Mambo Tanzania!

I’m Back!

2008-07-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

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…

Kwa Heri Tanzania!

2007-07-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well yet again time has slipped away from me and here I find myself back in Canada, unable to sleep and trying to remember why June was so busy!! Mostly because of work and the job aids project which forged ahead at breakneck speed as I tried to do as much as I could before I headed home on Tuesday. This past month we made great progress and produced first drafts of the materials, held a stakeholder review meeting and travelled out into the field to test the materials and gather feedback to develop the next drafts.

I have to admit it was very satisfying to be out in rural communities gathered with Mamas and their babies seeing them respond to the materials I helped develop. The overall response from our target audiences and stakeholders was really positive and thanks to our great illustrator folks seemed to understand the key messages through the images alone (which is important as many rural women have low literacy skills). This has been such a great project to have been involved with!

(notice the brochure)

(testing the images on one of the posters)

In other news, my photography challenge I mentioned in my last entry did not go very well. My housemate was traveling most of June and kindly left me the keys to his car so I was driving around Dar (which is hard enough without also trying to take pictures!). Its funny, when I first arrived you couldn’t have paid me to drive in the chaos that is traffic in Dar but after being accustomed to the combat style of driving as a passenger, once I got behind the wheel I realized how much I missed having a car and the freedom it provides. It’s funny how adaptable we humans can be. Now that I am home I just have to get used to driving back on the right hand side!

Anyhow I have included some random photos – though they do not nearly capture my life accurately. (walk to work)

And I am officially old. I had a lovely joint birthday with some fellow cancerians two weekends ago on an island off the coast of Dar. There were about 25 of us that stayed overnight and enjoyed good company, food, drinks and a big bonfire. Really - hosting a birthday celebration on a tropical island all to ourselves is pretty spectacular!

The 5th was my actual birthday and I gathered with friends to enjoy a nice dinner and a bit of dancing (of course). A good friend even joined the band for a few songs and performed with a few twirls with me in between – so fun! I think the funniest part of the night was when he announced to the crowd “happy 21st!” For those of you who know my ACTUAL age it’s amusing that people actually believe that (but they do!). Thanks to everyone for the lovely birthday wishes near and far!

(me and the singer, Will on my actual bday)

My last few days in Tanzania were a bit of a whirlwind. I headed to Zanzibar last weekend to catch some of the ZIFF (Zanzibar International Film Festival) and then wrapped up things at the HKI office on Monday and madly ran around Dar Tuesday saying goodbye and finishing errands before flying out that night.

(at ZIFF)

I just arrived back home yesterday evening and aside from waking at 4 am it’s lovely to be home but a bit surreal at the same time. I feel like I never could have properly said goodbye to everyone that I wanted, the way I wanted and that makes me a bit sad. I also struggle with the fact that I can just board a plane and leave all the poverty and injustices behind when the vast majority of Tanzanians will never know what its like to fly on a plane let alone travel to a place like Canada. I guess life isn’t fair.

I have learned so much over these past 10 months. Not too many answers or solutions but more a deeper understanding of how complicated development work is. Everything is intertwined and connected and there are no simple solutions. There are so many challenges and wasted dollars. There are too many people working from comfortable offices in Europe and North America who have wonderful ideas but no sense of the challenges and constraints of working in the field. However the work needs to be done and there are also lots of wonderful projects and people making differences in people’s lives. I feel optimistic and more committed than ever to this path and look forward to what is next….

Speaking of which, I have a few options at the moment and am contemplating my next steps. I know in my heart I will be back to Tanzania…it’s just a question of when.

For those of you in Canada – call me! I look forward to catching up in person. Give me a ring or drop me an email and we can make plans to see each other. For those of you in TZ, badaaye! I am not sure where or when our paths will cross but thank you for a truly incredible year.

So this adventure has come to a close. Soon on to the next….

Mikumi with Mom

2007-05-31T01:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I had a lovely visit with my mother when she was here earlier this month…highlights include a rainy but wonderful visit to Zanzibar (aside from the choppy ferry ride home in which I was hugging the seat in front of me in fear and my mom was sick to her stomach along with the rest of the passengers), an incredible safari in Mikumi National Park, my mom finally meeting my Swahili family, seeing where I have worked and lived and meeting some of my new but dear friends here.

At times I think it may have been sensory overload and she certainly found it hot and humid (while we who live here have been rejoicing with this cooler, rainy weather).

The visit also made me think about how I will share my life with folks who haven’t been to visit once I return…so inspired by my mother who had no shame in taking hundreds of pictures I am going to try and start capturing pieces of my life here through photos. Not the easiest thing for me to do because I have always struggled with wanting photos for after I have left somewhere but not wanting to remove myself from being in the moment while I AM somewhere. Especially since what I love most about Tanzania is the people and my everyday encounters. But once you pull out a camera the dynamics instantly change and I still haven’t figured out how to negotiate those situations in a way that everyone feels good about in the end.

It will be a new challenge and a bit of an experiment – we’ll see how it goes…

In the meantime I have posted below some of the best shots from our Mikumi trip. Luckily the animals really don’t care about having their photos taken…in fact I am convinced that the baboons actually ham it up for the camera!

Out to the Field

2007-05-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

May is flying by! Since I last wrote I took a quick trip to Mombassa, Kenya (long story) where I was lucky enough to be hosted by yet another MEDA affiliate. This time Ben was able to hook me up with a great place to stay, fun people to hang out with and an all round lovely one night away. Wish I could have stayed longer but Sunday morning I was back in Dar, up bright and early and on my way to Dodoma!

This trip out into the field was an incredible learning experience. The trip had a number of purposes but my role was to talk to teachers and students and assess how well the science modules on trachoma, nutrition and hygiene that HKI developed with the Ministry of Education have been integrated into the curriculum. We chose to visit Dodoma as 80 teachers from 20 schools in this district were trained on these new modules.

The first few schools we visited were impressive. Well supported by HKI they had access to water and hand/face washing stations set up in front of the classrooms. An ingenious invention, the jerry cans are filled with water with a hole near the top. A rope attached to a stick on the ground allows a child to step on the stick and get enough water to wash his/her face without wasting the precious resource.

Students also performed a skit on Trachoma for us and later, with the help of the HKI optometrist, students were screened for eye glasses. Amazingly one of the little girls was completely blind in one eye – and her teachers had no idea. It was an incredible process to watch! After the children are assessed they are provided with free eye glasses where appropriate or referred to additional testing at the nearest hospital.

The school below is supported by the World Food Programme which provides breakfast and lunch to the school children. The woman in the photo is Mama Nelly, the District School Coordinator who accompanied us out to the schools.

However over the following days we visited many schools much farther down dirt roads and hours away from Dodoma town where teachers and students struggle with no access to water and unusable latrines. Many students walk up to 5 km to school which is too far to walk home for lunch (if there is lunch to be had) and who go all day without eating or drinking. Children in these more rural areas appear so much smaller for their age due to poor nutrition and stunting. Often dirty and wearing raggedy school uniforms these children did not look well.

How can a country develop when its future are stunted from malnutrition? How can students learn when they are going to school hungry? Having a basic need met like access to water (even a water tank to collect rain water would be a start) could go so far and yet this primal human need is still a struggle for so many people around the world. And as I write this its day two of torrential down pours in Dar es Salaam…

Time Flies

2007-05-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Is it really May already? Friends from home have started to talk about patios and warmer weather and flip flops…its hard to believe that two seasons have passed in Canada while its been hot, hotter and now hot and wet here. I’m not sure I realized how the seasons act as such important markers of time for me and perhaps that’s why my sense of how long I have been away is a bit skewed at times.

Since I last wrote there have been lots of big changes. I said goodbye to Flora (my housemate) and moved to my new place in Kinondoni. My “cabana” as my mom likes to call it was originally designed as servants’ quarters. The building is two floors with my sitting room on the main floor and then my bedroom and bathroom upstairs. It’s a bit odd as I have to take the stairs outside to get one from the other but it works and I feel comfortable and safe here. The really lovely main house I use to cook and use the internet (yes internet at home!!) and hang out with Neil and Matt my two new Irish housemates. I am really enjoying being closer to town and the market and being able to walk to work along the ocean each day.

After moving into my new place I enjoyed a week off between my contract ending at MEDA and starting at HKI. So I headed off to Zanzibar to spend a few days in Stonetown wandering (I was lost almost the entire week), exploring prison island, snorkeling and squeezing in some Swahili lessons. It was a really relaxing week away. I stayed at my friend’s house and to my surprise she had cable!! It was such a treat and I caught the Amazing Race episode where they travel through Dar and Zanzibar – quite surreal to be watching the race through Stonetown while in the heart of Stonetown!

Once back in Dar I started my new job which has been going really well. I have been learning lots lately about vitamin A supplementation and deworming for children and new mothers and have been busy developing job aids for health workers to promote and support theses efforts. HKI has helped Tanzania achieve over 90% coverage in the area of supplementation which has quite significantly lowered the child mortality rate.

I was also able to attend a conference organized by the WHO on maternal, newborn and child health. I learned quite a bit about the challenges facing women and children in many parts of the world to access quality health care for themselves and their babies. A short film was shown at the opening of the conference that highlighted the challenges facing women in Tanzania. A woman told her story of trying to get to a hospital on the back of a bike and having to stop and labour by the side of the road in the dark alone. Two health workers described how they have 35 – 60 births at their clinic a day and only two staff. Another health worker described how they write out a list of supplies for women to bring with them (like rubber gloves) when they come to give birth as they don’t have their own adequate stock. Giving birth for many women in Africa is a dangerous and scary time and women talked about how they say goodbye to their children when heading to the clinic in case they do not return. The challenges people face in rural Tanzania sometimes feel never ending.

Also as part of my work I was able to travel to Lindi (Southern coastal Tanzania) to help out with a sensitization workshop for local government and district health officials on Essential Nutrition Actions that we will be training health workers on next month. Following protocol is very important in Tanzania and obtaining the support of local officials is essential for any work. Yet sometimes the chain of command also feels never ending. Fortunately HKI has quite a good relationship with the folks in Lindi and the work was fully supported. It was also my first visit to a district clinic and the first morning we arrived at the hospital there were almost 100 women waiting with their babies. The baba, mama and watoto clinic is one of the places that will be rolling out the ENA program and using the job aids I am developing and hopefully helping those babies to grow into strong and healthy children.

I have included some photos of Lindi above and below. Take note of the bustling airport and breezy departure lounge!

Other than being busy with work, not much else is new to report. I took a trip over Easter to Lushoto, which is lush and green and much cooler than Dar. There were about ten of us that drove up and we stayed in a lovely place nestled in the hills where they made their own cheese (my personal version of heaven). We swam under a waterfall, had bizarre experiences at local restaurants and mostly lazed around with wine enjoying not sweating. It was a fun trip, although the highlight for me was running the first morning with a trail of small children screaming (happily and not in terror for once) alongside me.

So two more months and I am home. What a crazy trip life can be. Luckily I don’t have to wait that long to see my mom – she is arriving next week and I cannot wait!! I’m sure we will have lots of adventures to report on the next time I write. I am also planning to do some more traveling out to some schools with HKI in the coming month that will require long bus rides – those are also inevitably an adventure as well! Hope all is well and you are enjoying you own adventures (small or big) wherever this may find you. I thought I should include a photo of me in case you are starting to forget what I look like! This was taken at the end of March when we threw a goodbye party for Flora before we moved out of our house. It was tons of fun and everyone was drenched in sweat from dancing all night. I am terrible at taking photos so there are lots of better pics floating around out there (especially on facebook) but unfortunately I don’t have copies!

Back to Nairobi and Wrapping Up

2007-03-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

Since I last wrote I took an unexpected trip back to the Nairobi Hospital for some medical treatment…nothing serious just a little minor surgery and some tests that were unavailable here in Tanzania. It makes you appreciate the health system in Canada when there is not one Ear Nose and Throat Specialist in all of Tanzania (at least not one my doctor was comfortable referring me to).

I was treated to warm hospitality from a previous MEDA intern now living in Nairobi which made the week much less expensive and much more comfortable – I am very grateful to the MEDA network for continuing to be warm and welcoming to me.

Now that I am back in Dar things have started to wind down as my contract wraps up in a few short weeks. It is amazing how time has flown by but when I think back to when I first arrived it also seems so very long ago. I feel as though much has changed for me over these last six months, both personally and professionally.

So looking back, what are the highlights?

Settling in with my fellow housemates. Looking for a place to live and dealing with the wildlife in our house, black outs and water shortages would not have been nearly as much fun on my own. It’s interesting how circumstance throws people together who perhaps never would have met otherwise. Now I am not sure what I would do without you in my life!

My colleagues. Who have taught me so much about life in Tanzania, debated controversial issues, shown great patience with my Kiswahili, answered my endless questions and always, always looked out for me in true Tanzanian style! Ahsante SANA!

Opportunities for professional development. I have been blessed with an amazing supervisor (Melanie Newman) who has always been receptive, supportive and encouraging. Melanie has allowed me to work quite independently, trusted me with representing MEDA in various capacities and pushed me to develop new skills and experience while trusting that I would deliver. I have especially enjoyed helping to see the development of the Youth, Livelihoods and HIV Prevention concept through to its final draft. From establishing partnerships, to brainstorming with stakeholders and doing background research I have thoroughly enjoyed contributing to this initiative. We are now in the process of looking for funding and I am hoping to stay in the loop as things proceed over the next few months.

Unexpected moments. One thing that I appreciate most about living here is the unexpected, sometimes ridiculous, sometimes funny, sometimes difficult moments in which you are abruptly reminded that you are somewhere very different from where you grew up. These sometimes involve random interactions with strangers on the street or misunderstandings with friends or colleagues and are usually followed by my seeing something in a whole new way.

Exploring Tanzania. Last time around I climbed Kilimanjaro, toured the northern Safari circuit, lounged on the beach in Zanzibar – pretty much the top tourist activities…and yet there is so much more to do here! Exploring Islands off the coast of Dar, wandering Stonetown, hiking mountains, exploring Lake Victoria, going south to the less traveled parks or coastal towns, chimp trekking or heading north to enjoy cooler temperatures (and rumor has it great cheese) in Lushoto. So much to see and do still (and don’t even get me started on all the countries surrounding Tanzania and the many adventures to be had there).

Meeting really interesting people doing really interesting things from all sorts of interesting places. I have met a lot of people here over the last few months and the folks I tend to hang out with are doing similar work or research. Sometimes I take a step back and do a mental count of how many nationalities are in the room – and there is much to be said for the commonalities among us. It’s hard to understand sometimes why we are always focusing on the differences!

The call to prayer and the silhouette of a palm tree against the setting sun. Gets me every time and I think to myself, how lucky am I to be here in this very spot at this moment.

So I have decided to stay.

I have been offered a short term contract at Helen Keller International, which I will be starting at the beginning of April and will keep me here till July. I will be working in the area of blindness prevention and eye health, specifically supporting the school health program that HKI runs focused on nutrition and eye care. This opportunity will allow me to go out into the field and do school visits which should be very interesting. I will continue to keep updating the blog while I am in Tanzania, so stay tuned! I am looking forward to the new experiences ahead.

However, at the same time it’s hard to say goodbye. Goodbye to my good friend and housemate, goodbye to my colleagues and Melanie, goodbye to our lovely house, wildlife and all. So it’s on to a new chapter in a few weeks. Until then I am appreciating my last few days at MEDA. I have included some photos above of the MEDA Microfinance Team for your enjoyment!

Meetings & Music

2007-02-15T02:48:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy! The MEDA Board arrived at our office on the morning of January 29th for a whirlwind visit to learn more about the work that we have been doing in Tanzania.

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…

Hiking in Uluguru Mountains

2007-01-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

This past long weekend (Friday was Zanzibar Revolution Day, a statutory holiday in Tanzania) I tagged along with a group heading out of the city to Uluguru Mountains to hike and camp. The tour was arranged by Afriroots (http://www.afriroots.co.tz/) an outfit that works with local communities to promote responsible tourism and it was so much more than I had expected!

It took us only a few hours to arrive in Morogoro from Dar es Salaam but this part of the country is so lush and green and the air is so sweet that it felt like we had traveled much longer.

I’m not sure I have ever been so sweaty as we hiked up to our campsite – my t shirt was drenched from the exertion and humidity but after reaching our campsite, which was nestled beside an old abandoned colonial German house the mountain breeze soon cooled us off!

The mountains are in fact home to the Luguru tribe who mostly support themselves through farming along the sides of the mountain. As we sweated our way up the steep and narrow trail people would appear out of nowhere carrying lumber or produce on their heads. It made us feel a bit silly huffing and puffing with just our daypacks!

The next day I opted to do the 6 hour hike to the top of the mountain. It was fairly steep and quite a workout for the legs! Unfortunately it was too misty at the top to enjoy the view but we came across a number of natural waterfalls along the way and enjoyed a weary lunch at the top.

That night back at our campsite we enjoyed a lovely campfire and incredible stars and I went to sleep exhausted. As I drifted off to sleep I could hear a faint drumming coming from far off in the distance. The next day as we made our way down we came across the source of this drumming – villagers STILL celebrating the new moon from the evening before. It was a magical moment as I joined in the dancing with some of the women.

It was wonderful to enjoy a weekend away, surrounded by gorgeous landscapes and good company….even if my legs are still sore!

An Unforgettable Christmas

2007-01-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

December was a whirlwind of a month what with being in Nairobi and then back in Dar and then off to Arusha for the National AIDS conference. The holidays just sort of crept up on me and all of a sudden I found myself in the Dar es Salaam airport waiting to board my flight to Zambia.

I was lucky enough to make this trek with a friend and former volunteer I met here in Tanzania, along with her cousin (who both made the trip from Canada), my housemate and another friend from Dar. Chris, the MEDA intern from Mozambique also met us in Zambia to share the Christmas holidays.

Although we were all a bit skeptical of this new flight route and the booking process (which was trying) and the price (it was very cheap) we ended up arriving in Lusaka with no problems and just like that I was enjoying my first Mosi (the official beer of Zambia) at the hostel we were staying for the night.

The next morning we were up early and off to the bus station to make the 6 hour trek to Livingstone, the Zambian home of Victoria Falls. Although the bus left over two hours late it was another smooth trip to Livingstone where we checked into a great hostel and had ourselves another Mosi (we were on holiday after all!).

The trip to Livingstone was more than I ever could have imagined. Our first day we took in the magnificent falls which included a breathtaking hike/swim across the crest to a pool where we peered over the edge.

On Christmas day we spent the afternoon at a nearby orphanage where we sang and danced with the children, brought presents and shared a huge traditional African meal. It was nice to have been so far removed from the commercialization and rush of Christmas this year and really appreciate the things that matter - good friends, smiling children and a lovely meal. I was also able to speak with my family that evening (while swinging in a hammock by the pool I might add) so all in all it was a great day – truly a Christmas to remember.

After a bit of a late night singing by the pool with a guitar and some new friends from the hostel I got up early on Boxing Day to go white water rafting on the mighty Zambezi River. The trip was an incredible, terrifying, wonderful adventure and once I got over the feeling of dread that came over me after we flipped on our first rapid I ended up having quite a bit of fun.

The next day I was done with extreme sports and instead watched my friend bungee the second highest jump in the world. Watching and then speaking to her afterwards confirmed for me that I have no interest in ever bungee jumping. After a bit of a lazy afternoon we all boarded a boat for a beautiful sunset cruise on the more peaceful upper portion of the Zambezi choc full of hippos. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and our guide/driver/bartender was great fun leading us in various traditional songs and making the two hours fly by – heck we didn’t even care that it rained!

Our last night in Livingstone a few of us ventured out dancing and then wearily climbed on the bus the next morning back to Lusaka where we had to say goodbye to Chris and Zambia. The next morning we were on our flight back to Dar.

However, the holiday did not stop there! After a night to unpack and repack we were up early and on the ferry heading to Zanzibar. The island never seems to disappoint and we spent a lovely few days enjoying the sun, sand and surf. Nothing beats ringing in the New Year while dancing barefoot in the sand! Whew, just typing this up makes me tired!!

I have to thank my travel companions who helped make this trip as incredible as it was and for making me laugh longer and harder than I ever could have imagined over one week – one of the best Christmas gifts ever. Happy New Year!

Now back to work…

Back to Dar, Back to Work

2006-12-14T02:01:00.000-08:00

We arrived back in Dar es Salaam this past Saturday. How wonderful to be greeted at the airport by a friendly MEDA face and then again at home by our other housemate! The sticky, sweaty weather aside it is great to be back.

Getting home also means getting back to work – and although I was able to keep up with some of the projects I have been working on via email it’s been a busy week as I get caught up on a number of different initiatives.

One such initiative is my work on the youth, livelihoods and HIV/AIDS concept. This past Tuesday we gathered with two other potential partner organizations, some of their implementing partners as well as some youth that they work with to brainstorm on what a successful project might look like. It was a great day with all of the attendees seemingly energized and excited about next steps and the potential impacts for young Tanzanians involved in the project.

There is a continued and growing recognition of the importance of integration in development work and taking a more holistic approach to serving others. By involving organizations that have experience and expertise in the various components of this project we are working together to come up with an innovative and integrated approach to supporting young people not only in protecting themselves against HIV/AIDS but also in providing skills and resources to support themselves economically and plan for their futures.

The importance of having hopes and plans for the future within the context of HIV/AIDS was demonstrated again to me through a conversation I had with a taxi driver named Simon. Simon and I spent some time together and talked a lot about life in Nairobi. He earned his living through driving a taxi but had also secured a small loan in order to build apartments that once completed he will rent out. He was starting off small with only 5 to begin with but he also had plans to expand. Through this project he had hired his cousin to oversee the crew which included 12 men.

When talking about HIV/AIDS he told me bluntly that he was too busy for dating many girls and besides, he had plans for his future and didn’t want to risk things by spending time in bars. He told me he was being picky and waiting to meet the right girl who could help him with his plans. The link was clear to both Simon and I – if you have hope and plans for the future you are more likely to change your behaviour and protect yourself.

In other news the abstract I submitted to the National AIDS conference was accepted for an oral presentation! Unfortunately, because of the short notice and various logistical challenges we are unable to present – but it was great to get the positive response from the review committee. I will be traveling to Arusha on Sunday to attend part of the conference and will be reporting back to my colleagues when I return.

However, what I will be missing during my travels is the staff retreat in which an HIV/AIDS training session for MEDA staff that I coordinated will be taking place. It’s exciting to see an idea transform into reality and I look forward to hearing the feedback on how the session goes in my absence!

Last but not least I am also working on organizing a Microfinance Roundtable Discussion on “Innovation in the Youth Market” for early 2007. As of today I have received positive responses from a number of key stakeholders and have now moved on to doing some logistics work. As always there is an issue of funding but we are exploring a variety of options to address this challenge.

So this is what I have been up to lately. I am finding it hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner – it feels decidedly unlike the holiday season with all this sunny weather! I am heading down to Zambia for Christmas with some friends to distract myself from being away from family by gazing at Victoria Falls. I then head to the beaches of Zanzibar to celebrate New Years. It should be an incredibly busy week.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and lots of love from Tanzania!

In Nairobi

2006-12-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

What a week! Last Monday I spent the afternoon with Kelly in a hospital in Dar. She has been sick for quite some time and had failed to really get better since October. In the end a doctor at a private clinic decided that she should be air-lifted to Nairobi in case she required surgery as appendicitis was suspected. So in a bit of a panic I threw some clothes in a bag and escorted Kelly on "her own private jet" (as I like to tease her) off to Nairobi in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

The flight itself was exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. I was very worried for Kelly of course and I felt very responsible for her care and safety. On the other hand it was pretty cool to sit behind the pilot and watch him take off and land the plane - in fact at one point the crew asked me to tap him on the shoulder to turn up the heat! I myself, would have preferred to let him focus on flying but he didn't seem to mind and proceeded to offer me chips - so bizarre!

After my second wander through an empty (but this time bigger) airport with some random security guard and a brief discussion with yet another customs official we boarded the ambulance (another first for me) and raced to Nairobi hospital.

After a whirlwind of doctors and tests and phone calls to MEDA, Kelly's Mom and various insurance representatives I fell into bed Tuesday night exhausted but content that Kelly was in good hands and would be well taken care of.

The first few days were a bit of a blur as we travelled the hospital for various tests and scans to determine what was wrong with Kelly. I also had trouble finding a hotel that could keep me longer than one night, so each morning came with it the challenge of finding a place to sleep. The hotel across from the hospital became my choice spot and I have now gotten to know many of the staff on a first name basis - all of whom ask about Kelly and how she is doing.

As one friend commented to me in an email, the first few days were a bit like a travel adventure show with various tasks to be accomplished each day like finding a Kenyan Sim card, a place to sleep, socks for Kelly and a travel agent to book and change flights etc. However, the Kenyans I have met so far have been nothing but friendly and helpful, the hospital staff outstanding and I have even become good friends with a taxi driver who took me on a tour of Nairobi complete with an aerial view of the city from one the tallest towers in town.

I'm also happy to report that Kelly spent her first night out of hospital last night and seems to be recovering well from what turned out to be Typhoid. Initially we were planning to leave Nairobi last night but one of her doctors asked her to stay a few more days for follow-up. She has definitely been a trooper with all the poking, prodding and pricks while staying cheerful and optimistic.

Last night we had a lovely dinner with one of the previous interns who now lives in Nairobi. I cannot begin to tell you how nice it was not to eat alone in yet another hotel restaurant. I was a bit disconcerted to hear how dangerous Nairobi can be and the types of crimes that have been committed recently though. I consider myself pretty cautious and street smart but out of necessity (because of all the hotel switching) on more than one occasion I found myself walking with Kelly's laptop on my back and all of our belongings in my purse (like passports etc.) Not an ideal situation to find yourself in! However, it was interesting to hear that many "mzungus" don't walk at all in Nairobi and others choose not to go out at all at night. I will continue to be careful.

Stories, warnings and crime rates aside, my impressions of Nairobi are of a cool (I've worn a sweatshirt every day!) green, lush and developed city. I love the green space and parks which are missing from Dar. The shopping centre I visited felt very strange and as I walked around with Christmas music playing and an African Santa to boot I felt a bit lost and out of place - was I still in Africa?

But as good as Nairobi has been to me (and Kelly) and as much as I have enjoyed catching a few glimpses of a new city (although I really only know the hospital and vicinity) I will be very happy to return to Dar - which now feels so much like home. It may be less pretty, more dusty and hot and perhaps a bit grittier but it also has an innocence and character all its own. Most importantly it is home to people that I love and care about and miss.

Thanks to everyone - MEDA staff, the many doctors and nurses at the Nairobi Hospital, friends and family and Kelly's family for all your support, concern and love this past week - it is much appreciated! We hope to see many of you soon!

Wandering Stonetown

2006-11-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I took the ferry over to Zanzibar to explore Stonetown. Originally our plan was to check out some DJ’s from France but the venue and time changed so we just caught the end of the show. It was a fascinating mix of local musicians and singers mixed with sampled in French beats.

The rest of the weekend was spent getting lost in Stonetown – a wonderful place to wander and explore narrow, cobbled alleys. Seeped in history and Islamic influence the tall stone buildings rose up tall on all sides and gently guided us past shops, ornate doors and playing children. Our ancient hotel had an incredible covered rooftop where we could take in the sights and sounds and smells.

The alleys and streets are too narrow for cars to travel through the interior and I enjoyed lying in bed in the evening and listening to the sounds of daily life echoed up through my window. I often had the feeling it would be an interesting place to disappear for a while.

Mvua Nyingi Sana!! (Lots of Rain!!)

2006-11-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

Well the short rains have started and Dar es Salaam has turned into one big muddy puddle! This morning when we left the house there was a new chorus of frogs croaking away – it seems they were rejoicing (as are many Tanzanians I am sure) at this new wet weather. The rains also provide some hope for the power problems here in Tanzania as many of the dams used to generate power were about to dry up. However for most of the folks living in Dar – the rain causes all sorts of headaches in terms of getting around.

However as is often the case here, problems give birth to new opportunities for entrepreneurship! My colleague was telling me today about the long rains (which start in March) and how folks in the city centre use carts (normally used to transport goods) to take people across flooded intersections….for a fee of course.

I am trying to embody that Tanzanian entrepreneurship spirit of identifying a need and coming up with a practical, effective solution in my work now. Along with developing the youth, livelihoods and HIV/AIDS project (of which we have had very positive response so far in speaking with others in the donor/NGO community), I am also working with my colleagues here in the microfinance department to develop a proposal for a global competition to address issues related to health and nutrition.

It is a fascinating task as I learn more about the challenges facing Tanzanians (especially rural women and children) and how interventions such as adding Vitamin A to children’s diets and ensuring women consume enough Iron can radically prevent blindness, child and infant mortality and all sorts of other health complications caused by a weak immune system. Providing access and means to these foods and making use of Tanzania’s existing resources is the challenge!

So over the last few days, as I wait for my clothes to dry on the line (which may never happen) this is what I have been thinking about, talking about and sometimes even dreaming about. I will keep you updated on what we come up with.

Island Hopping

2006-10-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

The past two weekends I have explored nearby islands off the coast of Dar. Last weekend I took a speedboat (an adventure in itself) over to Mbudya, a small island with beautiful turquoise waters. Although the sky was a bit grey and rainy the weather made for a choppy and exciting ride back to the mainland. Flora (one of my housemates) and I sat in the front, half laughing, half screaming as we clung to the side of the boat as it went over the waves. The best part – seeing a whale (the species of which is under debate)!

Yesterday we explored Bongoyo island (the pics posted are from Bongoyo), a much bigger island than Mbudya. Getting there was interesting as the tide was out so we had to wade to a smaller boat that then ferried us out to a larger boat (and then repeat once we arrived at Bongoyo). Both islands provided beautiful swimming, white beaches, fresh seafood and the perfect lazy way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

This morning was interesting as there was a chance it would be the start of a two day public holiday because of Eid, the end of Ramadan. However this is dependent on the sighting of the moon, which apparently was not spotted last night. So tomorrow may be a public holiday! It’s been a bit confusing with some people coming to the office and others not but at the same time it also feels a bit exciting and spontaneous.

Work is also going really well. We recently submitted an abstract to the National AIDS conference in Arusha for this coming December in hopes that we may be able to do a short presentation. I am also working on organizing a discussion event with microfinance institutions about how to become more engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS and researching and developing a couple of proposals around livelihoods and youth. All the while I continue to meet with various AIDS support organizations big and small. It’s all very exciting and I would love my job - even if it didn't come with the perk of lovely beaches and islands nearby (not that I am complaining).

Thanksgiving

2006-10-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we were meant to have power – a special treat as 5 out of the 7 days of the week the power is cut from 7 to 7 (although this has shifted to 6ish to 5ish because of Ramadan so folks can start cooking in preparation of breaking their daylight fast).

Power rationing is a pain because it means you must be very organized when the power is on and iron ahead of time (something I tend to put off doing!), shift food from the freezer and then back again so it doesn’t freeze but stays cool when the power is off and turn the pump on to fill the water tank (that is, if there is water to pump!). It also becomes a challenge for things that you can’t do ahead of time like staying cool under the fan (especially as the temperature starts to creep upwards each day) and cooking meals.

However, living without something tends to make you appreciate it that much more. I now take great joy in the hum of the fridge and am acutely aware of whether the fan is on or off as I sleep. On those rare mornings when I wake and the fan is still spinning away I tend to jump out of bed and run with glee to the kitchen to toast my bread.

This past weekend I had shopped for a number of things to make brunch for my housemates on Sunday. However, when I opened my eyes the fan was eerily still. Very disappointed and grumpy, I dragged myself up and out the door on a search for a gas canister to use with our camping stove. Success! The gas shop was open and my delicious brunch plans were salvaged. We enjoyed French toast (complete with maple syrup and Tim Horton’s coffee from home) with bacon while listening to Jack Johnson on my battery powered speakers…it felt just like a lazy Sunday at home….(minus the electricity of course).

When the power did finally come on around 6 that evening cheers were heard from all across the neighborhood. In retrospect, it was sort of a fitting way to spend Thanksgiving Sunday – being very appreciative of a resource we take so much for granted at home.
I hope you all enjoyed sharing a meal with family or friends (in whatever form it took) this past thanksgiving weekend!

Into the Field

2006-10-05T23:06:00.000-07:00

I am writing this entry on my notebook in Dodoma as I travel back from my trip out into the field. I’m staying at a small guest house and I have just finished the book I brought along (a GREAT book by the way, check out Sweetness in the Belly, by Camilla Gibb) and the evening stretches long in front of me…

What to make of these last few days – my journey began in the wee hours of Sunday morning when my taxi driver Mr. Kipimo picked me up at 5:00 a.m. I don’t particularly enjoy the chaos of Ubongo bus station but I managed to find my bus in the dark and slip on without much notice. Two and a half hours later I was still on the bus in exactly the same spot. Needless to say, it was a slow start, well slow trip really. The bus required repairs four times along the way and the 7 hour trip turned into a 12 hour adventure. Not to fret though, those handy peddlers that sell snacks through the window kept my belly full and I talked at length with the fellow sitting next to me about life in Tanzania and Canada. It was his first lengthy chat with a mzungu and assured me his young sister would love to write a composition about me if I stopped by his spice store the next day in the market.

He also kindly showed me where to get off the bus and which direction to walk to get to where I was staying. Another fellow on the road escorted me from the bus to the guest house (part of the Lutheran church) and I then ran into another fellow from the bus that accompanied me for dinner. I continue to be indebted to Tanzanians for their kindness and willingness to put up with my broken Kiswahili and point me in the right direction!!! After dinner I was able to connect with Boaz, the MEDA staff person I was meeting and went to bed assured I was in the right place - which bodes well for a good night’s sleep.

The next two days were spent accompanying Boaz on a monitoring and evaluation consultancy for RFSP (Rural Financial Services Provider). RFSP has been supporting rural SACCO’s in Tanzania and contracted MEDA to facilitate monitoring sessions with members and board members. The sessions are aimed at evaluating where a SACCO is in terms of capacity and development and an opportunity for the SACCO leaders to receive feedback.

I found it interesting the formality involved in holding these meetings. In Mpwapwa we had to visit the District Executive Director and receive her “blessing” before we began our meeting. At the beginning of both the sessions with the SACCO’s there were a number of greetings and introductions (including my being required to stand and explain my work in Kiswahili!) before starting on the agenda. A good lesson in the importance of getting community leaders on board before starting any work here!

The meetings were held in Kiswahili and I feel extremely motivated to get started with my lessons. In Dar, I can get around but traveling to the village made me realize how much I have to learn! It’s so frustrating (and I find embarrassing) not to be able to express my gratitude for being welcomed at these sessions and explain the work that I am doing properly. It was quite touching actually when the group in Lumuma applauded my efforts (perhaps out of pity) after I stood to introduce myself. Good thing I start at the Kiswahili Language School this week!

Tanzania’s spectacular beauty continues to impress me. In stark contrast to this beauty are the many challenges facing the rural communities we visited. In traveling to Lumuma we drove for two hours from Mpwapwa along bumpy dusty roads cutting through dried up river banks and streams and passed small clusters of mud and straw huts.

As we drove past folks literally living off the land, I found myself thinking about the enormous challenges that exist around the HIV/AIDS pandemic here. How is it possible to encourage people to use condoms when they have no money, spend hours fetching water and are focused simply on survival? Where would they even access condoms? And how do they make sense in the context of their every day lives?

I also had the feeling in Lumuma that people expected a lot from me. They had questions about my expertise, what I was doing in Tanzania and what I was going to do for them. I left Lumuma feeling a bit overwhelmed with the challenges facing these folks and what little I might contribute in my time here.

Anyhow, as I type this up, I am now back at work in Dar es Salaam. The bus trip home was an uneventful but tiring 7 hour journey from Dodoma. Seeing as I was coming from a larger city I was able to take a different bus company and therefore a more reliable one!

Although my travels provided many questions my experiences also provided a deeper context to my work. I am happy to be “home” and to plug away at the MEDA office. Hopefully the future months provide some answers to my many questions…

Girls 2, Spiders 0

2006-09-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

I am not particularly squeamish. I really don’t mind the variety of spiders and bugs that live in Canada. In fact, I’m usually the one nominated to kill or remove whatever insect is being a nuisance at home, but the spider we killed last night literally made me scream. Well, actually all three of us scream. At least our newly honed three-step approach to killing the spider (which by the way was found in my closet which is even more horrifying!) worked well. Here’s how it goes:

1) Flora sprays with the “Doom” which paralyzes said spider
2) Kelly uses the broom to control its movement
3) I swoop in with shoe for the deadly blow…or blows.

As much as I hate them, I almost wish we encounter one more so I can take a photo and share how gruesome and BIG they truly are with you folks at home.

In other news, most things to do with the house have been settled and it truly feels like home now. Work is also going well and I am travelling this coming Sunday to a rural community to observe a microfinance institution (MFI) in the field, learn more about how they operate and start to do some ground work for collecting case studies on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on rural MFI clients. I have also been meeting with AIDS Support Organizations here in Dar to learn more about the work they are doing and share information about the work of MEDA. Out of this sharing we are hoping that opportunities to work together in the future emerge.

On a personal level it’s a bit of a struggle to balance the great aspects of living here and the not so great aspects of living here and how those relate to each other. How do I reconcile children on the street asking for food and meeting a man on the road with a horrific wound on his leg who doesn’t have the money for medical treatment, with enjoying a lovely dinner out with friends or a weekend at the beach (the cost of which could treat the man AND feed the child). I suppose we face the same questions at home but in a much less literal sense then we do here.

In the end, we gave food to the child and money to the man and through our work we try and contribute to sustainable solutions to poverty to prevent people from having to beg. I know we face similar dilemmas in Canada, but it’s not the same. They may be flawed or under-funded but social safety nets DO exist.

Anyhow, these are some of the things I am thinking about during my time here. I will try and post some more photos this weekend and write again when I am back from my travels to Mpwapwa – bus trips here are always an experience in themselves so I am sure I will have lots to share upon my return!

The Beach

2006-09-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the beach this past weekend! The Indian Ocean is just as spectacular as it was the last time I left it and my housemates and I treated ourselves to a “weekend away” (technically we were still in Dar) at Kipeppeo Beach. After fending off marriage proposals from our taxi driver and a creepy dala dala rider who locals assured us was a thief, arriving at Kipeppeo on Saturday afternoon turned into a relaxing weekend of sand and surf. The best part of sleeping overnight in a beach banda was listening to the ocean as we drifted to sleep. And there is nothing better than waking up and taking a dip – so refreshing!

At Home with the Ants

2006-09-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we moved into our new house on Saturday and what a treat to be able to unpack and feel a bit more settled! In some ways this house is actually the nicest place I have ever lived - somehow I ended up with the master bedroom complete with a walk-in closet and ensuite bathroom - talk about luxurious!!

On the other hand, we have no living room furniture, no working stove, no permanent water solution (we had water trucked in our first night) and lots of ants, HUGE spiders and lizards!

As for the ants, I think its all about keeping them at bay and not actually getting rid of them - they are quite industrious - I will give them that, but I can't say I enjoyed waking up to HUNDREDS in my bed the first night! Turns out my mosquito net (which I had draped to the floor) was in their path from the window to wherever they were headed and I had indirectly added my bed as their new destination - lesson learned, always tuck in your mosquito net to your mattress!

Having a permanent place to live has allowed me to focus more on my work here at MEDA and this week I am finishing up some research on Aids Support Organizations (ASO's) working in Tanzania. This week I am hoping to set up some meetings with folks based in Dar to learn more about the specific work they are doing. At the same time I am reading Stephen Lewis's book "Race Against Time", which is heartbreaking at times and brings such context and urgency to the work we are doing here(Stephen Lewis was head of the UN Envoy on AIDS in Africa). In the lecture I read last night he spoke of a group of Grandmothers he visited who were caring for their orphaned grandchildren. One woman he spoke to had lost all 5 of her children to HIV/AIDS and all of her grandchildren in her care were HIV positive. Its hard to imagine surviving through that kind of loss over and over again.

So really, ants are not that big of a deal. I look forward to my work ahead...

Friends & Houses

2006-09-13T23:23:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe that a year ago I was leaving Tanzania not sure when I would be returning. After three months working as a volunteer here in Dar es Salaam I had forged many friendships and did not feel ready to return home. Now, exactly a year later I am back working as an intern at MEDA – what a wonderful privilege to have returned!

It’s been just over a week since I arrived with two other interns from Canada after a long and tiring 20 hour flight from Toronto. Kindly, a friend I met last year picked us up at the airport and helped cram all of our oversized bags (we are here for six months after all!) into his car and drove us to another friend’s house who offered her place to us while she is away.

Our focus since arriving has been to achieve three objectives:

1) Buy cell phones (in Dar this is the only way to communicate!)
2) Locate our offices (addresses and street names are less common here in Dar and landmarks are more commonly used to describe a location).
3) Find a place to live!

Our first two objectives were achieved our first day here and we felt quite optimistic about the third…however over the course of the last week we have met a few challenges to say the least!

Invariably, when looking for a place to live you must go through an agent or a tout – and there seems to be some sort of network in which these agents operate – from fancy estate agents to a bunch of fellows who seem to hang out on a corner and share information about which houses are empty. Sometimes these folks work together and many times we have found ourselves in a car with one agent picking up another to direct us to the right house…this makes things a bit tricky when you get to the negotiating stage and there are 4 agents between you and the landlord all telling you a different price!!

This process has been frustrating because most often we are taken to places we can’t afford (I like to call this the “Mzungu effect”) or that are unfurnished or to houses that can only be rented for one year (we are here six months!).

Oh, and this is after waiting for an hour on a street corner to meet an agent who then has to deliver a tire before showing you the house and by this time it is late and you are tired and hungry (as we are also working now) and then you talk to the landlord’s brother’s friend who thinks the rent is X when in fact it turns out to be Y which is beyond your budget and you go home defeated and exhausted – can you sense our frustration?!

Anyhow, aside from the wild goose chase that has been our house hunt everything else has been going quite well. Aside from my computer crashing on my second day at the office, work has been great so far and the folks at the MEDA office warm and welcoming.

I also appreciate what a difference speaking the little Kiswahili I know has made along the way in arranging meetings with agents and touts and my friends here have been truly amazing doing all they can to help. In fact this past week has made me appreciate how important friends are and what a difference they make in our lives and how important a home is in whatever form it takes. This is true for my fellow interns as well – being able to share in this house hunting experience and laugh over it the next day over a glass of wine has allowed us to get to know each other quite well, quite quickly!

In fact we are cautiously optimistic about a house we negotiated a price on yesterday. We are arranging a visit tonight to see that all the appliances work (there is power rationing here in Dar so all power is cut from 7 am to 7 pm 5 days a week) and then we plan to sign our contract tomorrow if all goes well. I shall keep you posted….