Guest blog #1: Katie Jones

Well we finally made it, in spite of all the drama back home and were met at Dar es Salaam airport by Libby, Daniel and three very excited small people, two of whom knew exactly who we were and one who wasn't so sure, for a little while at least.

On the way home we visited Mikumi Safari Park, staying at Vuma Hills Camp for two nights. Camping hardly describes it, huge tents with real beds, shower, toilet, solar heating and no mosquitoes. Excellent meals served in a covered dining area with a verandah overlooking the plains, fabulous sunsets, oh and a swimming pool.

Did we see many animals? Yes we did. It was Libby who was most excited when we first saw the elephants by the road. The children loved it too. Only the lions eluded us, but as no-one else had seen them for a few days, we didn't feel too bad about missing them. There were plenty of giraffes and zebra.

Then we came back to Dodoma and the day to day routine of the school run etc. It's been good to see where Daniel and Libby live, where they shop, how they cope with every day situations that are more complex to sort out than at home. What no Asda or Tesco or Marks and Spencers, no B and Q?!

What are our impressions? Well there's a lot to take in, a lot of poverty, a huge contrast with what we're used to, quite difficult to get your mind round. We hadn't planned to come to Africa, but now we're here we're pleased we came.

Garden dwellers

Pictures of some of the things we've found in our garden...three naughty children in a wheelbarrow being pushed by a guard/gardener, and a three-legged chameleon. You see all sorts in Africa!

It's quite helpful having the guards sometimes; especially the ones who like playing with the kids. It's gives Libby a break every now and then. So she can do exciting things like cooking, washing, cutting up bits of pig etc.

The latter refers to the 10 kilos of freshly slaughtered pig we bought this week. I brought half of that home in my rucksack when I came back from work. Another first.

The kids went back to school this week, which gave Libby a bit more relief, and time to do exciting things (almost). I've been really busy at work, trying to get my first set of monthly management accounts out and working on the budgets for next year. And we've just had a huge tax assessment from the TRA (Tanzanian Revenue Authority) which I'll have to start arguing with fairly shortly. All good fun...

We are driving to Dar on Thursday to pick up Libby's parents - our first real venture outside Dodoma. This should be fun (sort of). Hopefully the 6 hour drive there won't be too traumatic (road works and diversions permitting).

Next week we'll give Libby's parents a guest spot on the blog - so they can tell you what it's really like!

Food for thought

I (Libby) had my own African adventure this afternoon. I went with the pilot and another passenger to take maize to a village that has severe food shortages. We took 1,000 kilos of maize in the Cessna Caravan (for those of you who know about planes). The village was in the middle of nowhere (see pictures just before we landed) and the whole village was waiting to greet us. We get stared at a lot in Dodoma, but this was much worse; they rarely see white people, yet alone white women. Each family was given a small quantity of maize, which has to last them until MAF can fly in more maize. It was really hard eating the meal they had prepared for us while being watched by pot-bellied children and women who are so hungry they are searching in the dust for any spilled grains of maize.

I felt quite helpless really, hunger is such a huge problem. The next rains are not until November and so the next possible harvest is not until next May. How do these people survive with so little - mentally and physically. The children loved my digital camera and were thrilled to see pictures of themselves. I felt a bit like a famine tourist. It's very difficult to reconcile the two worlds: the world of plenty and the world of poverty. I came home to see my rather too well nourished children waiting for me at the hanger and then had pizza for tea. It's all so surreal, my mind cannot cope with the extremes of existence that I know exist. Yes MAF and other charities are helping, but they really barely scratch the surface. Last year at home, make poverty history, the G8 summit, etc were really just newspaper headlines and slogans, now it is reality. Maybe not my reality, but a reality I can't ignore.