Mwanza

   After Malindi, our next destination was Mwanza, Tanzania's second largest city. Our flight from Nairobi to Mwanza actually consisted of two legs, with a short layover at Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha. On the flight we passed right by Kilimanjaro, and it was a breathtaking sight. Its snow-covered peak rose above a solid floor of clouds, and it seemed almost level with our plane. Someday I'll have to come back and climb it. From Kilimanjaro it was a short flight to Mwanza, which is located on the shore of Lake Victoria.

View of the lake from our hotel

   We could tell almost immediately that Mwanza is not quite the same as the other places we've been to. It has an international airport, and we saw quite a collection of aircraft there. However, there were only two small commercial jets - the rest were U.N. helicopters. These helicopters are used to deliver aid and peacekeeping troops to Congo, which is not far away. Unlike Nairobi and Malindi, Mwanza is not a tourist destination. Instead, its main industry is fishing (Lake Victoria's potential for recreational use is somewhat sullied by the presence of Bilharzia, a parasite that makes it unwise to enter the water). Another characteristic that separates Mwanza (and Tanzania in general) from Kenya is that English is not widely spoken. After the now-familiar greetings, people here keep speaking Swahili.
   Our work in the field is also much different than it was in Kenya. We have more trouble communicating with the enumerators than we did in Kenya, and the enumerators often have trouble communicating with the respondents, who seem less likely to speak Swahili. We are also much more of a novelty here than we were in Kenya, probably because, as I mentioned earlier, Mwanza is not a tourist destination. Within minutes of sitting down for an interview, we would often attract crowds of 20, 30, and sometimes even more curious onlookers. It is not uncommon for little kids to bravely come up behind me, lightly touch my arm, and then quickly turn and run away. The disturbances we caused at the first few interviews have forced us to limit our interviews to those held in more remote locations.
   The people here seem better off than the villagers in Malindi, but that is not saying much. It is very dry and dusty here, but the houses are a bit larger and seem more sound. I've noticed many more metal roofs than I saw in Malindi, and the walls are built with bricks or concrete instead of mud and sticks. Land is not as scarce in Tanzania as it is in Kenya, and in fact many Kenyans migrate to Tanzania for this reason. People here are extremely poor, but children here seem at least slightly better clothed and less undernourished than they did in Malindi.
   Our hotel overlooks Lake Victoria, and the view is spectacular. The area around Mwanza is more like what I expected Africa to look like than Nairobi and Malindi. There are enormous plains punctuated with large freestanding boulders that are reminscent of Pride Rock. You'd want to be careful reenacting the presentation of Simba, however. These rocks are the natural habitat of cobras, who pose a real danger to the villagers (especially children). A member of our CRS team saw one outside a village during the Tanzanian pilot survey, and was surprised to see the villagers bring the circle of life to an abrupt and ruthless close.
   Perhaps the most striking difference between Mwanza and Kenya, however, is the level of development. There are no glittering towers of commerce in Mwanza, no shopping malls flanked by highways. In Kenya we saw pieces of the first and third world side by side, here there are only small bits of the world we left behind in June. The streets are lined with small, ramshackle shops, markets spill out into the streets, and in general things seem overcrowded and disorderly. It is a strange environment, and an interesting one.
   Well that's about it for Mwanza - please let me know if you have any questions / comments. Tomorrow we head back toward Kilimanjaro to survey the Arusha area!