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Published: September 21st 2007
Arriving in Dar es Salaam
An exciting moment as we cleared Customs and stepped out of the terminal into Dar es Salaam.So….. 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 Karen’s flat in London to Heathrow Airport, we received via email, copies of our Tanzanian residency permits - talk about the last minute!
The flight on August 30, was an overnight direct flight from London to Dar es Salaam so we arrived in Dar at 7 am, only a little worse for wear. We were met by Alistair Hookings who is the husband of our Principal at CAMS and also one of the teachers there. After a shopping stop at a mall in Dar we hit the road for Dodoma.
The drive from Dar to Dodoma is about 500 exciting km of quite good paved road, one lane in either direction. Everyone who can, drives at break-neck speed, trucks, highway cruisers (of which there are a few), dala dalas (these are small local busses that are absolutely crammed with people, luggage, animals, etc.), and 4wds like Alistair’s. On the shoulder of the highway there is another whole component of Tanzanian transportation
The entrance to CAMS
Some of the local children were anxious to have their picture taken so joined in. - bicycles stacked up with enormous loads of grass, flats of eggs, sugar cane, charcoal. Then there are the cattle, goats, children and other people all making their way along the side of the highway. The road runs through many small villages as well. Just before and just after each village there is an enormous speed bump to slow everything down. In between the bumps, of course, you can go as fast as you can.
After a lunch break at Morogoro, the only sizable town on the route, we arrived in Dodoma at about 4:30 on the Friday afternoon.
As we were not here for the beginning of the school year, the school staff had been making do by various people covering off our teaching assignments until we arrived. This has meant that we needed to do everything we could to quickly fit into the routine and take over our classes. It made for a very tiring and quite stressful first week. But now, with each passing day, we are feeling progressively more up to the challenge.
We live in a comfortable one-bedroom unit in a compound with six units in all. The other people living here
Late Afternoon Cycling near Dodoma
Don't tangle with the trees in the background. They have long and very nasty thorns. The boys in the background just appeared and were interested in being in the picture. They were very impressed with the digital camera. are teachers from England, Australia and New Zealand who also teach at CAMS. It is about a ten-minute walk from home to the school. Our compound has a 24-hour guard to keep an eye on things and although during the day it is quite safe for us to move around the community and the town on foot or on a bicycle, we do not go out after dark unless we are in a motor vehicle. Even then, after dark we would only drive in town and would not drive on any of the roads or the highway.
As we look ahead to future blog entries we will try to rise to the challenge of painting a picture of this place and our lives here. At this point it seems impossible to describe - the feeling of the sun in the heat of the day, the apparent chaos of the market, the bargaining that goes on whenever you buy something, being the object of curiosity, the smells, the resourcefulness of the people, the dusty dryness everywhere. There is a wonderful gritty reality about this place that we are looking forward to living in and learning about as our life here
Alistair Clears the Way For the Cattle
We had to clear the trail for a sizable herd of goats and cattle, most of which had passed by the time the picture was taken. unfolds.
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Diane
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Congratulations!
You made it, safe and sound! Already this looks like the biggest adventure of a life time to me. The pictures tell a story all by themselves. Keep them coming. Stay safe and learn lots! Diane