Blogs from Mwanza, North, Tanzania, Africa
December 24th 2011
Hello everyone! Since last post I have left the School with great sadness. The people there, both fellow teachers and students left an indelible mark on me. I do, and will, miss them. Good and decent people, all of them. Now I am back on the road and I have to admit that Tanzania is a tough country to travel in. Far harder then I expected however the Tanzanians make it easier by being so nice. And colorful. And musical. Due to the predictable nature of Tanzanian transport everything I had planned had been delayed or cancelled. Both the train to Tabora, and the Boat to Zambia I dreamed about catching. I was disappointed to the point of tears. So sadly two of my ambitions had been lost, but I did make it to Kibondo which ... read more
5 Things I Learned During 5 Weeks in Africa
Published: October 24th 2011Africa » Tanzania » North » MwanzaOctober 24th 2011
Tonight I fly back to Dar es Salaam, and tomorrow night back to the US. But I’ve started my decompression process early. It was an emotional weekend, and I think that sparked me to reflect on the past 5 weeks earlier than I usually do—during the 18-hour journey home or when I finally collapse into my own bed. The first time I went to Africa—South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe—I felt fundamentally changed when I came home. I saw things that affected me on a deep level, discovered what I wanted to do with my career, and fell in love with a Kenyan man. I’ve been back to Africa 6 times since then. But it wasn’t until this trip that I felt fundamentally affected by what I saw and experienced as I did that first time. And ... read more
October 21st 2011
I am now in Mwanza, a small city in the northern part of the country on Lake Victoria. We are collecting data for my latest study on malaria prevention programs that our Tanzania office has been running for a while, particularly a program where they trained “community change agents” (CCAs) to teach people in the high malaria incidence areas about prevention and treatment. The CCAs are given a bicycle and $6 per day for expenses to travel around the local villages, give group presentations, and visit people in their homes to answer questions about malaria. I’ve met a couple of them this week. They seem to take their positions very seriously and are well respected by the communities. The weather is mostly pleasant here, the water beautiful, and the fish plenty. White people are scarce, so ... read more
June 24th 2011
The last few days of my trip was a blur of reading multiple versions of my survey, scrambling to find electricity and internet access, (I’m starting to think a solar powered laptop charger would come in real handy) and driving down countless bumpy dirt roads. I sat in on a pretest of an interview in Mwanza with a semi-English-speaking interviewer named Felicia. The woman being interviewed was probably in her early 20s—married in the past year. She was shy and humble, which seems to be the typical demeanor of women here. Not sure if it’s my presence that makes them self-conscious or if that is generally how they are, but women my age or below seem to be very quiet and hesitant. Even when I hang out with other women as friends or with groups of ... read more
June 21st 2011
My quest to experience Tanzania as Tanzanians live it has continued. The past week has been all about hanging out with locals. On Friday night, some colleagues took me to a local restaurant for chips na kuku (fries and chicken) and Tanzanian beer. We then went to a place called Bilikana, which is a fancy (by Tanzanian standards) dance club that got packed wall to wall by 1am. We danced until 3am, when I thought I would pass out from exhaustion. But it was such a fun night! And it was nice to bond with my colleagues, with whom I communicate every day but only see every few months. And it was especially sweet when I was told that they would love to have me here full time because I have done so much for the ... read more
March 5th 2011
I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I’ve been in Tanzania already. The week has been filled with long days at the office, multiple dinner meetings, and tons of work trying to coordinate the big study I am doing this time on Fataki—older men who have sexual relationships with young girls and women. The study is evaluating the effects of the Fataki campaign, which has been running in Tanzania for the past couple of years, that tells people to protect their loved ones from Fataki. Women are contracting HIV in much higher numbers here than men, and it is thought that Fataki relationships are to blame because women and girls in such relationships where they do not have as much power are not able to negotiate condom use. The campaign attempted to change the ... read more
January 16th 2011
I took my Sunday relaxing by the lake and then moved by the rather disgusting swimming pool (it had been filled with water from the lake) - I moved here to purchase a refreshment and I got speaking to a gent about the pool, he then asked if I knew of any boat rides, I said sorry no I am not on holiday. He said no neither are we - we have the weekend off - they were a group of Volunteer dentists showing tanzanians ow to extract teeth (in clinics of course) the gent (Barry as he turned out to be) went to reception and asked, and sure enough there was a boat ride around Victoria lake and he asked if I would like to join them and of course I said yes, it wouldnt ... read more
January 14th 2011
I seem to have picked up a faster Wi-Fi - I am going to try and upload some pics from the last couple of days.... enjoy... read more
January 14th 2011
I have had no internet for the last few days so I will upload my blogs from the those days - enjoy.... Its the weekend ... and the work here in Mwanza is done and I am off to the serengeti tommorow for the day, YAY! Just wish Joe could be here to share it with me. Good fun today, we discussed accident investigation with role play and I was the casualty, my acting was so good it even warranted mobile phone cameras being brought out to video me... I am a star! :) I has some Talapia fish for lunch - again! it is so good - it is from the region but they have never heard of Cod or Haddock and thankfully Jelled eels (yuk). if they upload ok - here is a picture ... read more
January 13th 2011
Thats what keep hearing today! I feel like a child again! I keep telling the staff that My internet doesnt work and my only access is my Blackberry or the hotel computer and all they say is go to your room and we will send Aroon - poor Aroon comes to my room all the time - gets the internet working and as soon as he leaves it stops working again! its crazy! New bunch of Trainees today, really nice guys - we are holding the training at the hotel and at the start a hotel electrician was asked to set the projecter up - well we nearly had a fit when he chose to insert the wires with a pencil into the socket rather than wire them into a plug! After a few words he ... read more
