I don’t use them for transport, keeps me busy on the road. There is one thing that needs to be added to the back of some daladalas though. I’d like to read something to the extent of: ‘This van has a big iron bar on the back, which may be invisible from the height of a Toyota Prado standing a little too close. So if I, like all my fellow daladala drivers, decide that stopping in the middle of the road to pick up passengers without paying any attention to the rest of the traffic and making it hard for the person behind me to stop on time as I naturally have no brake working lights is a perfectly normal way of behaving in traffic, you may want to refrain from trying to pass me up. The bar is much harder than the plastic that covers your front light. Just so you know.’

Tuesday 16 March (hb)
Many things have happened the past few weeks but very little has been written down. I apologize for this neglect. A main event was the visit of the nearly complete Bouwmeester family. We shared busy and happy times during which a lot of alcohol was consumed and many games of Regenwurmen were played. I will not write too much about this since Bouk has written a guest column which summarizes the visit pretty well. He has committed himself into making a soundscape of Dar with all the audio samples he recorded during his stay. We are looking forward to it!
Last week we tried to quantify if we would extend our stay in Tanzania and push for an extension of my contract after it expires in November, or if we would return to the Netherlands. Inspired by Marjan we came up with a nice graph where the x-axis represents Hein and the y-axis represents Maya. The dots represent the variables such as living environment, temperature, cycling and 22 others. The higher the value of the dot, the higher the weight (e.g. friends will have a higher weight than bugs). Figures below zero represent the Netherlands while positive numbers depict reasons to stay in Tanzania. As is clear from the fact that most points are located in the same quadrants (namely the 1st and the 3rd), we agree on most variables. I will not specify the points for privacy reasons but want to show the graph because I am a little proud of it. Of course it is an imperfect balance but at least it forced us to think of important things and gave us an idea. The average of the entire exercise was about -1, meaning slightly in favour of a return to the Netherlands.

stay or go

Later that week Maya had a little conversation with the principal of IST. He mentioned that he had given her job to another person. This came as a little bit of a shock. It will probably lower the average of -1.
We also booked our home leave and will fly into Amsterdam late June and leave mid July.

Thursday 24 February (jmc)
I can’t decide if it’s the heat from the sun hitting me from above and below - reflected by the asphalt - or the bright sunlight that hits me hardest when I go outside to fetch a bottle of water from the car. I need the water as the venue we’re in has been fairly tastefully decorated with flowers I am allergic to. The flowers are for Alan. The company he helped run for a long time has organised a memorial for him. Well, it’s meant to be a memorial but I feel as if I accidently stumbled into a PR stunt. The managing director tells about how he started up the company and how it grew from there, mentioning Alan twice. The director then kindly introduces us to all the personnel, a board member, his sisters and his beautiful wife. He has also kindly arranged for a gospel choir and an Anglican priest. I wasn’t aware that Alan was religious at all. One of the few things that tell me this is really for Alan is a guitarist who plays songs Alan liked. We’re treated to a version of the Goodbye Norma Jean song that is actually nicer to listen to then the Elton John version I know. When the whole thing is over, Alan’s friends arrange to go to his favourite pub. The managing director grabs the mic and suggests a change of venue to the Rose Garden and kindly introduces the owner of Rose Garden.

Alan behind the braai in his beach graden

Monday 22 Feb. (jmc)
The tree falling on top of the telephone line of our neighbours miraculously did not mean they lost their connection. The pole that held the wires resembled the tower of Pisa a little more than before. It was very easy to see that it was only a matter of time until the pole would come down, meaning our neighbours would lose their phone line and we would also lose our internet connection. It only being on the verge of not working meant that the Tanzanian Telephone Communication Ltd or whatever TTCL stands for, did not feel inclined to come do something about it. Nico went to the TTCL office more than once, told them about the pole, they picked up the phone, dialled out neighbours’ number heard there was a connection and flatly asked Nico what he wanted.
On Friday I came home and noticed the pole had gone completely horizontal and the remnants of the wire were scattered over our garden and parking area. Off Nico went, back to TTCL (after I’d given him the transport money). Just great I thought, an internet free weekend.
It only got better from there. Very early in the morning we’re woken by some rumbling noises. We see sparks. There is firework coming from the electricity pole. It goes very dark but not completely quiet. Most of the power is gone. The next day very early I phone the emergency number of Tanesco. Our neighbours tell us that they saw an actual flame travel along the electricity wires. All day the power is half on or completely off. We send a text message to Heins family in Amsterdam when they are about to board a Dar es Salaam bound plane. No electricity and no internet, welcome to Tanzania. I try not to be cynical but I have very little faith in things getting fixed sasa hivi. (Sasa hivi means now now as opposed to sasa which is now anywhere in the near future.) I’m proven wrong. Internet is fixed in the morning. It’s quick and dirty but it works. Well that’s what we think; we don’t have power to test it. But even that problem is fixed and we can see Tanesco trucks all over the neighbourhood fixing things up. When our guests arrive at 00:30 (Why does the KLM plane arrive so late) everything is back in order.

Saturday 6 Feb
At first there is a huge rainstorm that wakes me in the middle of the night. After I’ve been asleep for a while again I’m not sure if it’s the funny sound that wakes me. It could also be Hein banging on the fan. Normally, when there is a funny sound at night there is something up with the fan so Hein banging with his hand on the fan in the middle of the night is not actually as strange as it may sound. Heins’ banging doesn’t make the slightest change to the sound though. As a matter of fact it’s getting louder and it seems to be spreading. It’s clear now that it’s coming from outside. As we both get up Hein walks to the window and exclaims ‘the tree is about to fall!’ This in turn makes me shout that he has to move away from the window. And there it goes. One of our recently fully blooming flame trees crashes to the ground. We see some sparks and flashes as it hits the electricity wire and then all goes dark and quiet.

Fallen giant

At the first daylight Hein goes outside to check. The tree has managed to neatly fall in between the Frangipani and the Baobab that Roy planted the day before. As there is not much else to do but wait for Tanesco we all go our respective ways. Hein and I to work, Roy and Anna to the train station. If Tanesco miraculously appears Leonarda and Cecilia are there. Of course they don’t appear in the morning. We decide to stick to our original plan and go to South Beach where Claudia and Harry have rented two villas on the beach. Around six in the evening we get a text message from Nico, the power is back. When we get home on Saturday, Alfons has already managed to saw apart and take away most of the tree. Now I’m a little more nervous walking through the garden. There are so many old trees on the compound. Which one is next in line to bite the dust?

Sunday 31 Jan 2010
Success at last? Today we took our guests Roy and Anna in the direction of Bagamoyo. From Bomani Beach Bungalows we dug up a small baobab tree. It has been two years since Hein came up with the idea of planting a baobab in our garden, tomorrow may finally be the day!

Friday 29th of January 2010
Finished work and preparing to go home later this afternoon. I am now in Kigali where I participated in a 5-day workshop that aimed to develop a method identifying banana-diseases in Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. My role was to advice on where to sample and how many samples to take. The output of the workshop was a questionnaire and a definition of the areas to target. We also went to the Rusizi valley to take a look at one of the diseases and learn how to extract DNA from diseased plants for lab-analysis. Still have a couple of hours to kill. Thinking of paying the pool area a visit.


ITA/FAO workshop party (left) and having a beer on shore of Lake Kivu

Tuesday 26 Jan (jmc)
As far as Tarek is concerned the baby group was a big success, apparently he cried when he had to leave. If he cannot join this group on a more permanent base (that depends on the people hosting it, they may think it’s already a bit big) than we’ll just have to find a commercial playgroup, like the one Hannah goes to every day.

Monday 25 January (jmc)
Hein’s in Kigali, Cecilia is going home, Leonarda is in the kitchen, Tarek is asleep and I? It’s so hot I don’t know what to do with myself. The best is probably to take off as many clothes as decently possible and crash on a bed. Hein had to leave the house at 3:30 this morning and whenever he takes that flight I have trouble falling back asleep after he gets up. Today is one of those get up at 5:30 days so there wasn’t that much sleep to be had in the first place.
Tomorrow may be the start of a new life for Tarek. If everything works out as planned, Leonarda will take him to a baby group for working mums. Most baby groups I know of are really for mothers, a chance to catch up while the little ones grab other babies’ toys. This baby group, apparently, meets more than once a week and, as all the mothers have a job, the nannies take the kids there and home. Tarek seems to enjoy being at home but I’ve noticed he also really likes to see other children. Of course he sees a lot of Trudpert, but with 7 months the age difference between them is just a little too big. I hope it works out!

Saturday 16 January 2010 (tb)
As my parents keep pretending they’re too busy to write something for the website, I’ve decided to take things into my own hands. How I’m doing is the most important thing to most readers anyway.

And how am I doing?
As a matter of fact, I’m doing great. I’ve just had a lunch of avocado and chicken salad, some tomato and a piece of rye bread (the bread courtesy of aunt Lide!). My mother was very proud of having made me such a nice lunch and a little disappointed that I didn’t eat all of it. Most of the time I eat loads of many different things. In the morning mom and dad give me weetabix porridge with yoghurt. (If you know my mom you understand that it’s wholegrain weetabix, she drives all over town to find whole grain stuff.) I put up with the porridge, but I really prefer to eat mango, pineapple, watermelon and, my favourite, passion. It makes my face shrivel up with its acidity but I love it! I also love bread (wholegrain is all I get naturally) so if I’m really hungry, which is most mornings, I eat porridge, then fruit and then bread with peanut butter, cream cheese or Dutch appelstroop. After all that I normally drink some breast milk. Not too much and not every day. I like to have my mothers’ milk available at all times. In the afternoon I sometimes pull away her shirt and then her bra to reach her breasts. I don’t know why she is so shocked when I do that. In the evenings I often join them for dinner. I picked up this habit during our trip to Ruaha, when they forgot my food and I was forced to eat their food.
I think other kids and small babies are very interesting. Just a few days ago I saw a 3 month old baby and I really wanted to touch her and wiggle the car seat she was sitting in. My mother kept pulling me away; she said my hands were dirty. They were only a little sandy from crawling on the floor in the doctors’ office. Then I looked at the other kids in the clinic. They were all older then I was. After a while I decided to show off that I can do the same thing they can. I stood up, holding on to a chair and walked to my mother while everyone in the clinic held their breath. I can walk, though most of the time I just chose not to. We went to the doctor so I could get the vaccination against H1N1. Apparently we were lucky there was some available because the clinic has trouble buying it with all these western countries having put in huge orders. The companies that sell it do not care about some small clinic in Dar es Salaam wanting a few vials. Luckily, embassy personnel of countries where they vaccinate on a large scale are given vials for their families and then the leftover doses are donated to the clinic. I didn’t like it that my mother and the nurse held me so tightly I couldn’t move but the needle that went into my arm was very fascinating so I didn’t even cry. In a few weeks I get a second dose. And my mother also discussed with the nurse that it was time for some other injections. I don’t really mind but my dad gets nervous when I’m given vaccinations. Last time he took Leonarda along and waited outside until the needle work was over.
During the day I really enjoy being outside with my friend Trudpert. He runs and I laugh. Our other neighbour got a small cat recently, it’s called Max. Trudpert and I love to shout at the cat. I like to watch birds too. And as I’m now really getting the hang of pointing I point up to the sky as soon as I see a bird. I do a lot of talking but the only word my parents seem to understand is bye bye. They make me say it all the time. If I really want to impress them, I wave my hand at the same time. According to my mother, rest of what I say sounds mostly like dada. She should simply pay more attention; I talk about lots of things.

How are my parents?
My parents are both complaining about work. My mom has just started after her super long break (she has not right to complain at all). She’s just nervous about having to teach history for the first time. I think she is frustrated that there are no teaching materials but I know she’ll be ok. She always thinks of something and then really enjoys the work. My father complains about things like software not working so now he has to use two computers at the same time. But he has two computers, so what’s the worry? Anyway, most of the time when they are not working mom and dad sit around the house reading grandma’s newspaper clippings, playing games or watching a movie after I’ve gone to sleep around seven in the evening. Many of their friends in Dar are starting to return from their various holiday destinations. This afternoon mom and dad are taking me down the road to meet a Malinese-Dutch baby girl that was born in December. I really look forward to reconnecting with my friend Kees, it’s been months since I saw him, I wonder if he’ll recognise me at all. Tomorrow my friend Hannah is coming over, with her baby brother and her parents. Good times ahead!

How are things around the house?
My auntie Marije left a few days ago. It’s a shame she’s gone because she was fun to play with. She also brought her sister Elize who stayed for a few days as well. Especially auntie Marije was really good in peek-a-boo and hide and seek. She also fed me and bathed me and even managed to brush my teeth one night. I normally don’t like having my teeth brushed as I give priority to playing in the bath but auntie Marije was pretty good at it. It’s also fun to be with Cecilia and Leonarda again. It’s nice that everything seems to be back to normal after more than a month of guests, travelling and people going away.
The power has been good recently. Leonarda turned the generator on one afternoon when I took my nap because it gets so hot in my room and I get all sweaty without the fan. Something weird started happening a few days ago. The pressure pump kept working without a tap running. My parents said there must be a leak somewhere. The next day the water from the cold tap was warm. After a few nights mom took a shower in the guest bathroom and felt that the wall was hot. The next morning my parents noticed water dripping from the wall. Now both the fundi and my parents are sighing that the wall will have to be broken. And that while there are new guests arriving by the end of the month. Roy, who worked with my mother in the shop, is coming together with his girlfriend. I heard my mom and dad talk about a trip to Zanzibar when they are here.

What’s happening in the garden?
Today my friend Alfonsi has been replanting things. All three banana plants have made babies and some of those babies have been moved. Alfonsi, the askari and my parents were all very happy to see the first watermelons appear on one of their many watermelon plants. As the monkeys are normally really fast to eat the baby watermelons everyone thought it would be a good idea to put the crow trap over the plant. They thought they were so smart for having found new use for the crow trap, this time as some sort of monkey fence. It took 4 people to move it. They found out quickly that it was actually a pretty bad idea though. A young monkey managed to get into the crow trap and eat the baby fruit. It couldn’t find the exit though. All the other monkeys in the group (3 females, some young ones and Mr Blue Balls the alpha male) were guarding the kid in the crow/monkey trap. Mr Blue Balls even chased my dad when he was leaving in his big car. My mother got all nervous after having been chased into the house by Mr Blue Balls but she should have known that if a monkey is smart enough to come into the trap it will also find a way out. Now my dad and Alfonsi are trying to make the crow trap monkey proof by putting stones all around it so the monkeys can’t get underneath it. As my father keeps hoping to plant a baobab tree in the yard but not finding one to buy, my auntie Marije brought some baobab seeds from Bagamoyo. It’s a seed of a very old baobab, close to the Catholic Museum in Bagamoyo. It was planted in 1863 and it’s huge. It would be very exciting if that sprouts don’t you think?


Baobab fruit (top), seed (left) and flower (right)

And how about the holidays?
As you know my parents were thinking of driving all the way to Malawi during the Christmas break. We never made it that far as the brakes of the car broke. They had them fixed a little in Iringa and then we drove back in the direction of Dar. Ruaha was great though. My mother keeps bragging about the elephant standing in front of our banda when she wanted to go to bed one night but I didn’t see it, I slept right through. Mom said the elephant was bigger than the banda I was sleeping in but it was dark so how could she tell? She also claims to have seen an elephant on the other side of the camp, when a ranger had just arrived to guard the camp at night. She said he shone his big torch on it and it was massive but I was asleep so I just have to take her word for it. I did see lions though. And zebra and giraffes and many many birds. My parents were very happy to have seen the national bird of Uganda, some kind of crane. We may have gone back to Dar earlier than expected but together with Marije we went on another trip, staying at a lovely little place close to Bagamoyo. We were the only guests there, probably because of the rain. It didn’t really bother us, we had lots of fun anyway. I really enjoyed the sea there even though my mom thought it was too muddy. Silly mom, doesn’t she understand that mud is fun?