I’m Back!

Only a few days to the year since I left Tanzania unsure of when I would return, I am back in Bongoland! I arrived Monday night to Mariah and family waiting for me at the airport – a bit of a relief as only a few causal emails had been sent about my arrival! The smell at the Dar es Salaam airport is so distinctive and familiar now - a mix between humidity, jet fuel, the faint smell of burning garbage and a touch of sea air. It made me smile as I left the plane, its good to be back.

The power was off when we arrived at Mariah’s aunts’ house. She had prepared Chapati and Maharege for me (my favourite Swahili foods!) and we all settled on the floor by candlelight to enjoy. I was amazed at how I could wake up in Den Haag that morning and by late evening find myself here, a place so familiar yet so very different from my home in the Netherlands.

One of many delicious dinners with Mariah at her auntie’s house.

Since arriving I have been busy getting myself sorted – first step as always is a new phone number! Unfortunately I left my TZ sim card at home so I got busy collecting the numbers of friends still here. My first week was busy with emailing/calling and confirming interviews and getting organized for my trip to the field (Dodoma) to conduct focus group discussions. After a few unexpected hurdles and one or two sleepless nights of worrying I was able to sort things out for travel this week and also squeeze in two interviews in Dar. I am also now an official volunteer with an NGO called Tanzania Youth Coalition, the organization Mariah works for. Perhaps more work for me but this collaboration has aided me greatly with my field work!

On Friday I moved to a friend’s house for the weekend and was able to catch up with folks still in Dar. Mariah’s aunties’ house was far from the centre of the city and I wasn’t able to get out in the evenings to meet friends so it was nice to catch up. Gita was such a lovely host and cooked fabulous meals, took me along to a fun house party and organized a beach day and movie night with Indian take out – a really fun few days!

After a day at the beach a sundowner to enjoy the view at Coral Beach (notice the new hair).

Monday I was able to move into my new room in the house beside the Irish bar. There seems to be all sorts of people coming and going so it should be an interesting place to live! Its good to finally have a home base and be able to unpack…though early Tuesday morning I was on a bus headed for Dodoma! A previous colleague here in Tanzania has been kind enough to take leave and accompany me to help me with the discussions in rural communities. I would have been lost without her as we navigated our way through the various district officials and administrative procedures to gain the proper permission to go out the villages! By way of luck the District Medical Officer for the region we planned to visit happened to be heading out to one of the villages Wednesday afternoon (though we had planned to travel Thursday) so we were able to catch a ride and start the focus groups rights away! He also was able to stop in another village to ask someone to gather some women the next day as well as lend us the use of his car and driver (as long as we paid for petrol). Having just arrived back today it was a productive and eye opening experience and should contribute to an interesting report…though also an incredibly ambitious and challenging task for me to have taken on in retrospect. Again, thank goodness for my super star facilitator!!

So tomorrow we head back to Dar! I am looking forward to having some time this weekend to reflect on these past few days (perhaps from a beach?) and seeing some friends I haven’t connected with yet. A whirlwind of a trip so far but so interesting and challenging! It is great to be back…