So on Saturday morning, at the crack of 7:45, me, Cassie, Kendall, Taylor, Rikkilee, Alex, and Robert piled into a van that our friends and tour guides, Baracka and Tosh, rented for us. We headed off for a day of hiking around the base of Kilimanjaro, Africa's largest mountain. We had been learning about government corruption in our class on Human Rights & Capacity Building, but we got to see police corruption in action when we got pulled over by a cop for seemingly no reason at all. Our driver got out and talked to the guy and tried to slip him a few shilling notes. The cop refused and I thought, "this must be one of the good ones". But it turns out that our driver just wasn't coughing up enough cash. So after he got a few more notes the officer took it and let us go. We were all pretty astounded to have seen that kind of blatant bribery firsthand. I know this is the reality for millions of Africans and we have heard about it so many times before, but actually seeing it made me realize how stark the contrast is between the U.S. and Tanzanian law enforcement systems. I know there is some police corruption in America, but on the whole I feel that I can trust police officers in the States to help me, not extort me.
After that we got back on the road and made it about half way before we were driving through a village and a motorcyclist cut in front of us with no warning. Our driver tried to get out of his path but couldn't, and we ended up hitting him. It was a really horrible moment--we all looked back to see if he would get up or not. He easily could have died, but he got up and ended up being completely fine. It was a really sobering experience. We waited for quite awhile while our driver and the motorcyclist (who was a pretty young kid--probably about our age) and the people in the village discussed who should pay for the damage to our van. Eventually it was decided that we would stop on the way back and get the money from him, which none of us believed was going to happen for a second. He ended up coming to give us the money though, which shows another difference between the States and East Africa. People here know everyone in their village, so if you are at fault for something you will be held accountable for it, because you can't just leave town. We eventually made it to Kili, hiked to a beautiful waterfall (partly in bare feet, which was fun), and then got the opportunity to visit a little museum depicting the tools and living quarters of the Chaga people, who, it turns out, kept their cows in their houses to keep the Masai warriors from stealing them. We then drank some local beverage, a kind of grainy, rather unpalatable alcohol, and got to go down into a cave where the Chaga would hide from the Masai in times of conflict. We then headed over to the place where those brave souls trying to scale Kilimanjaro start, but it was so overcast that we couldn't see the mountain at all--it was completely invisible. That was a bit of a disappointment, but overall I feel like we had a genuine African experience and saw some beautiful scenery.
Till next time!
Jenna
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