http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bruce-and-Gerry-in-Tanzania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Bruce and Gerry in Tanzania en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:45:19 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:45:19 +0000 It is hard to believe that our stay in Dodoma and Tanzania has come to an end. Our time here almost a year and a half has never dragged. I do not think there has been a moment when we have wished time to move on a little quicker. In fact mostly it has felt like time was rolling along at an accelerated pace. Be that as it may we have now come to the point of saying our goodbyes and returni http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-353895.html Sitting over lunch with her teaching assistants at the Early Years Centre Gerry became curious about the food they were bringing to eat. There were some very typical Tanzanian foods that one sees a lot rice with beans pillau mendazi chapati fruithellip But Gerryrsquos attention was caught by the bread that Pendo one of the members of her staff brought to school lovely fresh gold http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-343244.html Given the October school break Gerry and I decided it was time for a little travelling. Gerry our daughter Karen and a friend visiting from Canada planned a trip to Zanzibar and Mikumi National Park. I decided this time to go on my own so I opted for something a little out of the ordinary. My plan was to ride the Central Line of the Tanzanian Railway west from Dodoma to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-334583.html I have read on a number of occasions that agriculture is the foundation of the Tanzanian economy so I thought this month I would pursue that theme a little. As we have visited the north of the country as well as the eastern coastal region and live in the central part of Tanzania we have been able to observe from the road at least a sampling of Tanzanian agriculture. The regions to the north and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-325551.html In the same way that people around the world associate mounties mountains and hockey with Canada I expect Mount Kilimanjaro large animals and the Maasai often come to mind when people think of Tanzania. These are of course what tourism in this country is built on elephants giraffes and exotic safaris. Along with mining and agriculture tourism in Tanzania is one of the three largest secto http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-310120.html Tanzania is among the poorest countries in the world. A few stats the national budget is roughly oneninth that of BC and 1138 th that of Canada. Close to 40 of the population is considered to be malnourished. Foreign governments and agencies through grants and loans provide roughly 45 of the national budget. With so little lsquodisposable incomersquo the Tanzanian government is in no http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-288522.html Recently we were in Dar es Salaam to meet our daughter at the airport before having a little holiday with her in and around Tanzania. One morning we were at a loose end in Dar so we visited with the help of a local guide the Dar es Salaam fish market. I thought you might be interested to learn a little about fisheries in this country and see some pictures from the market.Like agriculture the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-280370.html The Carpenterrsquos Kids Programme was established two years ago to address a problem faced by many of the children of this Diocese.Since 2002 Tanzanian children have been entitled to a free primary education from Reception Kindergarten up to Grade 7 known here as Standard 7. Prior to that time fees had to be paid to attend and as a result only about 50 of children actually went to school http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-268365.html This month I thought I would give you more of a look at the city of Dodoma where we live. Actually there are three Dodomas Dodoma Region the Rural District of Dodoma and the city of Dodoma. Dodoma Region is much like a province of the country. It is roughly 200 km eastwest 300 km northsouth has a population of 1.7 million and sits geographically in the centre of Tanzania. The principal http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-257031.html The Buigiri School for the Blind is one of five schools operated by the Diocese of Central Tanganyika. It was founded in 1950 by an officer in the Church Army and is situated in the village of Buigiri roughly 20 km east of Dodoma. It was the first school of its kind in the country which at the time was the British protectorate of Tanganyika. The choir from Buigiri School attended our church o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-247183.html January blogOn December 28 Gerry and I joined eight other people from Dodoma and flew to Nairobi Kenya to attend the Brackenhurst Conference. This conference is held each year for four days in late Decemberearly January at the Brackenhurst International Conference Centre near Limuru a town roughly 45 minutes by car north of Nairobi. This is an interdenominational conference the purpose of wh http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-240333.html Our Christmas Season this year has been a mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. The weather has certainly been different from what we normally associate with this season. Christmas Eve here was a sunny hot day in the mid30s. It is the rainy season however and on the night of Christmas Eve we had a heavy rain that cooled things off nicely for Christmas morning. Since the rainy season began http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-230530.html For this blog entry we thought we would focus on our school but first a little background.Geographically the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika covers the Dodoma Region which includes both urban and rural parts. The region has a population of over 1.2 million people of which 500000 are Anglicans. As both rural and urban districts of Dodoma are some of the least developed in the country an http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-224045.html Gerry and I thought in this blog entry we would feature our home here in Dodoma. We are living very comfortably in a onebedroom unit with kitchen a sitting room and a small study. Our unit is one of six in a compound owned by the Diocese of Central Tanganyika our employer. Our neighbours in the compound are other diocesan employees mostly other teachers at CAMS. The people living here com http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-212507.html Sohellip.. this feels like it has been a long time coming. After a lengthy but enjoyable summer in the UK we finally made it to Tanzania. About two hours before we jumped in a cab to go from Karenrsquos flat in London to Heathrow Airport we received via email copies of our Tanzanian residency permits talk about the last minuteThe flight on August 30 was an overnight direct flight fro http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-204010.html We traveled from Victoria to London on the way to Tanzania anticipating a week or two in England to visit relatives and see the sights before moving on to Tanzania. Bureaucracy being what it is our teaching certificates and residency permits necessary to enter Tanzania and work there were not approved in time for us to arrive in Dodoma in midJuly as originally planned. As a result our departu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Clapham/blog-196910.html