After a busy morning of presentations, I was privileged to take a small group to visit an unplanned settlement in Keko, Mwanga, a community nestled within largely industrial surroundings where folks lack proper access to water and waste management services (amongst many other things).
The purpose of the trip was to see firsthand some of the work that an organization called WaterAid has been doing in this area as the MEDA Microfinance team will be working with WaterAid in the coming months around these issues. I think the visit impacted all of us quite deeply and I appreciated being able to talk about the experience afterwards with some of our visitors. There are so many challenges facing the urban poor and by visiting people in their communities the reality of these challenges can be quite daunting. However, it is good to know that we are working to be part of the solution to these challenges.
The rest of the week continued with meetings with stakeholders, dinners with the Board and a reception at the Canadian High Commission. I hope that those of you who I spoke with and got to know enjoyed your travels after leaving Dar es Salaam – it was really a pleasure (and please share pics from Keko if you have some)!
After the excitement of the Board visit I resumed my focus on the Microfinance Roundtable that I was organizing to discuss how Microfinance Institutions can better support Youth in Tanzania. The event was held on February 7th and I am happy to say that it was a success. My colleague Boaz and I co-facilitated the discussion and we had a fruitful morning with interesting presentations from our guest speakers and a lively discussion to follow. Since then we have been in touch with a number of participants who are interested in learning more in this area and continuing to be involved with MEDA.
This past weekend I took a break from the meetings and took the ferry to Zanzibar to enjoy the Sauti za Busara music festival. Check out this site if you are interested in learning more and listening to some of the music: (http://www.busaralive.com/).
It was a great (although exhausting weekend) where I heard all kinds of great new African artists and danced my butt off in the centuries old open air fort. Some of my favourite acts included a Zimbabwean/UK collaboration of which the singer had a gorgeous voice and the acoustic guitar was really delicate and beautiful (http://www.netsayi.com/) and a group that included a Mozambican singer, Zimbabwean percussionist, European Trombonist and Flautist and some crazy beats sampled in – the whole crowd was dancing! http://www.servus.at/pntgm/msbn.htm Loved it!
In a bit of a crazy turn of events I made friends with a bit of a local celebrity (who will remain nameless) who invited me to spend an afternoon on his boat. Needless to say it was a great day spent snorkeling at a coral reef, listening to some good tunes and enjoying the white sand and turquoise water on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean. Only in Tanzania! Honestly, Zanzibar never disappoints (as I have discussed in previous postings).
Now that I am back from my island adventure, the next few weeks will be spent working on finishing the concept paper for the Youth, Livelihoods and HIV/AIDS project – we are almost there which is very exciting! I will let you what happens next with this initiative…
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