I just received this email recently from someone reading my blog (thanks for your interest wherever you are)-this is fascinating:
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Hello,
I worked with the british construction company that laid the black-top, all weather (doubtfull, even to us) road from Makambako to Songea in the early '80s. I was actually stationed a couple of miles up the road from M'bako towards Njombe (I think the settlement's name was Ilunda). M'bako then was indeed a desolate place with a dry stinging wind that blew in from the Usangu Plains, depositing a fine talcum-powder like dust everywhere in the dry season. Once the rains started, it all turned overnight into a veritable mud pool. Also long stretches of our lovingly built road would be washed away into someone's field adjacent to the road. Trucks and cars that would eventually get stuck fast in this quagmire would be abandoned and retrieved when the rains passed a few months later. The countryside was beautiful and the view from the door to my portacabin looked over the usangu plains so I was privileged with an awesome sight every morning at dawn as I got ready to go to work.
Does the road still exist, or were all our efforts in vain??
I do warn you though; Tanzania will tug at your heart strings for many, many years to come.
All the best
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I wanted to respond that the road is indeed still there (recently traveled it to Songea actually), the Makambako wind still stings like a mother, the sand/dust is ubiquitous, and Tanzania has already tugged at those heart strings! We are all indebted to you and your team for your hard work on the roads here. I feel blessed that we travel on tarmac for the most part-only dirt roads in/out of the villages. Thank you, or rather, Tuhongidze as the Wabena say here...You're always welcome to come visit and see it for yourself!
Off to Arusha tomorrow to meet my Uncle Thad and Aunt Suzanne to climb the infamous mountain of Africa. Can't wait...
Happy Halloween (has absolutely no meaning here as you can imagine),
Tait
*Atu's wedding was fabulous-will report more later
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17 comments:
As the saying goes, "it's a small world," and after stumbling across this blog, I have to agree.
As the saying goes, "it's a small world," and after stumbling across this blog, I have to agree.
As the saying goes, "it's a small world," and after stumbling across this blog, I have to agree. I'll get to that in a minute though. I'm a journalist, news reporter to be specific, and all good story tellers know you have to have a surprise in your tale.
Earlier today I began researching online my plans for another trip to Africa. As a kid I went on a safari in Kenya with my best friend Ansel, and his mother, Frieda, who have traced their roots there. Now, I want to travel more of Africa because it was so captivating.
While "Googling" places of Africa I stumbled across this blog and began reading it. The writing weaves a storyline like a book, the message inspirational. As a journalist I tell stories everyday that show just how skewed most Americans' priorities are. We like to say "if it bleeds, it leads." That's why it's so rewarding when I get to tell true stories, those where someone makes a difference, overcomes, or about something extraordinary. It's also why I kept reading this blog.
After reading some more, I noticed a picture in one of the posts so I clicked on it. While scanning the faces, the only white one there triggered a faint memory in the back of my mind. I could swear I had seen that face before, but I couldn't place it. Have I interviewed that woman before? For God's sake, maybe I have even seen her on the Discovery Channel. So, instead of worrying about it too much, I kept pining away at the blog. Then, as I was wrapping up, I noticed the name of the blog and everything clicked. It was suddenly rushed back 20 years to my childhood. I had no idea the blog I had been reading for an hour was written by a girl I went to elementary school with!!! Good old Warren T. Jackson in Atlanta.
I can't remember your last name, but I definitely remember the face because I also recall having a huge crush on you. Ha!!! Since that's neither here nor there though, and since you probably wouldn't remember me either, I'll leave it as we were classmates.
My point to this coincidental e-mail is that writing this blog and the work you do in Tanzania reaches around the globe. The people you teach and help in Tanzania will carry that on through word of mouth. Hence the "snowball effect" ensues. Then there's this blog. You never know who may stumble across it randomly like myself and be inspired to do some good in this world, or at least in the United States, where priorities have evolved to revolve around status and material. As for myself, reading this blog has rekindled the pleasure I get every time I have the opportunity to tell a news story that has more depth and meaning than the violence I so often cover. Stories like this I guess.
Good luck during the rest of your time in Tanzania, Tait. Keep in mind, you are surely making a difference there, and elsewhere!
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Hey anonymous Warren T. friend, what's up with all the weird comments... that say Please Don't Delete??
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