Christian Aviza – Coaches Across Continents volunteer who spent last summer working in Kigoma, Tanzania where I will be (as well as other locations)
Lorrie Fair – UNC ’96-99, US-WNT - http://www.thekickabout.org/
Ashley Riggs – UNC ’91-95 - Summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Anna Rodenbough – UNC ’05-’08 - http://www.africa2010orbust.blogspot.com/
Sonja Trojak France – UNC ’92-‘95 - visited Kibera slums in Kenya
See the Tarheel connection?!?! Lorrie and Anna are actually both in Africa as we speak. So check out their blogs! They are both doing amazing work all over Africa and I am learning a TON from their adventures.
MEDICAL PREP - Malaria is just one of the many health risks with traveling to Africa. There are plenty of other diseases, parasites, bacteria, etc to be aware of. It’s been quite a while since I have been immunized thus I had a lot of catching up to do. There is a long list of health concerns when traveling to Tanzania, so I chose to immunize against the ones that I felt had the highest risk: Yellow Fever, typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, meningitis, and an adult polio booster. In addition I will be taking anti-malaria drugs and have an anti-diarrheal on hand should I have that issue. From what I have been told apparently no matter how careful you are about not drinking the water, not using ice, and not eating fruit or veggies washed in the water it is still hard to avoid nasty bouts of diarrhea. Surprisingly the UNC Travel Clinic allowed me to get all my shots in one day! Certainly more convenient, but I would have expected that they would have recommended spacing out the shots so as not to overwhelm my immune system?!?! Instead I left feeling much like a pincushion.
In the process of investigating about the health risks and getting immunized I learned some staggering and shocking facts on the diseases:
- HIV/AIDs is estimated to be present in 6% of the adult population of Tanzania, putting it in the top tier of all countries.
- Tuberculosis is common in all developing countries. However, Tanzania has a prevalence of over 100 cases per 100,000 population, the highest WHO (World Health Organization) risk category.
- The parasitic disease malaria is responsible for a staggering 1 million+ deaths per year. The majority are children under the age of five. A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria. This death rate can be DRASTICALLY reduced with the simple use of a $10 mosquito net, which many Africans do not have. Today, 90 per cent of malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. This would be why I will be traveling with my own mosquito net, using lots of bug spray, and taking my malaria drugs!
- Yellow fever, a viral disease that occurs primarily in tropical and subtropical areas of Africa and South America, kills 30,000 each year. The virus is transmitted most often through the bite of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito. Once controlled fairly well by widespread vaccination and mosquito control, the disease is making a comeback and outbreaks are becoming more frequent.
- Measles, a viral respiratory infection, killed over 500,000 children in 2003, more than any other vaccine-preventable disease. The measles death toll in Africa is so high – every minute one child dies – that many mothers don't give children real names until they have survived the disease.
FLIGHTS - Getting to Africa is not like flying cross country or even to Europe for that matter. I spent hours and days investigating various flights, routes, and costs on Orbitz, Priceline, Expedia, and Kayak. I tried every possible combination of airlines and routes to keep costs as low as possible so more money can go to Coaches Across Continents. I finally settled on a flight(s) that has me traveling from Raleigh-Durham, NC to Washington DC, to Rome, Italy to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and FINALLY to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in a mere 27 hours! $1650 later my trip is booked via EthiopiaAir (shockingly that is the cheapest fare available 3+ months out from my travel date!) Problem is that only has me part of the way! Once I get to Dar I will still need to catch a flight from Dar, which is on the east coast of Tanzania, to Kigoma, where I will be volunteering, which is on the westernmost border of the country. Getting that flight booked has proven quite difficult as there aren’t many airlines/flight options in Tanzania. It is not like the US where there are multiple airlines, lots of choices, and airline agents you can call for assistance. Most Tanzanians cannot afford to fly, so there simply is no demand for the massive airline infrastructure like we have. Thus I am currently struggling to figure out a way to book the one flight fro Dar to Kigoma that I can find on Air Tanzania through an agent since the AirTanzania website, email, and phone don’t seem to be functioning. To quote Lorrie Fair,
“T-I-A (This is Africa!) You will see anything and everything and when you think you've seen it all, you will see something new.”
My camps start this Thursday, June 10th and run the next 7 weeks through to July 26th. It will be a busy summer and August 27th will be here before I know it. I am already feeling excited, apprehensive, anxious and nervous all at the same time. Several of you have asked me if I am still fundraising for the trip. Yes, I am! So far I have raised $2155, and, therefore, I am 32% of the way to my $6600 goal. A HUGE thank you to all who have donated, your generous donations will cover my flights (the inside Tanzania flight will likely run $400-500). Additional donations will go to cover my entrance fee into the country, lodging and food expenses (minimal), and supporting the Coaches Across Continents program in Kigoma where I will be working. If you are considering donating please understand that ANY amount will help, even $5! You can pay with a check or in even easier through the secure First Giving website www.firstgiving.com/tracynoonan with a credit card. It is quick and easy. Seriously, by forgoing one Mocha, one Caramel Frappuccino, one Vanilla Latte, a movie out, a bottle of wine, a new pair of shoes or outfit that you don’t really need, etc you could be making a difference in the life of a child in Africa. Your investment CHANGES LIVES!
I also want to tell you about another great fundraising program that Coaches Across Continents has just started. A private foundation has committed to matching all donations that end in the amount of ‘27’ up to the amount of $27,000! So by donating with an amount that ends in $27 ($27, $127, $1027, etc) your money will count twice! How cool is that!?!? To find out more about the CaC Matching Donation Program go to: http://sportingcommunities.edwardswan.com/?p=2267
• $127 buys a ball, pencil, shirt, and other program supplies for a child to participate in the program for three years.
• $527 enables a local teacher to participate in CaC’s train-the-trainer program where they learn skills to create a sustainable year-round program in their community.
• $1,027 supports a whole team of kids in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia or Haiti.
• $2,527 supports a CaC volunteer coach to work in Africa.
• $5,027 starts a new partnership between a local African NGO and CaC (we have a long waiting list).
• $10,027 becomes a founding investor in CaC and effect change throughout the world.
• $27,027 runs a full Hat-trick initiative for one year.
To end this blog I want to leave you with this quote that I read on Anna Rodenbough’s blog. It seemed to sum up my thoughts and hopes for this journey I am on better than I could.
“The magic of travel is that you leave your home secure in your own knowledge and identity, but as you travel, the world in all its richness intervenes. You meet people you could not invent; you see scenes you could not imagine. Your own world, which was so large as to consume your whole life, becomes smaller and smaller until it is only one tiny dot in space and time. You return a different person.
Many people don’t want to be travelers. They would rather be tourists, flitting over the surface of other peoples lives while never really leaving their own. They try to bring their world with them wherever they go, or try to recreate the world they left. They do not want to risk the security of their own understanding and see how small and limited their experiences really are.
If we don’t offer ourselves to the world, our senses dull. Our world becomes small, and we lose our sense of wonder. Our eyes don’t lift to the horizon; we don’t hear the sounds around us. The edge is off our experience and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting. We wake up one day and find that we have lost our dreams in order to protect our days.
Travel, no matter how humble, will etch new elements into your character. You will know the cutting moments of life where fear meets adventure and loneliness meets exhilaration. You will know what it means to push forward when you want to turn back. And when you have tragedies or great changes in your life, you will understand, that there are a thousand, a million ways to live, and that your life will go on to something new and different and every bit as worthy as the life you are leaving behind.” - Unknown
Tracy
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