Finally here!

So this is my first entry from Tanzania; after a whirlwind 48 hours of traveling we finally made it to our new home, Iringa. The “we” consists of Jen and Sacha, the two other interns, and me. Andrew and Miriam are our in-country reps, and have done an amazing job of helping us transition into life in Tanzania. They are both fluent in Swahili, which has been crucial in the first few days of trying to get set up here. They also have a 3 month old son named Ben, who is a joy to have around.

The minute we stepped off the plane the main noticeable difference was the humidity - in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of Tz, it is very hot and humid, as one would expect from an African coastal city. After waiting 30 minutes in the wrong line the airport staff informed us that we could go through the residents’ entrance, since we are officially (temporary) residents. Andrew kindly met us with the original copies of our permits and we quickly found all of our luggage with minimal difficulty and made our way out to the city. The first stop was a supermarket to pick up a few things for the journey, as well as some diapers and a toaster for our house. We then went to the bus station and waited for the bus to Iringa for a couple hours. At this point we were all exhausted and in a daze from the long plane rides and multiple time zone changes, making the whole thing feel like a dream.

The bus ride from Dar to Iringa was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced, which may sound a bit strange, but you would be astounded by the things that you see driving through a country like this. First of all, there are thousands of people just out on the streets – for example, in Canada in a normal city you might see 10-20 people at any given time in a mid sized city walking around the roads (depending of course where you are). Here, it seems like everyone has something to do on the street, and at any time you would probably see 100+ people out on a main road, either selling, buying, eating, reading, conversing, building things, fixing things…. you get the idea. Also while you in the bus, people will come up to the window when it stops and try to sell you items. Some of these are practical like water, snacks and newspapers, but there are also people selling everything from eggs, to fake watches, to green beans, to toys. I can just imagine someone heading on an 8 hour bus ride thinking, man I hope I can get some eggs on the way.

Another interesting aspect of the ride was that it seems like there are innumerable districts (I made this up, they are probably called something else) that specialize in one item, where all the shops along either side of the highway contain only one type of product. So on the way we saw the luggage district, the wooden bed district, the cement brick district, the soda pop district etc. Anyhow, it seemed odd to me, I don’t know if you will share the same sentiments. Along the way we also passed through a game park, and therefore I was fortunate enough to see monkeys, gazelles, zebra, giraffe and elephants all in the first day of being here. It was absolutely astounding to be looking at these creatures that once had only been on TV right here in person, and we were the only people on the bus who even cared! Actually I think they were laughing at us a bit for getting all excited and pointing at the animals, but then I think I would too (and do at the tourists in Jasper and Banff) who get so excited over moose, bears, caribou and elk.

Anyhow we finally arrived in Iringa, and Miriam met us at the bus station (which is actually a bit of a misnomer, as there isn’t really a “station” but rather just a spot where the buses stop). Just after dark, and again, there were people everywhere out on the street. And of course everyone wants to help the wazungu (plural form of foreigner/white person, root is from “one who wanders,” singular is muzungu) with their bags, but luckily Andrew just throws out a bit of Swahili and they leave us be. That is not to say that they are rude or pushy at all, they genuinely want to help. So far I have met quite a number of people and everyone is incredibly nice. They love our attempts at Swahili, and are very
encouraging in general. I am very exited to be able to hold a con… (haha, sorry but I have to interrupt myself and tell you that in mid sentence I looked over and there was a crazy jumping spider that just landed on my shoulder – ahhh, such is life in Africa) anyhow, I am excited to hold a conversation with the people in their language, as they are extremely enjoyable and great company even with my limited knowledge of Kiswahili.

We were brought to our house which is not far from the main area of town, and given the tour. Now I knew that my expectations would be inaccurate in many ways but I did not expect to be living in a 6 bedroom, 3 (or 4? Not sure…) bathroom house with at least 15 foot ceilings. That said, it is not what you would think of as nice in Canada, as everything is quite old and construction is not quite the same quality here. Let me just say that if you had this house in Canada it would be quite immaculate, but here it is rather basic. Nonetheless, if any of you want to come and visit there is more then enough room and some very comfy beds waiting, honestly just let me know. Anyhow, we each have our own room, mine with my own bathroom, and the girls share a bathroom, but we all share a shower. The shower is supposed to be hot but so far nothing but cold water has come out of it, so let me emphasize to you – do not take your hot showers for granted! It is amazing how quickly you can shower when it is ice cold at 7 in the morning; at least it wakes you up. I should mention that we are only living here for a month until we finish language school, then we will move to our placements which will be much more basic and rural. This house will serve as our home base for weekends. I am going to a training center on the outskirts of town to develop and teach their first health curriculum, but first I have to learn Swahili.

The food so far has been very good, very much similar to what we would eat in Canada with a few differences, but that is because we have been eating at Andrew and Miriam’s house, and they cook western food mostly (however, tonight we will have rice and beans which is quite Tanzanian). The market is bustling all day, and you can get pretty much anything that you need in town, it is actually much larger and more developed then I had anticipated. Tomorrow we begin language school, with our mwalima (teacher) Betty, whom we met today. She has a “classroom” set up in her garden, which is really open air 8 by 8 hut built out of trees. She also has the cutest 4 year old boy named Marky, who was very shy yet interested in us, and I anticipate he will be my friend by the end of it. Anyhow, thanks for reading if you got this far; there is so much to write about as I have only touched on a fraction of the amazing new things I have seen and done already here. This has been such an eye opener, I think that everyone should come and see how people live in other parts of the world if they have the opportunity.

Until next time!