Dar es Salaam!

One thing that I have realized since arriving in Dar es Salaam earlier this week is that a slow internet connection is almost the same thing as no internet connection when it comes to encouraging timely blog posts. Before the clock runs out on my time in Dar es Salaam though (and before my arrival in an entirely new and unfamiliar region eclipses my memories and impressions of my third stay in Dar…), I decided to bite the slow internet bullet and post this update. So, starting from the beginning:

Tuesday, July 1
After spending approximately 34 hours in transit (43 if you count the trip from Pittsburgh) (and what felt like that many hours arguing with airline representatives about the flight they had charged me for but not booked me on … grrrr), I finally arrived in Dar es Salaam. Since the trip had started with the airline “losing” my reservation on the flight from Dubai to Dar, it was only fitting (in a full-circle kind of way) that the trip ended with the airline temporarily losing one of my bags. Luckily, the organization I’m working with (more on them later) had gotten the message about the change in my flight itinerary (thanks again dad and Aili!), so getting from the airport to where I’m staying in Dar was wonderfully uncomplicated. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been happier to see a bed (and that’s saying a lot coming from me!) – not surprisingly, I was asleep within minutes :-)

Wednesday, July 2
Wednesday morning started off with a quick breakfast and then I was whisked off to the TCRS office by Odillo (one of the TCRS-Dar employees). My introduction to the Dar office started out as a whirlwind of introductions (I had met the Programmes Officer, Adam, the night before when he picked me up from the airport, but now I also knew Allan (the Technical Coordinator), Bwana Mbunda (Administration Coordinator), Teddy Deo (Refugee Coordinator & Counseling), Suzy (Project Accountant), Taskazee, Beatrice, and several others whose names have slipped my mind…). After the initial flurry, things settled back down as everyone else got back to work and as I familiarized myself with TCRS by way of their two most recent annual reports. For those of you who have been wondering what exactly it is that I’ll be doing, well, I still don’t have a definitive answer for you. I can, however, give you an idea of what exactly TCRS is and does.

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The Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service was founded in 1964 by the Lutheran World Foundation in order to provide emergency relief to refugees and refugee camps. Over time, the organization has expanded to include development initiatives, such that its stated “vision” is now empowered communities living in a just democratic society, united in diversity and enjoying quality of life and God-given dignity, while its “mission” states that it is committed to reducing suffering and poverty by empowering vulnerable, marginalized, and displaced communities in Tanzania to achieve self-reliance and sustainable development.

TCRS devotes a considerable portion of its energies on refugee support, especially in Kibondo (which is where I’ll be working). Due to repatriation efforts, there is only one refugee camp in the area that remains in use (three others have closed in recent years). In addition to continuing to facilitate the repatriation efforts, TCRS provides support to the nearly 43,000 residents in Nduta Camp. The forms this support takes really run the gamut: from supplying food, water, shelter, and sanitation to providing primary, secondary, and vocational education; from encouraging agricultural and environmental related training to supporting income generating projects; from promoting HIV/Aids awareness to working with FilmAid to organize movie viewing throughout the year.

Outside of Kibondo, TCRS also has projects in the Old Settlements (communities of hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania during the 1972 genocide) and in Dar es Salaam (where in addition to refugee assistance, they also work with media outlets to promote refugee advocacy). In keeping with the ideas of “tujiwezeshe” (let’s empower ourselves) and “usimpe mtu samaki, bali mfundishe kuvua samaki” (the familiar proverb about teaching a man to fish rather than giving him the fish), TCRS also has initiated community empowerment projects in Karagwe, Kibondo, Kigoma Rural, Kilwa, Kishapu, Morogoro, and Ngara.

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Later that afternoon, Chande (another TCRS-Dar employee) drove me to the airport, an errand that was productive two times over since I retrieved my missing bag and was pleasantly surprised to discover that I had retained enough of my Swahili to be able to chat pretty comfortably with him. Finished with “business” for the day, I returned to my temporary home, a wonderful pseudo-hotel/hostel run by the Passionist Fathers. I hesitate to call it a hotel, because it feels homier than that, but I do have my own room with a bathroom attached and there are a number of other guests staying in other rooms. While I’m not sure if you’d call it a hotel, hostel, bed & breakfast, or something else, I am sure that it’s wonderful! And by wonderful, I mean: air-conditioned, clean, free (albeit slow) wireless, full of friendly and interesting guests, and delicious food J There are two priests who live here – Father Aloysius (Tanzanian) and Father Ricardo (Italian) – and perhaps due to the Italian influence (I think the Passionist Fathers are affiliated with the Italian church, although I’m not positive), the meals are delicious! Breakfast is usually Tanzanian style (i.e. – British), whereas dinner errs more along Italian lines … pasta, minestrone soup, etc. – as an added bonus, all the main dishes (at least so far) have been vegetarian! (I promise not to wax poetic about every meal I eat over the course of the next year … it’s just that food that isn’t fried or in the beans & rice family is quite a treat!)

While eating dinner Wednesday night, I made the acquaintance of Naomi, a little pixie of a six year-old who responded to her father’s suggestion that she not chatter quite so much by turning to me, motioning to the space between her and her father, and saying “I wish there was a wall right here.” Faced with her mischievous smile and adorable accent, I couldn’t hold my laughter in, which effectively won me Naomi’s approval and by the end of the meal, I’d learnt all about her sisters, brother, newly adopted brothers, and pet chickens, exchanged thoughts on favorite foods and other lofty subjects, and had been invited to her birthday party in August. Talking to Naomi’s father was also interesting (although perhaps not quite as amusing) – although originally from New Zealand, their family had lived in Tanzania for the past twelve years working with a NGO, which I found pretty amazing (it’s a little hard for me to imagine one year here, let alone 12!).

Thursday, July 3
I had promised Naomi that we’d eat breakfast together, so my day started out great and just kept getting better. After breakfast, I found my way to the university, where I met up with Annie (a good friend from Princeton who was also in Dar last summer). We spent the better part of the day hanging out and catching up, then stopped by English class at Mwenge. I was surprised and delighted to find out that a number of my Group 1 students had “graduated” to Group 2 … and it was just a lot of fun to get to see everyone again. As an added bonus, I got to hang out after class with Bahati and Katie, two friends from my January visit – I hadn’t been sure that I’d get a chance see them, so that was really nice.

Saturday, July 5
Aside from signing my contract at the office on Friday and another excellent dinner with the Fathers, the 4^th was pretty uneventful. Saturday, however, was anything but … I met up with Annie and some of the Princeton in Dar summer students early in the morning, and we all went to Kipepeo Beach on Kigamboni peninsula together. The sky was a bit overcast when we arrived, but it turned out to be perfect beach weather – the brief rain coincided perfectly with lunch and the sun eventually came out but wasn’t too strong. It was fun getting to spend some time with this year’s group of Princeton students … obviously I’m a bit biased toward last year’s gang, but I have to admit that these guys seemed like they were almost as much fun as us :-) We left the beach around 3 and set out for the (belated) 4^th of July party at the American Embassy. Visiting the embassy in Dar is always a little surreal (it almost seems more like Florida than Africa!), but it is even more so on American holidays … the whole place was decked out in red, white, and blue; the games included a dunking booth, tug-o-war, and sack races; hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, coleslaw, and ice cream were the dinner/dessert options; and there were fireworks to the tune of the 1812 overture and “I’m Proud to be an American!”

Sunday, July 6
There isn’t much to write about Sunday since the day isn’t over yet (and since I’m not really planning on doing much aside from blog updating and repacking my bags). I met some new guests at breakfast this morning and (true to form) they (Brigit and Peter) were just as fascinating to talk to as everyone else I’ve met here. They’re Swiss anthropologists who have been coming to Tanzania for various projects for the last twenty years, the most recent ones being research on the lives of elderly people and a historical project on healthcare in Africa. I’m heading to Kibondo finally tomorrow (hence the bag repacking), so tonight will definitely be an early night … I have to leave for the airport at 4am! Then, as long as everything goes smoothly (I have to take a commercial flight to Mwanza and then a flight on a smaller UNHCR plane to Kibondo), I’ll be in Kibondo Monday afternoon :-)