So all the crazy rumours are true and because of funding and donor issues SPW has had to delay the beginning of our placement until the end of March. Because of this we have an extra 2 weeks of swahili training and home stay (making it 6 weeks all together), 1 week holiday and then 4 weeks placement training. Although it means we have only 5 months in our villages (and people were kind of ticked off about this) we have come to realise that we will be much more prepared for it and better equipped, thus we will have a [View Full Entry]

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Ok so its been a while since I've written as I was bed-ridden (and bathroom-ridden) with my first travel bug - Amoebic Dysentry. Let me tell you something, it aint a fun bug to have! Luckily there is a really great medical/testing centre here in town so I got antibiotics which, apart from killing my appetite, helped really quickly. I've lived to tell the story though and I was one of the lucky ones, others in our group came down with 3 or 4 bugs at once! So far between us we've had 3 cases of malaria, 5 stomach parasites, sinusitis [View Full Entry]

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Ahh I have been trying to upload some photos but it has taken me 22mins and it still hasn't loaded so I gave up. Sorry, i will try again at another place tomorrow. Well Swahili class has been fun - today we had an assignment and had to go out into the street and interview a Tanzanian person in swahili. It was difficult to understand them and I was very embarrassed to be doing it but they were nice about it. I feel very comfortable with my host family now, I've settled in well and the kids have warmed to me...even [View Full Entry]

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Jambo rafiki zangu. Leo ni Jumamosi na nilijifanzi kiswahili kutika schule. Hello my friends. Today is Saturday and I learnt swahili in school...or something like that haha. My swahili is still very basic but with the new program they have introduced I'm sure I'll be speaking it soon enough. So I left Dar on Wednesday morning, without my bag. I decided I was sick of waiting around in Dar by myself for it to arrive and left it up to SPW to retrieve it for me if it did happen to arrive at the airport. So I came to Iringa with [View Full Entry]

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Hello again!! So it's my 4th day in Tanzania and I am feeling MUCH better. I still haven't got my bag back but I'm working on it (it's now sitting in London airport). The rest of the SPW volunteers from the UK and US arrive tomorrow morning, so it will be good to see some familiar faces. I bought some clothes from a huge marketplace and was hideously overcharged for them (because im white). If I wore them in Australia I'm sure I'd be arrested by the fashion police, but they are clean and culturally appropriate so I don't mind. Yesterday [View Full Entry]

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48 hrs later and I've arrived, without my bag! So 3 plane delays, one missed flight, a completely rearranged itinerary, a 12hr stay in london airport (which i was not even supposed to visit) and lost baggage = the flight from hell. It has not been easy and I only just got here, I'm already missing everyone like crazy and have had a few breakdowns by myself in my room..its quite pathetic really. I always thought I was extremely independent and adventurous...i cant count how many times ive thought (and cried) "i want my mummy" in the last 60hrs. I'm also [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone!!! I just wanted to say a quick goodbye before I head off on my 38hr trip to get to Tanzania!! I'm going to miss everyone so much but have a fantastic year and goodluck with everything, keep me updated and email me lots (saspencej@hotmail.com)!! Love you all, Sadha xxxx [View Full Entry]

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Only 22 1/2 days to go until I leave. I'm not scared anymore, just itching to head off! I've gone on a backpacking shopping spree and I have a very pretty new backpack and lots of fun little gadgets that should come in handy next year! I've sorted out my entry visa, vaccinations and malaria tablets and im getting together medications and mosquito repellent. Everything is under control!! I'm quite proud really! [View Full Entry]

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