Jacks

Well... Here we are, three and a half months later. I can hardly believe it. In 48 hours I will be on a plane to London, and in 72 hours I will be home in Canada, revelling in the ice and snow. It seems incredible to me, the time has sped by, it seems like such a short time ago I was getting off the plane full of wonder and awe and unable to even imagine what the coming months would bring. The goodbyes started about a week ago, when I saw Carol just before she left to go home and spend some time in Nairobi. She and I spent a lot of time working together on the research report that flowed out of a survey FOGOTA conducted of their partner groups...we had a good working ... read more

So...the last week I spent at the Selous Mbega Camp (www.selous-mbega-camp.com) about 250km south-west of Dar es Salaam. Selous Game Reserve is the largest reserve in Tanzania, and also a World Heritage Site (as decided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Being located in the south it is off the beaten path of the tourist track (everybody goes north to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater) which was a huge part of its appeal to me, and it is also one of the only reserves in which you can do a boat safari on the river. Which was the main selling feature as I was mostly in search of hippos. Yes, hippos. I make no apology, it was hippos I wanted and hippos, happily, I found. I had phoned down to the camp and ... read more

I miss Diet Coke soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. I am starting to dream about it. I have been drinking Fanta Orange when my soda needs get overwhelming, and tons and tons of cold water (preferably Kilimanjaro brand) and I have discovered a delightful little beveridge called Mirinda black which is a sort of berry flavoured drink, but really nothing nothing nothing replaces the DC. I leave here four weeks from tomorrow, and it is likely the siren song of Diet Coke that will get me on the plane. Which is good, because up until now I wasn't sure what was going to do it. But happily I can feel that I am starting to get ready to come home. I am looking forward to seeing everybody and to Christmas and to snow and to sleeping under a heap ... read more

So it seems, knock on wood, that our electricity issues have been resolved and that the outages that are still occuring are fewer, farther between, and of a shorter duration. Thank God. The temperature now is 35 or 36 degrees during the day and it is much much more humid. It has rained about three days of the last week and I see that we are heading into the start of the rainy season. God help me. This will be a quick one because I have been online for a while answering my email and there are several people waiting to use this computer. I guess everybody is getting updated on their communications now that the electricity is more reliable. Ramadan ended Friday with Eid al Fitr (sp?), although it wasn't clear until Wednesday night when ... read more

Okay, so on to some cheerier things. Saturday night I went to Ali's home for dinner. As I mentioned this is the period of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, and they are fasting during the daylight hours. Ali very generously invited me to come and have dinner with his family as they marked the end of their daily fast. He told me the food they prepare for dinner during this time is "futari", soft and easily digestible, which I think has a lovely nurturing feel for the body that has had to go hungry all day. I took the daladala through an entirely different route from what I have done before. When I got on I told the conductor where I needed to get off and he was quite agreeable, but I always worry a little ... read more

Okay, so apparently, whoever played that nasty trick on the Instant Messenger still has access to my account, and is deleting my emails. Some people have too much time on their hands. So if you have emailed me in the last couple of weeks, and I haven't answered you, that's why. I have been wondering why all of a sudden nobody was emailing me, as I think I mentioned last time. I will set up a new account and let you all know the address as soon as I can. No blog today I'm afraid, as all my time is taken up with these administrative details. Tune in next time for the exciting story of Ramadan dinner at Ali's, and a basketball tournament with Muhalley!... read more

So. Things are going well and I am happy, but the challenges this week have been enormous. We have a new fun thing here in Dar es Salaam. Now not only do we often not have internet, we often don't have power either. It started almost a week ago I guess. At first I thought it was just Msimbazi Centre, but everywhere I went I was running into the same thing. Ugh! I read in the paper finally that two transformers in my section of the city (called Ilala) are not working properly. So we can expect regular power outages for the next two weeks until they get it all fixed. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Add to that yesterday we ran out of water, and I was pretty much a woman on the edge. But this morning I am ... read more

Okay, well that might be a slight exaggeration, but I caught your attention anyway. On Friday after being in the city centre and writing this blog, I came home to find that...my fan had died. Oh man oh man oh man oh man. I tell you, I hit all the main stages of grief. Denial -- oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. I kept turning it off and on, thinking that would do something, it HAD to do something. Then bargaining -- please oh please oh please, I'll do anything. I know I've been neglectful, but I'll spend more time at home with you. I'll clean you, I know you're terribly dirty, just switch on and I'll take all that grime away. Nothing. Then anger -- ... read more

Today is public holiday...specifically Nyerere Day, in honour of the first president of the United Republic of Tanzania, which only came into being in 1964. Nyerere is dead now, but he is still widely revered as the father of the country, and his picture hangs beside that of the current president in schools and government buildings. He is recognized as a man who single-handedly united over 120 tribes into a single functioning nation. He is also acknowledged as the main reason for the continuing stability of this country, which is after all on a continent where bloody civil wars are the normal course of business. Nyerere made Swahili the national language, which was successful to the point that everyone speaks it even though it is nobody's original first language. He also promoted an atmosphere of family, ... read more

Well, this will be a sort of laid back entry compared to the last one. Nothing too exciting is going on, but I like to keep in touch. I noticed this week that I am feeling really comfortable here. I am understanding pretty well how things work and it no longer seems to threatening to me when I don't. I feel like myself here, and I feel like I fit. Pretty cool eh? My placement is picking up steam as well. This week I have been working with Carol, who is a friend of Dorcas from school, on the data analysis for a questionnaire FOGOTA distributed to their group members while they were doing the training in Kagera region during the summer. This is good experience for me, especially considering at my last placement we did ... read more