We arrived in the country about a week ago and are well on our way of settling down. Trying to give an explanation of what Tanzania appears to be is quite difficult. The rich are rich and the poor are truly poor. I have not being able to locate a clear middle-class yet. The climate is hot and humid (even though we’re living through the coldest time of the year), lots of smily faces, lots of noises, lots of scents and smells, lots of colours. Its amazing how bad of a condition the roads are here. I’d imagine it would be easier for me to drive through my Grandpa’s old fields than to the parking lots of the local market places.
The orienatation for work has begun a good pace. We have managed to go through much, but so much more is yet to be learned. We have not had the time to begin our language studies yet, but hopefully we’ll find time after the orientation phase. Soon, we’ll be doing some travelling as we hit the field to visit some local project workers, a few pre-schools and youth centres and one teacher training college. At the moment, the locations to visit during the next few weeks are Mwanza, Shinyanga, Shinkida, Korokwe and Zanzibar Island. We attend the Dar es Salaam City Church which is gathers in the Amana youth centre. There, the meetings are held in two languages and, as is customary, the people are very friendly.
After a little difficulty in the beginning, Benjamin has managed to cope with the local climate. The airconditioned roomes help his sleeping. Sirkku has had a very nostalgic time here in Dar and has already managed to locate the best places for food shopping. Yesterday, she accidentally met her old school-mate, Aisha. Retrieving our air cargo has proven to be quite challenging. Here, bureacracy and corruption walk hand-in-hand. Hopefully, we’ll get the cargo soon, because we’re already running low on clothes, diapers and other stuff. As soon as we settle in a little more we’ll try to hook up Skype and Messenger. The internet works here, from time to time, but not very fast. Have a blessed summer!
Danny
