Wednesday: VSO In-Country Training – Day 3

---

After a very long day of training with lots of information being thrown at us, Wednesday was supposed to be a bit lighter again. Our first challenge was getting to the VSO office, while we could rely on the hired coach the first few days, it was going to be ‘Dala-Dalas’ from now on. This is the preferred mode of public transport in many African countries, just with a different name for it depending on where you are. The system in Dar is actually quite well developed with colour coded routes and the destinations clearly written at the front and back of the cars and prices also printed next to the door. There is one fare for all routes - TSH 300 (£ 0.15) and there is even a tube style map! The only problem is I didn’t come across anything better than a photocopy of a photocopy anywhere, so it was virtually impossible to follow the routes on this map… The Dala-Dalas aren’t that dissimilar to London Tube travel - in rush hour it doesn’t make much of a difference if you are cramped in on a Tube train or in the back of a Toyota HiAce minibus with something like 25 people…
But as we were going against the stream - from downtown where the Econolodge is to the VSO office on the peninsula, our dala wasn’t too cramped and the journey reasonable pleasant and fast.
The first lecture of the day was a very pleasant surprise too - a lecturer from the University of Dar, Semboja Haji Halibu Haji, who advises the government on dealings with the World Bank and the donor nations. He was very engaging, delivering many very interesting little anecdotes, mixed with interesting facts. Proofing that there are some really brilliant people in the Tanzanian teaching profession as well. Talking about Tanzanian education, this was actually once the pride of this country. In the early days after independence President Julius Nyrere (lovingly called ‘mwalimu’, which means ‘teacher’) managed to get the number of children in primary education close to a 100% and illiteracy down to one digit figures, but then with the oil crisis of the 70ies and some very harsh cuts to public services due to World Bank demands in-school rate went down to below 50% and illiteracy up. This has now all changed again in a dramatically short space of time: Almost all kids are in school these days, which looks brilliant on paper. But unfortunately teachers who often barely completed primary school themselves are teaching them! Not a guarantee for good education results and confirmation that the teacher trainers in-between us VSO volunteers are well and truly needed!
Another great session was the special one that Kieran, the VSO Country Director, put on just for Sandra and myself - as we had missed his group talk on Monday waiting at the consulate… We learnt that Tanzania is one of the favourites of the donor nations receiving large funds after sticking to the demands of the World Bank (besides this one little scandal last year, where the former Prime Minister and some cabinet ministers rerouted a bit of money to some fake companies, but they’ve been given a deadline to pay it all back by November…). More than half the Tanzanian household budget is funded by donor nations, not a promising starting point to reach self-sufficiency anytime soon…
So Wednesday was a really interesting day all way round, which was brought to an even higher level by the last event of the day: A dinner of us volunteers with the complete VSO office staff at Coco Beach. This is the beautiful beach, that we saw every day on our trip out to the VSO office. Starting off with a few drinks in the sunset and a nice seaside breath, this was truly the perfect finish to the day. All followed by a buffet of Tanzanian food - just a bit tricky to see what we were picking from the buffet, as the light was a bit too ambient.

---

Photos

Naomi & Alan
My future housemate Naomi and serving volunteer/in-country trainer Alan in the back of the VSO pick-up truck (not going to mention, who was driving as it's against VSO health & safety policy...)