Week 1: In Country Training

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July 4 to July 8, 2011:

For the first week, we found ourselves at the VSO offices at “In Country Training”. It was a chance to slowly immerse ourselves into the Tanzanian culture through a variety of seminars, speakers, and exercises.

There were 15 of us who came from all over. 2 from Canada, 5 from the U.K., 3 from The Netherlands, 2 from Uganda, 1 from Kenya, and 2 from The Philippines.

We all fit into 3 groups…
- Education (retired teachers, head masters, administration types, etc. who help with the
educational system in Tanzania)
- Health (Doctors, nurses, me, IT people who will work to make hospitals more efficient, etc.)
- Sustainable Living (fundraising, etc.)

It was time for us to get familiar with one another because this would be the people we will be counting on when in country. While we will be relying on family and friends for support, it’s this group who will completely understand the frustrations, the language barriers, and the differences in culture. They will be the ones we need to call, sometimes on a daily basis, to talk us in off the emotional ledge.

To understand this better, I have it pretty good here in Dar. I live in a really nice house (more about that in a future entry) that is fully equipped, a cleaning lady who comes weekly, and a washing machine. I live in a city where everything is available to me. Others in my group will be traveling to very remote parts of the country. They won’t have a fridge or stove, anyone who speaks English, or a grocery store with a wide variety of things to purchase. They will have to wash their laundry by hand and, most of all, they will have to face isolation.

That is why we need to stay in touch with one another….

The week’s program consisted of:

- Meeting the VSO Tanzanian staff
- Tour of the offices
- Managing expectations while in Tanzania – Logistics and procedures
- Security & emergency survival tips
- Money Matters
- Development strategies in Tanzania
- Development challenges and opportunities in Tanzania
- VSO Country Strategic Plan
- Sector Briefing (health people with Health Director, education with Education Director, etc)
- Child Protection Policy
- Criminal Practices/ Corruption Update in Tanzania
- Staying Healthy in Tanzania (some of the nastiest pictures of sores, rashes, etc. I have ever seen)
- Work Permits: Processes and Procedures
- Tanzanian Culture

Now when you look at the photos, it’s not that everyone was bored. It was that they are jetlagged, sleep deprived, and on break.

There are some really great people in this group. I have become fast friends with some, and they will be the ones that I will be relying on the get be through the more difficult times

There are a great number of opportunities for me here. Staying in touch with the doctors, the educators, and the folks in Sustainable Living, will allow me to possibly get to where they are, shoot video for them and create a better understanding of what some of the challenges are for the people of Tanzania…. Hopefully, I will be able to do great work for Femina HIP as well as VSO Tanzania.

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