Emily's Worldview

A 6 hour drive to the Ngorongoro Crater to visit a small but promising NGO sounded like a fun weekend trip, and I definitely needed a break from the office. Yet 6 hours in, we were in the middle of a vast plain, dotted with gazelles, and very far from our destination. Two hours later, we stopped for lunch under a huge baobob tree, populated by a group of black birds croaking "wow". Three Masai men left their herds nearby to visit us. They ignored me, being a woman and all, and asked my Tanzanian companions for water. They gestured to their only drinking source, a small pond crusted over with salt. I offered peanut butter sandwiches, realizing the irony of my gift only after we had driven off.

After 10 hours of driving across a seemingly endless plain, we finally reached our destination, jolted, dusty, and at least one of us on the brink of nervous collapse. We were gently welcomed to a tidy mud house with warm water for bathing and a greasy beef stew. I pulled myself together. But the light was fading, and we were leaving the next morning, so if we were going to see the project, it had to be right then. We went to visit some of the families that the project was serving. At a cluster of houses, we waited for a local leader. Children gathered and giggled, dressed in red blankets with white beads around their necks and ankles. Women with elaborate earrings stood shyly to the side. When the leader came, he drove his herd before him. Their bells sounded beautiful in the evening air.

The next day, it was back to Arusha. This time we took a shortcut, which guided us over several minor mountain ranges, the road alternating dust, slippery rocks, and sharp corners up and down the mountainsides. After a few hours we came over a hill, and Lake Natron shimmered on the valley floor below us, silvery and vast. We made our way down the sleep incline, and around the lake. Then it was past Oldonyo Lengai, the old volcano that has been causing earthquakes recently. Steam issued from the top, and zebras grazed calmly at the base. Then it was across more plains, dust pouring in the windows, until finally we reached a marvelous asphalt road. "Wouldn't you like to stop and get the dust off?" my companions asked. "No," I said, grouchy from all the driving. Only when I passed by a mirror later did I realize that my face and whole body was coated with dust. That night there was no hot water in the shower, and the next day was back to work. Not a very relaxing weekend, but at least a minor adventure.