7/18: And then there were two...

As July continues to pass by at the pace of a runaway train, things are beginning to wrap themselves up here. Molly and Betsy finished their project on the 10th, and we had a farewell dinner at Gibbs with Dr. Godfrey and the supervisor from their team, Mr. Caliste. It was an enjoyable evening, and it was just unbelievable that they were actually done (which meant we were approaching being done). They did a random sample of 30 houses in 50 villages, ending up with a response rate of 91% and interviewing 1200 women – pretty impressive. I’m really excited to see what their data looks like. It was great having two fellow students working on a similar project to share this experience with, and I’m sure we’ll be in contact in the future (maybe do another study, perhaps? Although I think hiring interns to do data entry is a fabulous idea).

We spent Betsy’s last few days fabric shopping (our favorite pastime, fabric is cheap but it’s adding up in both weight and cost!), and eating at our “favorite places” (aka the only three places in town we can eat). And then on the 12th Betsy left.

I guess her leaving marked the beginning of the end, because a week later Terry and Molly left for Zanzibar. On their last day, Terry and I went for our final run together. We logged 83 minutes, going a little more than 9 miles by our estimate. We ran from AquaLodge through Kigoma, around to the lake and across the bridge to Kibirizi, and then followed the road out of Kibirizi for another half hour. Around the spot we turned around, we were rewarded with an amazing view – a distance shot of Kigoma and the lake. We were surrounded by grass fields and a few mud houses, and groves of palm trees spread out below us and into town. It was one of those “woah, I’m in Africa” moments. I’m kind of used to being here at this point, it all feels kind of normal. But then sometimes it hits me where I am and what I’m doing, and it just feels really unbelievable. We came back from our run feeling pumped and excited, and starving.

All four of us were invited to Caliste’s (Molly and Betsy’s supervisor) house for dinner that evening. He lives in a really nice house – actually the first real house I’ve been in other than mud huts – in what feels like a suburb of Kigoma (we called it Kigoma’s Agrestic – I’ve gotten everyone hooked on Weeds). His wife is beautiful and very hospitable, and cooked us an amazing dinner of noodles, coconut curry vegetables (the first time we’ve had veggies we’ve seen in the markets – okra, eggplant, and peppers!), beans, chicken, rice, ugali, and chipati. For dessert there was perfectly ripe papaya and bananas. It was a feast, and the most delicious meal we’ve had in Tanzania. We’ve really been missing out – the food in the restaurants doesn’t compare. It felt really nice after a month and a half of living in hotels and eating in restaurants to be in someone’s home and have a home-cooked meal, and hang out with a family. Caliste’s triplets (two boys and a girl, almost ten) had arrived the previous day from boarding school, so we got to meet them, which was a treat.

It was really sad saying goodbye to Molly, Terry, and Betsy. It doesn’t feel real that they are all gone. It’s quiet just the two of us, and we miss having other people to share our time and meals with (dinner seriously is the main source of entertainment. Since it takes at least an hour at Gibbs to get your food after you’ve ordered, it takes most of the evening to have dinner – thank goodness or else we’d be really bored!). So now it’s just the two of us, counting the days until we can leave Kigoma and do a little traveling before we come home.