Back in the States: Final Reflections

So I have arrived back in Snohomish around 4:00 Sunday afternoon after leaving Dar at midnight Saturday night. Good flights and all though one bag is still coming from Dallas where it accidently got rerouted. It is 26 here with snow on the ground which made for a beautiful decent into Seattle.

A Final Reflection (This is a combination of journal entries turned in as part of the program’s academic requirements)

I have done a lot of traveling and been on three previous study abroad trips. Somehow though, no country has touched me the way Tanzania has. There are many reason I chose to come to Tanzania but I have to admit a big part of it was to kind of prove to myself whether ‘I could do it.’ Well parts have been easier than I thought and parts harder, but I am happy to say that the basic answer to that question is now yes. And I also think that I have become a better and stronger person because of this trip.

I know that compared to the life of most Tanzanians, my life these past five months has been incredibly easy. Most of the time was spent in a guarded building with running water and flush toilets, a reliable source of food and clean water only a five minute walk away. I came with a laptop, malaria medication, sunscreen and a bank card full of money – not things a Tanzanian generally has (though of course they don’t really need the sunscreen anyhow....). But I know that compared to my life in the U.S. of course, there were hassles I had to deal with here such as the hot sun, unclean water and bugs the size of small birds. Besides of course, dealing with the different cultural aspects. Life has been harder, but actually no as hard as I thought. I never ended up having to haul water up eight flights of stairs, the cool shower always felt refreshing not a freezing shock and I have actually never even gotten sick – which I was planning as part of the experience actually. I feel like life here is not harder because it is a developing country – which what most people were scared for when I told them I was coming – but just because it was a culture more different from my own than other countries I have traveled to.

Why is this study abroad trip different than my other trips? I think it might boil down to the fact that life in Tanzania has challenged me more than my studying and traveling in other places. Let’s face it: a semester in Norway is more like a vacation, a chance to travel and be very independent, which I love. Tanzania though, combined this independence with a non-Western experience. I love to travel as is apparent, but this was the first time that there were days that I wanted to go home. When I came out of the other end of those times though, it made me appreciate where I was even more and see again how much this experience is shaping who I am today. I am certainly independent here too and have become surer of myself, but I here I am also very dependent on others: whether this is cooking my food, translating the language or just getting around.

Part of it I know is how welcoming this country is, as a guest, and as a white person. I have been able to make friends my age as well as go to peoples’ home and visit with their families and such. I have been able to see large parts of the country so feel a connection with it. And since I did take an archeology class, I have to say the part of me thinks that I have this connection with this land because of course this is where we all as humans started. I feel closer to the country maybe because the nation focuses just on that – the country. It is easier to connect to a tiny rural village anywhere than a bustling and impersonal city, no matter how much I do love them. Tanzania is certainly of country of tiny rural villages so that could also be a factor.

Tanzania is a ‘developing country,’ and therefore is in the process of change. Seeing this transition period, I can’t help but wonder what the country will look like if (when!) I return in 2, 5, 10 or 20 years. I have a fear that eventually the world will all look like the United States or Europe and I hope against this. It is a hard balance for me because I want Tanzanians to have a better life, but perhaps selfishly I don’t want the country to change. I want to still be able to drive past women carry humongous bags of charcoal on their heads, girls filling up buckets of water at communal wells, I want to bump along on unpaved roads in a Land Cruiser, I want to buy my vegetables from a poor farmer on the side of the road and my cookies out the window of a bus. I want to take the train across the length of the country and go miles without seeing a house, to see the different styles of tiny mud and wood huts in different regions and boys herding cattle in the hot sun. These thing have been part of my experience here and what I think of when I think of Tanzania. Again, I know it is selfish because I am over-romanticizing quite a bit parts of life here that I like to observe but would never survive myself if I was to take part in them. I hope therefore that development does take place but that it is able to a more African manner and the core beliefs, systems, and traditions remain as peoples’ lives are improved.

I am going to miss many things about Tanzania. I have woken up some mornings at 5:45, something that if it happened in the States, I would groan and try to snuggle back in my sheets. But here it makes me feel incredibly happy just because the peacefulness of the moment and that I could hear Tanzania around me. Roosters crow though I had yet to see any dawn on the horizon. A dog barks in the distance. The frogs are loud in the creek but do not cover up the sounds of the African insects chirping. And then faintly floating into my room is the sound of morning prayers from the mosque on campus, a beautiful song at any time. It is especially cool and I just lay on my back under my mosquito net and try to savor the moment for all it was. I am going to miss this country. A (never complete) list of things that I will miss:

The sounds of the insects making it so quintessentially African
Monkeys wandering around campus (especially with their babies)

The view of the Indian Ocean
Cheap food – and fresh fruits and vegetables
Walks to Survey with a nice breeze
Appreciating being cool
A cold shower after a hot walk
Not caring about time
Sounds of laundry being washed in the morning
Vines and creepers hanging from trees

Appreciation of internet, power and running water (not necessarily in that order)
Never having to worry about what time the bus was going to come
Colorful money
Sunsets with the sun double the size it is at home
Going over to peoples’ houses as guests
Cooked bananas
Traveling by daladala
Watching rural landscape go by from a bus window
Women carry loads larger then some small cars on their heads
Food that is delicious but very simple
Laundry laying out everywhere on the ground to dry
Wrapping take-away food in newspapers
Waking up when it is actually cool out
Lizards defying gravity
The fabric market
Bajajs
Greeting everyone I meet
The man-kissing advertising water and snacks
Swims in the pool on hot days
Walking up the stairs through the trees with vines hanging
The amazing feeling of cool air on your face when daladalas start moving again after being stuck in traffic
Machete lawnmowers
The two “hot” taps in the bathroom: one which gives cold water and one which doesn’t work at all
Pulling the mosquito net out in the morning and getting a fresh breath of air
And, of course, the people.

Anything you don’t know about just ask me about next time you send me an email! I will never tire of talking about my trip.

There are so many other things I wish I had time to talk about: African time and TFT, missing the crisp fall weather of home, how Tanzanian ladies laughed at us wazungu when we also went to the bathroom in the bush – and for that matter don’t care about pit toilets, the notion of theft here (my phone was stolen but really can’t care that much), not knowing Kiswahili enough, standing out in a crowd, hilarious kitenge designs (i.e. house keys or Nintendo controllers), Tanzanian television and the randomness of things people have hanging up inside their homes. It’s an entire culture – there is always something else to explore! Guess I just have to return someday and continue my personal and cultural growth.... Or maybe with all that I have written already in this blog, my academic journals and my personal journals, I'll just write a book about all of it or something....

Zanzibar

After a month and a half of delays, most of our group finally made it the the island of Zanzibar are our last hurrah in Tanzania. We caught a ferry in Dar and a little less than 2 hours later we were on the island of Unguja, the largest island in the region of Zanzibar.

The first day we went on a spice tour at a plantation about 20 minutes north of Stone Town. We got to see clove trees, pepper vines, ginger roots and lots of spices and fruits. It was definitely fun to tour though we got caught in a downpour and slipped and slided in the mud quite a bit during part of it.

Cinnamon. A cinnamon stick is the dried bark of the tree.

In the evening we walked around Stone Town a bit and then went out to eat at Forodhani Gardens. Usually it is a big street food fair but they are doing construction to revamp the water front so the street food was set up on a side street. Skewers of every seafood imaginable along with the usual Tanzanian chips, beef skewers and such. We bought what was called 'Zanzibari pizza' which was amazing. It was a simply dough that had onion, tomato, soft cheese and an egg inside and then fried. Amazing. We then bought a dessert made the same way with bananas and chocolate inside. Also delicous.

The vendors setting up for a night of amazing food

The next day part of the group went to a beach town north to spend a night and Stacey, Wendy and I went to the waterfront to negotiate a boat to take us to Changuu (Prison) Island. After a lot of negotiation we got down from about 35,000 to about 25,000 which worked. The island was really fun. There was a tortoise sanctuary there so we had fun being up close and personal with them. We then relaxed on the beach (me in the shade) and swam a bit in the ocean. We rode back on the incrediably blue-green water and after getting all the sand off in our hotel, went back to wander Stone Town a bit. We had dinner after some shopping then went back to the street vendors for another banana dessert.

Our final day we woke up early and I walked a bit around. I also got Arabica coffee off the street which tasted amazing - and, Starbuck addicts cry, cost me 50 shillings. That's right, about 4 cents. Not bad at all. After breakfast at our hotel we wandered town again for a long time, going to a market, getting ourselves lost (somewhat purposefully) on all the narrow, winding streets and then having lunch practically on the beach with an incrediably view of the ocean. Stone Town has dozens of impressive buildings built by the sultans who ruled for most of its recent history and I loved it.

It is interesting to be here since it is so touristy and we are obviously tourists for a few days but the Swahili I know has definitely been helpful, as has the fact that we are residents. I loved the feel of the town a lot, but I was aggrevated by a lot of the tourists wearing not-so-modest clothes in this Muslim city and expecting people to cater to them only. I like not being a regular tourist, that is for sure.
Fish market

Traditional dhow fishing boat.

But now the trip/study abroad experience/adventure/my living in Tanzania is at its close. As I right this, I have just a little over 24 hours until I get on that plane and leave. It is hard to beleive and I am not sure I am ready to go back to the States, though I know I will enjoy the Christmas season, especially because Seattle is supposed to get snow next week. I will post again, a reflective piece that I wrote for my academic journal probably but this chapter of my life is soon to come to a close. It has been an amazing journey.

Weekend in Marangu, Kilimanjaro

This weekend I had a great trip visiting folks up in Marangu, in the Kilimanjaro region. This is where the Tanzanians I met in Norway last year live and work and the place where I visited in September. I was met in the village after my 8-hour bus ride (very comfortable though and on paved roads the whole way which is always a plus) by Benjamin and Lily, whose wedding I attended. I stayed at their house two nights which was a lot of fun to wake up with them and be able to help out in the kitchen and relax in an actual home.

Lilian and Benjamin Mbezi outside their home

The afternoon I got there we just sort of relaxed and such. The next day we walked the 15 minutes down to the village and then took a daladala up the road so they could show me around a bit. We first went to some caves that the local tribe, the Chagga, had dug in the 1800's to hide from the Maasai, with whom they were at war. Benjamin and I went inside with our guide and his tiny flashlight and crawled around a bit. Sometimes they were definitely more tunnels than caves and a tight fit but they went on for kilometers and the Chagga even kept their cattle and such down there.

Crawling around in the caves

We then went to another nearby village which was one of the first places in the area to do iron working and watched men pound out tools by hand which was fun. I helped Lily make pilau (spiced rice) in the afternoon and then we walked to the waterfalls I had visited with the group before. We went to the top of them this time which was fun though before we sat and had sodas as a group with some my other friends. Very relaxing. We got caught in a rainstorm as we walked back through the banana fields and such back to their house but I liked it because it reminded me of home. A lot of things in Marangu do actually - walking around in the afternoon felt like a September day in Washington and smelled a little bit like the Cascades. If I ever move back to Tanzania, it would definitely be to the Kilimanjaro region: so lush and green, weather perfect in the 70s, and with the mountain of course.

Benjamin at the waterfalls

Overlooking the teacher's college where they work.

Looking up the road at the village of Marangu

Mt. Kilimanjaro from their home the morning I left

While at their house I also got to look through their wedding photos and videos which was a lot of fun. We also exchanged gifts - a Tanzanian custom for sure and a good start to the Christmas season! I brought a shawl for Evalyn (one of Norway-traveling Tanzanians) and gave dolies to Lily and Bertha (another from Norway). Benjamin got a PLU hat and all got postcards from Washington and photos of me and my family. But I think I came out on the top with the presents because they gave me a Tanzania knitted hat with the flag as the design, a necklace of Africa with the Tanzanian flag that I know I am going to wear a lot when I miss this country and also a khanga, the cloth wraps the women wear and is a very special gift. I felt very honored by all their hospitality, even more impressed than I usually am by Tanzanian hospitality which is saying a lot.

I did not want to leave Marangu to go back to Dar and heat and homework and it definitely did not get me in the mood to leave Tanzania either which I have to do in less than 2 weeks now! Those next two weeks will be consumed by visiting people I have to see before I go, lots of reading for class, papers, final exams, and hopefully short trips to the town of Morogoro and the island of Zanzibar. Stay tuned for the final two weeks' adventures! Looking forward to being home but not leaving Tanzania, if that makes any sense...

School Continues...and I Teach Again

Well, sorry for no update over the past week. Well, as promised by the university, classes have actually continued for the foreign students. My Kiswahili class is going on as normal, just with more hours in class, since we were all foriegn students in there anyhow. My African Archeology class was initially cancelled, but then the professor was told he is required to teach so me and the other three foreign students are attending lots of lecture for that class too, with a test this week. My other two classes I was the only non-Tanzanian so are a bit different. My Writing for Stage, Screen and Radio class is now a workshop of sorts. I just turned my one act play into my professor today and next week will adapt it to a radio play. My International Relations teacher has given me a bunch of books to read, I am making my seminar presentation that was interupted by the strike into a paper, I'll write a long research paper based off one of the books and then like all my classes also have a final. So though going to classes is less fun since the Tanzanians are gone, at least I am getting credit. All this homework at once is certainly keeping me busy though!

A quiet campus.

So to take a break from homework last weekend, I joined two members of our group, Chris and Shanea, and went over to the pennisula on the other side of town to volunteer at the Tuyamoyo Children's Society, a local NGO that Mama Macha works with (she was the one who hosted us in Kilimanjaro and lives near the university if you didn't remember). The organization works to help street kids to pass their Standard 7 exams (like 8th grade) so they could at least get a job with their certificate. We helped some of the kids with English. I worked with three girls to answer questions from a story we read together. Their English comprehension was low but we actually made progress and I think they understood a lot of the questions and why they answers were what they were. Also gave me a chance to practice a lot of Kiswahili! It was much more fulfilling that the volunteering we had done at Mlimani Primary School back in August.

So now I am just trying to fit in all the things I want to do - and have to do - before I leave. which is somehow in three weeks. This weekend I'm going back up to the Kilimanjaro region to visit my friends there for the last time and studying a lot for exams on the bus ride to and from.

Student Strikes Lead to University Closing

Remember those student demonstrations that I thought were going to to go on for only a couple of days? Well, we didn’t have the whole story and to summarize in one phrase, the university is now closed.

Let me back up. Under the law of the university and the ministry of education, if students strike for three days then the university is automatically shut down. Didn’t know that a week ago. So Wednesday was the third day of the strike officially and so this morning at around 10:30 they posted notices declaring that the all undergraduate students are "suspended indefinitely" and therefore had to vacate immediately. (Excluding foreign students.)

The official notice from the university. By the way, the meeting between the minister of education and the students apparently never actually took place which made the students even more mad of course....The last night they also called for the resignation of the education minister as an added demand which the government did not comply with either.

To back up further a more thorough explanation of why this happened would probably be helpful. The main demand that the students demanded (not all but a good thousand or so and the decision of the student parliament) and that the government would not comply to, is to everyone to receive 100% loans from the government for school fees. The straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak was the government’s plans to expand the "means testing" used to allocate loans for tuition into the student stipend. Right now every student gets $720 to go towards their accommodation costs, food, books and school supplies. Under the new system people would be grouped according to income like they currently are for tuition loans and would receive anywhere from 100% to 0%. Now this system itself I think is a good one, and in many ways is similar to the FAFSA process in the United States. This makes sense to me: that the rich and powerful in the country should not get much money since they can afford to pay for school anyhow and help finance the less well-off to also be able to get an equal education.

The problem with the system here is that is doesn’t work. By all accounts, it is unfair and corrupt. People with the same family income get different amounts of loans and sometime those with a lot still get a 80% to 100% loan. The basis for all of this, taken as a survey of families in a system I don’t really understand is also only taken around Dar so other areas miss out. This is the reason that students are demanding 100% loans for everyone – then there is no possibility for favoritism.

I understand this demand and for sure see where the students are coming from because the system is broken, but the idea behind all students being entitled to 100% loans doesn’t always sit well for me, mostly because of the ideas of sharing the wealth I discussed above and also because of my very U.S. American ideas of hard work I guess. It seems that the government could invest in education reform at the lower levels and improve the lives of more people and students who have the intellect and drive to make it as far as university could contribute a little as well. But of course this would be a complete cultural shift which I am not sure is really fair to ask.

This all being said, I do applaud the initiative, drive and organization of the students to demand their rights (American students usual just complain about cafeteria food changes or something and then only through creating groups on Facebook or something). It is refreshing in some ways to see such passion and dedication to a cause they believe in. So I don’t really know what to think about all of this – I can see the good sides and bad of the strike.

Part of the demonstration earlier

Back to what is currently happening now.... So all afternoon people were cleaning rooms, turning in mattresses, carrying suitcases and leaving via taxi, daladala or a family’s car. I have never seen so many vehicles at once on campus. What has gotten all of us is how quickly this has been acted upon. Yesterday I met with group members for a presentation to happen in my international relations class at noon today in case the strike did no cancel classes again. Instead, at 12 today we were walking down to lunch, watching hundreds of students with their suitcases headed home.

We still don’t have a clear picture of what this means for foreign students. We know we are allowed to stay in the dorms so that is not a problem and the cafeteria situation will probably go back to what it was in August before classes started – just the one small cafeteria really instead of the three big ones. We have heard that they might try to hold classes for foreign students but really not sure how this would work since I am the only foreign student in two of my classes and can’t see professors lecturing to just me. Personally I would prefer to be free the rest of the month. We still have large assignments due for our program and such and I would like to take the opportunity and travel more around Tanzania. What does not sound like fun to me is to sit for a month on campus with no Tanzanian students around. Saying goodbye to my roommate was hard too, though she will be stopping in to get the rest of her stuff sometime soon here so at least I know I’ll see her again.

Nothing has been violent which is good at least. The army did have a presence on campus though and all they have done is gone by in cars with loudspeakers making sure all the students know they have to leave campus. But not too worried about that side of things and we’re all smart enough to stay out of the way if something does flair up. They left after Wednesday anyhow.

Well, that’s my rather exciting update. Who know what I’ll be up to for the next month! I’ll try to post an update on that front when I know more. And of course photos because I don't have them with me right now.

If you want to know more I reccomend these article in a Dar newspaper, one from yesterday and one from today:

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=8693

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/newe.php?id=8754

A Bit About Classes

So now classes have been going fairly steadily for a while so I thought I'd write a bit about that.

My first class is Intermediate Kiswahili which meets three days a week for an hour. It is obviously all foreigners in the class. We just started reading these children's books meant for young children just learning how to read. It is hard and I am not sure if my Swahili is really improving much in my ability to speak or hear, but at least I am not losing what little I have since I am exposed to grammar and such in class.

Second class is International Relations, my favorite class to attend. This is a big lecture class of about 150 people and I am the only U.S. American there which I kind of like. The professor is engaging and the content fairly interesting as we talk about what exactly international relations consists of, why we have the system of states we have now, the influence of the United States in the world and in general interesting stuff. This class meets twice a week for lecture and we break up into about 30-40 person seminars which we have a presentation by students (I am going next week!) and discussion which is also fun, though Tanzanian students seem to have a practice of using just resources for discussion not their own critical thinking. Coming from a liberal arts school where my degree is basically only in critical thinking, it is sometimes frustrating that students here are never taught in this way - even in high school it is repetition, repetition.

My least favorite class to go to is African Civilizations, which is an archeology class. I wanted a history one but the schedules didn't work and have decided I like history a lot more than archeology. It doesn't help that it meets at 7 am (yes, PLU students, you thought 8 am was bad) two days a week, once for a two hour lecture. Some of the content is interesting though. I especially like the discussion we have been having if civilization has to come out of Neolithic times like we always learned about in the Fertile Crescent and such. I see now how this view and focus on agriculture, as well as the 'progression' all societies go through from stone to agriculture to iron making is a very Euro-centric view since African civilizations have developed in different ways. So that is at least interesting but we'll see how I do on the tests for this class!

Finally, I am taking Writing for Stage, Screen and Radio in the fine arts department. The professor is pretty hilarious to listen to sometimes but I like the class, which meets twice a week in the evenings. The thing is the power is always out in the classrom and so when it gets dark we leave and never go the full time. We just got plots turned in and start writing plays next week! We'll see how that all goes.

So those are my classes. Getting the readings are interesting since people can't really just go out and buy the books. So the professors list a bunch of chapters from different books that they may have in the library (not likely), or the departmental libraries (semi-likely) or just in their office. Or they copy the sections for you and leave them in a copy room on campus for you to copy yourself. Either way, it is a lot more frustrating and more work, but way cheaper. I copied a whole African Archeology book for only $1.50.

A last note is that today started some student demonstrations that might go on for a few days (demonstration this past week and strike planned for Monday). The main problem is with the government loans that almost all the students rely on. The system of how much they will loan you is a bit corrupt and about 20% of the students have not received any money this year meaning that they are unable to pay for school and accommodations right now. A couple years ago this went on for a long time and shut down school for the rest of the semester, but we don't think that'll happen this time. So I passed the group singing and chanting today and sneaked some photos (though probably not a generally good idea...).


This is a long one - plus I added a bit onto the one below about the election (make sure you check it out) so I'll end here. But still enjoying myself and can't believe that I have only a little over a month before I leave!

The U.S. Presidential Election in Tanzania

No matter which way you all are voting this election, thought it would be interesting to share a little bit of what it has been like being here during the election season. Disclaimer up front though: I am voting for Obama. Though I am a bit sad to be missing it can't say I am sad to be missing all the political ads and and waste-of-paper pamphlets that go along with the election.

As may be expected, here Obama is much more popular than McCain though we have run into supporters of both candidates among Tanzanians. People here are very informed about what is going on with the election and the candidates. Whoever is president affects every country around the world and you all being in the U.S. with the focus now so much on the U.S. economy, I guess I am your reminder that the entire world is closely watching this election because of the impact the next president will have on their lives. We have seen cars with Obama bumper stickers, T-shirts with slogans and such and random reminders of the election on cars, vendors' stalls and buses. It shows just how far-reaching this election is.

When we introduce ourselves as U.S. Americans, the conversation more times than not quickly moves to who we are voting for. Some just move on from there but many are interested why. I have had a lot of people ask if I am voting for Obama because he is black and that they think this is a bad idea just to vote for him because of that. I assure them that is not my reason and it is because like his policies. With so much focus on Iraq and the world economy it is sometimes hard to articulate energy or education policies however.

The actual act of voting here is an interesting process. Back in July I filled out a form for citizens living overseas so my ballot would be sent here. However I never received my ballot for Washington's August primary so went to the Embassy in Dar and filled the form out again. These past few weeks I have anxiously been checking the mail at the international office for my ballot. A couple of days ago it finally arrived. If it hadn't, and what others in our group did, was to go to the Embassy and fill out this write-in ballot with only the federal offices listed and then a bunch of blanks for you to fill out the position in one column and the person you are voting for in the other.

But my ballot arrived along with a voters pamphlet so I could figure out who I am voting for for insurence comissioner and such, I filled it out yesterday and dropped it in the mail with four stamps on it. The rule on time is the same here as for absentee voters in the States: postmarked by election day and, for Washington at least, arrive by 21 days after the election. It should arrive just around election day so I am good! The only difference was that my envelope was a bit different and I had to sign that I was in fact a U.S. citizen residing overseas.

So I have been following the election through various online news sites (BBC, CNN, FOX) and have been able to watch the debates through YouTube so we all here are pretty informed. And of course like all of you I am sure, can't wait until November 4: for us to watch the results come in nicely in the morning and afternoon instead of the middle of the night, for you maybe for the end of political ads. No matter what the result, the election will be changing our world come January 20th and even here the world knows it well.

---

Election day was exciting here. (Of course I mean November 5th, not 4th, because of the time difference. I woke up at about 6, planning to watch results come in on the TV a girl down the hall owns. I also woke up to torrential rains and thunder and lightning which made everything a little dramatic. The power went off, then on, then finally off for most of the day (a usual occurence even when there is not a storm outside). The internet worked for the first part (until the power shut off) so followed the last bits of the reults before I tuned into BBC on my roommate's radio and heard the declaration of Obama the winner. I spent most of my day listening to their commentary from around the world and of course the two canidates' speeches, both of which I was very impressed with.

Listening to election results and commentary

Personally, I felt a warm glow when he said: “And all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular but our destiny is shared. A new dawn of American leadership is at hand.” I was glad to be one who was literally huddled around a radio in a storm in a corner of the world American rarely hear about and in a city only a half a percentage or so could not place in its correct country.

At that moment I was very glad I had not gone to the Embassy, to celebrate on a big screen with other Americans as if we were the only people who mattered in the election. Instead, I was in a university dorm room, thunder and lightning outside, a large city laid out in front of me obscured by the swirling clouds of rain, in a developing country, in a country of black Africans, a neighbor to the place Obama’s father made his humble beginnings. I can truly appreciate here the impact the American president has on the world, and the greater impact and excitement the world, and this region of the earth in particular, has for Obama. After everything, I was very glad the power went off and I got to experience this through a little hand-held radio running off two humble AA batteries.