Corruption sucks....

So, if you ever become a country coordinator for a non-profit organization, please never send fake immigration officers to your charges volunteer agencies, threatening arrest if you don't bribe them. Also, don't tell the other volunteers that people have been arrested in a ruse to get more money out of them and to take their passports. Poor life choices!

Yes, this is what has actually happened. After much investigating and sneaking around, the few other volunteers and I have found out that this whole immigration/arrest thing was just a ploy done by the country coordinator. It's crazy really. The group of us talked with volunteers around the country over email and phone, talked with immigration and talked with the different embassy's of the countries we represent and pieced together that our country coordinator has been lying to us the entire time. It is hard because the majority of the volunteers are very young, some traveling to another country alone for the first time, and you think that of all the people you can trust in a foreign country, the country coordinator is that person. I think we all feel really let down, cheated and used. I hate that this has but a big stain on the rest of a very great experience. I just hope I don't remember this when I look back on my time here, but rather that I think of all the AMAZING experiences that I have had here.

In other news, I'm sick! I have two HUGE swollen masses on the sides of both legs and I have been running a bit of a fever (though fevers are hard to tell here because it is always SO hot) Today I got to visit the TMJ Hospital, a very nice facility very close to the hostel. It cost me 6,500 tsh (about 7 dollars) to see the doctor and 24,000 tsh for the medicine he prescribed. All the tests were included in the price of the doctor's visit. After waiting about 20 minutes, I was let in to the doctors office, greeted by a very kind doctor. He asked what was wrong with me and after explaining I was worried that it was either malaria (lots of mosquito's here) or African sleeping sickness (Selous Game Reserve has lots and lots of tsetse flies....and one of the other kids on Safari was bit) he put on gloves and examined the two masses. He wasn't as gentle at his poking and prodding as I would have wished but he was very nice and completely put me at ease. He said that he didn't think it was malaria or African sleeping sickness but he would do the tests to make sure (and to put my worried mind at ease.) After he did the blood test (and yes, everything he used was new, right out of the package, no worries), he assured me that it wasn't some horrible disease but rather something more common among people in Southern Tanzania- Acacia tree sickness. Apparently, sometime in the last week or two, I brushed up upon an acacia tree and got a little of the poison under my skin. Its nothing to worry about (though very painful) and usually clears up on its own. But, since he could tell that I was in pain and that I would be traveling soon, he prescribed two medicines that will help it clear up sooner (I don't remember their names, but I know that they are medicines also given in the USA). He said it should be gone in 5 days, but if by Wednesday I still have pain and swelling in the area, I should come back to visit and we will talk about what to do instead.

So it has been an interesting few days. Tomorrow morning, I'm headed to Zanzibar for the weekend, staying at the Tembo House Hotel (thanks Dad for booking that for me). On Monday, I start my last week of work and I start the journey back to the USA next Sunday. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave (though I really miss my family and friends).

Watch the Olympics for me!

Namaste!