Planned Planning

Weather: Has been glorious, last week stepped out of my office and whoosh, HOT and humid, just like that. There goes winter.

Swahili Word of the Week: Mukutano- Meeting

Special Shout Out: Vive La France, Enjoy the French Party. Wish I was there with you. I hope no one ends up with cheese in their underwear!
Rita, loved the card and photos, I have them pasted around my house, Thank You!

Planned Planning

When I was about 18 and Heather was 16 we watched a show that stated that a common similarity between successful people is they have a life goals list. It may be in a book, scrap of paper on simply in their head but as they go through life they are moving towards solid and set goals. We proceeded to write our own goals list, and we still check in once in awhile to see how we are doing. A nice ritual I enjoy and it does help define my somewhat nebulous life.

Life goals are one thing, but what about country goals, continent goals and world goals? It is easy to set a goal to climb a mountain, it is something else to say you are going to lower child mortality rate by a certain percent in a certain time frame. Millennium Development Goals have been set and 2015 is quickly approaching. Unfortunately I think will not all be met. There are many theories on why aid and Africa has not worked for the last 30 years. I do not even begin to believe I would know the answer to this burning question, but I do see on small scales projects that are successful and many that are not and like the life goals of successful people, the similarity that I commonly see is planning.

I have been working in the hospital on Fridays. It’s a highlight to my week and makes my office work seem more worthwhile because it reminds me why I am doing this. Right now I am simply orienting in the hospital, in anticipation of students arriving in November, when I will become their clinical instructor. Orienting to the hospital is the BEST. You have no true responsibilities so if I am in the ED and I see a woman come in with her bowels hanging out I follow her into the trauma room, or I can simply sit with a patient and hold his hand. You get to nurse because your job isn’t doing the 50 other things that nurses do, its simply nursing the patient. But back to planning! The ED is a swanky new one, sponsored by a US company. The contractor who put it together, I am sure, thought he was doing a good job. The problem was planning. The IV tubing does not fit the peripheral IV’s so both are useless. Batteries in the machines are not rechargeable so most sit without being used because they are all dead. Staff (especially nurses) weren’t trained to use the new equipment so much of it sits unused. Sustainability is the big buzz word in aid right now, but as cliché as it is. It is essential to plan well so that the time and effort and resources are utilized well not just now but for years to come. Yet sometimes the best laid plans don’t work as well. Plans need to change to the environment, culture, and setting. A plan built in a vacuum that is unchanging I believe is worse than no planning at all.

The lack of planning does not just come with aid agencies, the Tanzanian government is just as much to blame. No infrastructure planning, no city planning, buildings are going up all over the place. Still worse IS the plan to build a gigantic highway through the Serengeti; environmentalists are saying the migration will never be the same. Not planning for the future.

It probably has not made international news here but we are all gearing up for the election on October 31st. As most African Countries can attest to, we know our winners already. CCM is the leading party. I was surprised at their lack of confidence of a win (contrary to what everyone tells me on the street), there lack of confidence has shown itself by the party pasting green and yellow EVERYWHERE. Every billboard, sign, poster is CCM. Not only that, though this is good planning, CCM somehow made it legal to tack on a 10% fee to every, I mean every, phone call or text message. Profits go directly to the CCM party. You have to subscribe out of it. I cried that’s illegal to my work colleague Stella, she laughed and said who do you think made it legal?

It is not all gloom and doom here though. Some of us are planning well! After planning to get chickens for months (on the life goals list, tick), and having an empty coop for months, they have finally arrived. Moja, Mbile, Tatu and Nne (1, 2, 3, 4 in Kiswahili). I am off to do nursing school site visits crossing almost ½ of TZ by road this upcoming week to make it back in time for Halloween party in Dar. Mum is arriving in November with lots of exciting activities planned, and finally Heather making it out in January. Hip, Hip Hooray.

Skills labs are getting placed in nursing schools in January, Mum and Mediae Trust have donated masses of textbooks to 3 nursing schools which they are in dire need of. And an Image of Nursing Media Workgroup in November and our curricula developments are well under way. Its all go, go, go!

Connections and Communication

Swahili Word of the Week: Kwanza Kalima- Farmers Fest, Nane Nane- literal translation 8 8, or Aug 8, date for Kwanza Kalima.

Weather In Dodoma; Arid, Dusty and Biridi Sana at night.

Special Shout Out: Happy Birthday Little Viv!

Connections and Communication

This past weekend our team traveled up to Dodoma to celebrate national farmers day. It was a huge event covering 400 acres. It was seriously quite a spectacle, similar to a county fair but African Style (lions on display, roasted goat meat on a stick etc.). We went because we were supporting the Tanzania National Nurse Association who set up a booth to check random blood sugars. The Tanzanian Ministry of Health set up a “city” of health in the middle of nowhere complete with blood donation, dentistry, ophthalmology, pediatrics, cervical cancer screening, sugar checks, mobile lab, HIV screening. It was very impressive, so much so, that they won the overall Prize when competing with all the other Ministry’s (including the Ministry of beekeeping, YES beekeeping). When traveling up there it went through my head, “what was the point of many, many top level officials taking the entire week off”, not to mention the prep time to travel to the middle of the country to stand in a field under a tent to talk about their work. I have learned living here though that often my perspective, judgment and preconceived notions are wrong, and yup I was wrong again…

Communication here is different. There is the obvious; that a greeting will often go on for 3-5 minutes. Hello, Whats the News? News is good. How is your Home? My home is fine. How is your work? My work is fine. Is business good? Yes, business is good. Are you here? Yes I am here. (this is my favorite, though it is better in Swahili- Upo- Are you there? Nipo- I’m here!). This is done with almost everyone you meet. It is considered rude to pass someone and not at least ask how the news is.

Then there is the subtle communications that I blatantly butcher and am just forgiven because I am a visitor. When someone comes to your house you say Karibu-Welcome. And then you go and get them juice. Instead I would welcome them and ask if they wanted chai, water, juice, soda etc. In Tanzania this is considered rude as I am showing off with all that I have to offer. I learned this the hard way.

Communication is also key with work and getting tasks accomplished. Email is very rarely an effective way of communication. I send them and they go into a black hole with about 10% getting a response. Internet and electricity are luxuries that are often not consistent enough to rely on. Cell phones are everywhere and most Tanzanians carry at least 3 if not 4. Why? Because the networks are much cheaper to call from the same network. If someone is on Zain, I will call them using my Zain phone. Makes life very complicated.

Face to face time is the best and accomplishes the most. After working the developed world there is something endearing about doing business face to face. You don’t misinterpret what someone says (like in an email), you can cover a lot in one meeting and finally you really form a relationship with someone. In Tanzania relationships are key, if you have a relationship with someone the job gets done, if you don’t, it doesn’t. This brings me back to Kulima Kwanza. The amount of networking, sharing of information and meeting of the minds at this festival was evident and more got accomplished then I could have imagined.

Our Nurses collected 300 pints of blood, checked 810 blood sugars (with 20% being referred to treatment!). I also was lucky enough to meet the president and discuss nursing in Tanzania! Unfortunately, as you will witness in the photo, I was wearing quite the outfit to try and avoid the sun, wind, dust storms but oh well so was he; a plaid jacket, neon green polo and white hat. Please don’t report either of us to the fashion police.

Miss you all.

Signing Out from Dar…

Patience and Patients

Swahili Word of the Week: Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka- Hurry, Hurry has no blessings

Weather: Mild, Breezy with the occasional shower.

Special Shout Out: Danny and Lynn- I am so excited!

Patience and Patients

As you grow older you begin to realize your traits and how hard they are to change. My thirties have been a time where I have learned to love myself for all my faults, pet peeves and idiosyncrasies. That being said, I know I am not a patient person. I turn into the evil lady who hates children when they kick my seat on the airplane. I will become mkali (fiery) at the taxi driver that does not take the jam free way home and don’t get me started in waiting in non-moving queues.

It is amazing that I have chosen to spend the following year in a country where every phrase seems to relate to the fact that going slowly or taking time is rewarded where haste and speed is considered reckless. I am looking at it as life test, at times it pushes me to the edge of sanity as I try to use logic to resolve issues. There is a different type of logic here but in its own way, it’s a beautiful and endearing quality of tanzanians. Their patience appears to be endless. I try and focus on this rather than the annoyed and impatient voice in my head that starts an inner dialogue on how this could be run so much more efficiently. Tanzanians appear not to get angry or frustrated. I have not seen road rage, middle fingers or swear words even though the traffic is some of the worst I have experienced (though they do like their horns). They wait in hot, disorganized lines without complaining and will chat away as my frustration builds and builds. I obviously have much to still learn.

This weekend I was lucky enough to get to ZIFF- Zanzibar International Film Festival. There were some great films, lots of live music and a great atmosphere. On Saturday afternoon I headed north to Kendwa in search of white sand and turquoise waters; I was not disappointed. We took up a Chai Maharage (translates literally to “tea and beans” because you sit on benches in the back of a pickup truck facing each other, similar to when you sit across from the ladies who sell you tea and beans for breakfast!) which when I asked the conductor how long it would take, was nicely surprised when he answered 50 minutes- 1 hour tops. Two hours later I kicked myself for believing him, when I asked my friend why the man had said an hour was told “it was to keep you warm” ie he gave me an answer I wanted to hear. The journey was only about 50km on a relatively good road. “Why?” you ask, did it take so long to go that far. Well quite simply in the fact that the driver stopped about every 100ft to pick up or drop off a passenger. This was infuriating to me. We would pick up a passenger and then get going only to stop within easy walking distance to drop off someone else (and of course each person getting on/off would have bananas, children, sewing machine, spare tire etc.). Meanwhile there were nicely placed blue signs in appropriate areas of the road saying “Bus Stop”; No one stood at those. After about 20km of stops and starts I had started to lose my cool and asked why people didn’t gather at the bus stops or at least in a couple central locations in each village. The reply I got was “This is Zanzibar”, I guess that is an answer I can’t really argue with.

After a fabulous weekend away, I returned to my new house newly furnished. On average my furniture arrived about 2 weeks late per piece. I would call everyday to see progress after the deadline for completion had passed. Each day I was told “Kesho Dada”- Tomorrow Sister, again it was so I stayed “warm”.

I am happy to say after a good 6 months I am now officially a TZ nurse and will be volunteering at the national hospital. I have missed my clinical practice and am so looking forward to working with patients, especially here. Patients here have a completely different outlook on medical care. It is a privilege, one that they will wait for hours and days to experience. The national hospital here has patients on the ground, outside on gurneys for hours and dead bodies often in the halls for hours til they are finally transported to the morgue by overworked and understaffed employees. When going in to get my ID card, I passed through a medical ward. I stepped over a patient who was breathing about 32 times a minute. For the non nurses out there, respiration rates are generally between 14-14 times a minutes. In the US this person would be sitting up, oxygen applied and most likely having breathing treatments. This lovely girl was instead of the floor, flat on her back looking very uncomfortable, but not complaining and waiting patiently until the nurse could attend to her. The nurse was frantically looking after another patient that was worse off than this one.

Work has been amazingly hectic, but with that it means we are moving forward nicely. How exciting! My place has spare room so if anyone needs a vacation, Karibu.

Are you happy to be back?

Swahili Word of the Week: Nitarudi- I have returned

Weather: Glorious, light breeze, sunshine, low humidity and a cool 28 C. Perfect Beach weather, definitely where I am headed this weekend.

Special Shout Out: Oh so many this week…
Ellen- you are a legend in packing, how I couldn’t have done without you.
Dad- Flying up to SF meant so much and who would have thought we would get our mountain of a to do list done and still get to Swans!
Heather- Thanks for flying all the way from NY to see me, loved our Epic Trip and yes there will always be the Tiburon
Kate- Hostess with the mostest
Nons and Si- Awesome dinner party
Mum-Love the London Time, Oliver!, camera and the skirt!
Chloe- my birthday card from you is officially the best I have ever gotten, thanks for the laughs
And everyone else was amazing too, thanks for making home such a great place to come home too.



Are you happy to be back?

I have to say it was with some trepidation that I returned back to SF to finalize the move to Dar. Moving out of Hoffman seemed like cutting the last tie and I was worried upon return, that I would realize I had made a decision that was not right for me. Although it was great to see everyone and everything, the trip home confirmed that at least for the next year, the decision to stay here is a good one.

I was able to visit both my old hospital floors in SF, and although I miss bedside nursing tremendously and miss my patient interactions, I came to realize that it will always be there. I have a chance to affect change on a large scale here in Tanzania and I am going to remain focused and motivated on that thought.

Making it back to SF, SB and London was such a treat. If you ever need an ego boost moving out of the country is a good way to get one. I got a lot of ‘is it good to be back?’, ‘are you having culture shock?’ etc. And yes it was good to be back and no I didn’t really have culture shock. I have had it before; going into Whole Foods on the first day I got back probably wasn’t the wisest choice but it wasn’t as bad as I have had it in the past. Maybe because I am getting used to the to and fro or maybe I have become jaded (hopefully not). Similarly, when I got back to Dar I was greeted with a Hero’s welcome. Not just because I was bearing gifts, but a true welcome ‘home’.

Many of the nurses were happy to have me back and gave me a little pump up for the slog ahead. I wanted to share the following email, not because he sings my praises, but because I really believe people here are doing such great work with limited resources. We need to remember that sometimes recognition can be reward enough.



Hi Alice!

I am very happy that you are now back to Tanzania.
I thank God that your trip was wonderfully and you traveled all the
way safely.
Thank you very much for appreciating what we are doing here at Kiomboi,
you have impressed my heart,for me is enough just knowing that there is somebody somewhere
who real recognize our work.For sure i tell you Alice,we do a lot of important things
here but few people do recognize.
I have got an information also that you have brought some books,thank you so much.
This library is real helping us and our students too, although Hospital staff members are not
yet motivated to use our library but I believe one day it will be of great important to them too.
Thanks also for the fund and every thing.
Your welcome once again here at Kiomboi and see the progress.

With Humbleness


I am not normally a promotor, but I discovered a great organization for those that want to support African and Global Nurses http://www.grettafoundation.org/

Asante Sana

Uuguzi huleta afya...Nurses bring health!

Swahili Word of the Week: Uuguzi huleta afya...Nurses bring health!

Weather: It is perfect. Blue skies, Upepo season has arrived and it is lovely. Breezes, sun and clear air. I love it!

Special Shout Out: Thank for all the birthday wishes and cards. Made my birthday season!

Nurses in Tanzania

So as I prepare for my trip home (YIPPEEE) I contemplate my time here so far. Last week was a very nice summation of what amazing experiences I have had so far. I had a superb birthday and then traveled upcountry to do site visits on our libraries that we have place in VERY rural areas. This gave me an opportunity to see some of the work that we are accomplishing.

A wise woman once told me (thank you kate campell) about the lollypop theory. Bedside nursing, although very hard work ,generally gives you a little lollypop at the end of each shift. When you walk out of an exhausting 12 hour shift, there is generally at least one thing that you did well and had a positive affect on a patient. The work I do now does not have this immediate gratification, but hopefully in time there will be a huge lollypop that will make up for all the little lollypops I am missing being away from bedside nursing.

Last week I got to have a quick lick of this larger lollypop. After traveling for 2 full days up to Singida I arrived at a nursing school in very remote Tanzania. Although, very minimalist compared to developed nation standards, they are churning out good nurses. What was amazing was the dedication of these nursing students. There were 265 enrolled nursing students, most of them were 18 years old. Very shy, polite and dressed in pink pinafores. The school had a total of 4 nurse tutors for all 265 students. No skills lab and a very, very outdated library. The capacity of the school was 120 students. This meant that all students shared a twin bed. Dorms were set up with two bunk beds so in a 12 x 8 room there were 8 nursing students. Yet when I arrived, they greeted me with shy smile and told me how much they enjoyed and appreciated their new Mobile Library; As did their exhausted and overworked tutors.

We continued on through to 4 more nursing schools and met an amazing third generation Norwegian MD TZ resident whose grandfather was a Dr in TZ in the 1950’s, as was his father and now he is the medical director. They were running an amazing hospital in the middle of nowhere. People travelled from miles around. The tribes around the area are very primitive, I saw my first tribe members with facial scarring. Beautiful. The nursing students here were also amazing. I met with the 3rd year leadership students. As part of leadership they are assigned different school tasks. Some were assigned to the kitchen and as part of the leadership class had just slaughtered a cow (only in Africa moment). These nursing students are entering jobs where they generally have 30 patients, they are underpaid, not respected and very overworked. They share beds, books and uniforms in order to get through nursing school. It makes me proud to be a nurse because nurses are a dedicated and amazing breed.

The trip was grueling on awful roads. I was physically sore from being jostled around for 8 hours a day in the back of the car. My life flashed before my eyes at least three times. Once when a daladala stopped short in the middle of the road. The driver had me in stitches when he stated that “DalaDala drivers are all born from the same father.” This is so true. Every country you go to DalaDala drivers all drive too fast, play their music too loud, stop in inconvenient places and have no regard to anyone else on the road. My second life flash moment happened as we were traveling down from Arusha. We came upon a quite spectacular crash where 4 Lorries had collided. Two being petrol tankers. One exploded, the other lay on its side with about 200 people crowded around it with Jerry cans. I asked the driver why and he said the driver of the Lorry would charge the people to fill up the Jerry can to empty the truck. I guess the nearest petrol station was a few 100 km away so it was door to door service for most of these people. It does make you wonder if the money ever makes it back to the petrol company though, and the safety of emptying fuel in the bush out of a crashed tanker with an exploded tanker a few hundred meters away, hmmmmmm.

Food for thought
Tanzanian nurses comprise over 60% of thehealthcare workforce
By 2020 they will only have 50% of the nurses they need (at the rate their producing nurses)
The average age of a nurse tutor in TZ is 55.

the affair

Weather- The rain is here, seriously. It has not stopped in three days, there are floods everywhere and the city is a sodden mess.

Swahili Word of the Week: Nakupenda- I love you

Special Shout Out: Happy Birthday DAD! You are hands down the best dad in the world and I love you so…

The Affair

No, for all you expecting juicy details about a lover, alas the affair is with TZ not with a man.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a lovely birthday party last week where we chartered a 120 foot, 100 year old schooner. She was a true beauty, many G & T’s at sunset, delicious dinner and then dancing under the star all in the Indian Ocean. LOVELY. While on the boat I met a lovely soul, she and I philosophized about life in TZ. She had read a book called the four stages of culture shock. She thought moving to a foreign country (especially a developing one) was like a relationship. The first three months were the honeymoon period, everything is exotic, new and exciting. The second three months you are settling in, you become comfortable and enjoy it. The third stage you hate everything. The traffic, the noise, the fumes, how slow everything moves and that takes you to the fourth stage. This is where you are truly comfortable. You see the good, bad and the ugly but you take it all in and live your life happily. For those of you that don’t know I have decided to stay for a year. It seems only fair that I make it to stage 4 so I am going to give it a try, though seriously, the project I am working on needs a person on the ground, I am learning a lot and I am liking this shake up of my life a bit. I am so far following the plan and have moved nicely into stage 2, not looking forward to stage three.

I have become to analyze Tanzania in this affair I am having with her. The rain has come this week and it seems to have washed away all the masks and bandages Tanzania wears; she is now showing herself with all her wounds and vulnerabilities. The rain has been incessant and with it has come chaos. Tanzania is stuck between desperately trying to become a modern nation while having little of the infrastructure, governmental support and planning to get it there. I will use traffic as an example because it rules your life here. Tanzania (at least Dar) has a middle class that can afford to buy cars. The roads were built when Dar was a city of 1-2 million, we are now close to 6 million. Roads have not been improved, the public transportation is not really public, it is uncomfortable and not consistent. Finally the ministers don’t have to deal with the traffic. You see them block huge amounts of roads so that they can drive their black Mercedes through the traffic while the rest of us pay dearly for the roads being cleared. Traffic is AWFUL but the rain has taken it to a whole new level. Dar roads functions barely in the sun, with the rain and the floods it stops, literally. Yesterday it took me 3 hours to go 25km. Huge surges of people marched along the roads with water up to their knees, there is no drainage, the dirt roads now have 3-5 foot puddles, taxi’s, dala dalas and pedestrians try desperately to get around. The lack of traffic laws that are always in place (quote from my taxi driver “I don’t worry about traffic lights, no one is going to stop me anyway) seem to become anarchy in the rain. Gridlocks like I have never seen were in every junction. I have to say that I was a little smug when I biked to my local Indian store, talked on the phone for an hour, shopped, ate some dhal and then returned and the same cars were in the intersection. Go Bikes. But it is sad that Tanzania is stuck and I hate to say it but I do not see a solution happening anytime soon. It has made me appreciate urban planning. That being said, they say true love is loving something for its faults, wounds and vulnerabilities. Even after my long traffic days, a quick bike around my neighborhood let me witness my community building stepping stones through newly formed lakes. My local chip seller took my hand so I could balance on them as I marched across. This made me smile and fall in love all over again.

Job is going very well. Started on some new activities, working with many nurse leaders on curriculum development, working on a national standardized HIV course for all tutors and looking into placing skills labs in the nursing schools (right now nurse students practice their first skills on their patients, YOUCH!)

Life, Friends and Cheese

Swahili Word of the Week: Safari Njema- safe travels

Weather: Cooler and the rains have arrived. Torrential downpours that last 20-30 minutes, flooding streets, and making for the walk home in flip flops a laundry nightmare. All my clothes have mud specks flipped up the back.

Special Shout Out: Mum and Ronnie. Thanks for the mail. Such a treat to get good old snail mail. I loved it!


Life, Friends and Cheese

Coming up to my 3-month anniversary in Dar and Tanzanian (April 23rd) I have had a little flashback to my early days and also a flash forward to life that is. On first arrival I was taken in by TZ’s kindness, change of pace and exoticness. Now three months down the line I have become more blasé and lost a bit of perspective of how life is different here. I have got into a somewhat routine. I have made friends, I can fill my time quite easily. I understand my job, I feel that I am doing a good job and work well with all my colleagues.
This week we had a mobile library training for our librarian managers and librarian assistants. My perspective on time, as I mentioned before, has been taking a beating. Things move so slowly here! A training that should be one day is 5 (though I got it shortened to two). I am keeping my fingers crossed that librarians will be up and running when I do site visits in 1 month (both are around a 16 hour bus ride away, lord help me!)

In essence, I have become very comfortable here and ultimately happy. I have become used to power outages, that generally 9 out of the 10 channels on TV are in Swahili, that crossing the road is a Russian roulette every time, that I am constantly damp with sweat, that buying produce is either from the guy on the bicycle with baskets on the back piled high with veggies and fruits OR men on the sidewalk with small piles of tomatoes, chilis, peppers, eggplant or lychees. I am used to no cheese.

Nothing like a little trip to change some perspectives. Last weekend I went up to Nairobi and then Nanyuki for a visit with my African Family. For those that haven’t heard the stories of how my parents met the de Boers and the Campbell/Duckworth clans, ask me sometime. It is a bookworthy story. I am blessed to have them out here and they showed me a weekend to remember. It was so nice to be among people who knew me well, to be able to relax, let my hair down and be. In previous visits to Nairobi I had seen at as an African city, with its busyness, street stalls and traffic. After living in Dar it was suddenly a Mecca. They had coffee shops! With real coffee! Nakumatt grocery that sold everything under the sun! Thump bought me blender, my cooking life in Dar will forever be changed. And Fi took me shopping for all sorts of excitement including a fitted sheet so I won’t wake up twisted in a flat sheet with my face pasted to my polyester mattress. It was a haven of excitement. I was lucky to be able to go birding with expert, hike up parts of Mt Kenya with gorgeous views, clean air and great conversations (and see a cool chameleon), play tennis and have some lovely conversations and laughs with friends. Coming back to Dar from Nairobi took another adjustment. But coming back was nice, when I walked in the door it was good to be “home”. Not only that, I imported a shocking amount of cheese from Nairobi, this paired with the box of wine that I constantly have chilled in my fridge gave me great excitement this week after coming home for work. Can you overdose on cheese? I don’t know, but if you don’t hear from me in awhile you’ll know why!

Happy Birthday Heather!

Masai at Kigamboni South Beach-My fave Dar beach

Frangapani- so delicious smelling

Looking hot and bothered with my bike sale, the bike on the left black should be mine tomorrow I hope.

Trials and Tribulations

Weather: We had a break and had two days below 28 C, Wooohoooo.

News: I will be in California from May 21-June 16th!

Swahili Word of the Week: Kiti Kidogo- bribe payment

Special Shout Out: Happy Birthday Kara, Ellen and Heather!

Well, maybe because I just wrote a 23 page proposal, or I was sick or ?? but the writing is not flowing as free this week. I realized that after reading my last few blogs I have painted a very rosy picture of Tanzania. Which is true and I do love it but any who has been here knows that there are definite frustrations, idiosyncrasies and pitfalls when living in a developing country. I highlight a few just so you know it is not all kindness, glamorous and lovely out here ALL the time. Giving you a more realistic picture but hopefully not too negative too.

Last night I went to a lecture on dynamite fishing in Tanzania. Tanzania is one of only two countries (the other is the Philippines) in the world that has a rampant dynamite fishing problem. Although it is illegal and punishable by a 3 year mandatory prison sentence, as you can see in this video it is blatantly going on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uv109P2vyg. Dynamite fishing kills coral reefs, fish, turtles and marine life. They use homemade dynamite made out of fertilizer that costs about $5. There are many lives and livelihoods lost through accidents (there are two men who now are working to fight dynamite fishing after having both lost both their hands from dynamite accidents!). The lecture was given by a man working for the WWF who has been working on this project for 4 years and to quote him “has made no progress what so ever.” The reason is because the dynamite fishers have become like the mafia. They use scare tactics to stop locals reporting them, they pay into a joint fund that pays off police men, magistrates, ministers. Out of 97 arrests, 37 prosecutions not ONE person went to prison even though the law states that it is a 3 year sentence…

I highlight this as it illustrates some of the frustrations of working here, often the best thought efforts fail miserably because of the core of corruption and Kiti Kidogos.

Things move at a different pace here. Often, this pace is very pleasant and necessary. When I first arrived I was walking down the street and a man approached me and said “What is wrong, do you need help” I answered “No, why do you think I need help?” “Because you are walking so fast, I thought you must be in trouble!” I was walking at my SF pace, which very much differs then the Dar pace. I have realized the pace makes sense because of the heat. But some things move frustratingly slow. Meetings for example do not start until the guest of honor arrives. Normally 1-2 hours late, is it a power thing? I don’t know but can be quite irritating. Meetings do have some nice qualities though. They love their pashas and icebreakers here. Pashas are where you give support to someone who has a good idea, has done a presentation etc. A pasha begins with rubbing your hands together to make them warm and prepare them for the clap which can be simple moja, mbile, tatu (1,2, 3) or very elaborate including ugali making, feet stomping, snapping fingers! Icebreakers are great too. My favorite is when they make your write your name with your hips. Looking around at meetings filled with people doing pelvic thrusts definitely breaks up the monotony and can make waiting for a guest of honor almost worth it.

In conclusion I have been compiling a quick list of only in Africa moments… Though not nearly complete I though you might like a glimpse of what has been brewing.

1. Note on an internet café window. Sorry No Internet Here
2. Meeting interrupted. My CDC presentation was interrupted when a gecko decided to warm up on the lens of the LCD projector
3. A friend asked about how I made chapatti, “I don’t know how to make chapatti” I answered. “What, No Chapati, how is that possible?”
4. Huge skyscrapers going up in central Dar, with absolutely no parking? And they wonder why there is traffic that takes 3 hours to go 10 miles?
5. My Bajaj (moped taxi) breaking down on my ride home, getting pushed the rest of the way (a good mile) because he didn’t want to lose my fare.
6. Realizing that as my Swahili gets better my vegetables bought from the market are getting cheaper. Coincidence? I think not!

7. Other than Mukatano Junction, TV in TZ is abominable. I missed the oscars BUT got really excited when my Hollywood Hotspot started with an Oscar overview. My heart sank when they said this years best picture went to Slumdog Millionaire.
8. They have 8 different types of Mangoes.
9. Although they grow massive amounts of Coffee in TZ all you can get here is instant africafe, a tragedy!
10. Watched a Spanish Christmas film in Chinese with English subtitles, what what!

Kindness

Weather: Hot, humid… I might have to change this segment as it never seems to really change. I am promised a monsoon ‘season’. I’ll believe it when I see it. I think I have lost 5 kg of weigh from sweating alone.

Swahili word of the week: Karibu- it means welcome. They say it so much here it is almost overused, yet it is not, because it is 100% sincere, every time! A rarity in this world, at this time.

Special Shout Out: Congrats Frank and Theresa for getting Married. YAY!

Tanzania is known as being an island of peace. Not because it is an island (duh), but because the many border countries that have had genocides, civil wars, dictators and unspeakable unrepeatable acts of hatred and violence. Yet Tanzania has survived. Maybe because of lofty visions of a socialist government, or a different history then their neighbors. Certainly not because of tribal hostility, it has close to 120 tribes but they appear bound to their nation. After many travels through southern and eastern Africa I cannot put my finger on it, but Tanzania has a unique quality and it illustrates itself in the way it has shown extreme kindness and welcoming to me, a wageni (visitor).

The last few weeks I have traveled a lot. Some for pleasure (Zanzibar with Mum) and some for work; a tear your hair out workshop in Morogoro. Yet everywhere I go, I am welcomed. I have been taught by my wise parents, how to be a good (or I like to believe an excellent) hostess. The key is to make it seem effortless, not forced and most importantly, not a burden. Tanzania is the ultimate hostess. I was in Morogoro for work this week. After a harrowing long workshop I decided the weekend would be spent marching up the 2150m mountain that the lovely town sits at the base of. Being a cheap skate I refused a guide. My bicycle and I headed up the mountain until the road turned into a track too steep for the bike to ascend. I stashed the bike in a goat shed and continued hiking up a treacherous 3 hours until reaching an old German settlement with killer views. Along the way, as I huffed and puffed, with full hiking gear on, passed by grandmothers, mothers with ugali on their head and a babies on their backs and small shoeless children scampering away I was welcomed. I was offered water, fruit, a chair to sit on and most importantly a guide to make sure I took the right path rather than the one that leads to who knows where. All of this without me asking or paying (though my red face may have been a good indicator for the water).

Likewise back in Dar this weekend, as I took a tumble out of a moving dala dala. Yes, that’s right, I can’t blame the old lady that had her crutch sticking out over the exit stairs (or can I?). As I lay bleeding in a ditch, the whole daladala emptied, helped me to my feet, brushed me off and bandaged me up without a word. A simple camaraderie that is expected here.

It seems to have rubbed off on even the expats here. I have been busy socializing and went to my first hash house harriers dar meeting. It claims to be a drinking club with a running problem. After a nice 5 K run I personally ended up pounding 4 beers in the circle of doom and doing a reenactment of the ‘angry chair’ from davis days, (WOW). Needless to say we drank way to much Kili, I made some friend and I had a really good time. Looks like Monday nights are going to be dangerous from now on.

Asante Sana Tanzania for welcoming me, teaching me and ultimately hosting me.

zanzibar

Travelling in Style

Windblown Scrabble Game: Mum Won!

Weather: Coastal breezes are picking up, torrential downpour causing a raging torrent in Stone Town, Zanzibar which cleared in 15 minutes to a perfect blue sky, dotted with African clouds. Stars at night were so crystal clear it was breathtaking. How I love African skies.

Swahili Word of the Week: Tutaonana- we will meet again. Very fitting in my life.

Special Shout Out: Save UCD Women’s Crew!!!!

Mum has been visiting for the past 2 weeks which has been lovely. We have been traveling around the east coast of Tanzania quite a bit with always lends itself to some adventures. Our first big outing was a lovely excursion North to a great birding area, Wami River. I chose this National Park because of its lack of focus on Game Drives, its boat trip up the Wami where it boasted excellent bird sitings including kingfishers (My FAVE) and it is located on the beach, a rarity for game reserves.

Our journey North was quite the adventure as I refused to pay for a private vehicle to come pick us up. Instead we headed to the pit of Dar, Ubongo Bus Terminal, I wouldn’t send my worst enemy there. At 530 in the morning while the rest of Dar sleeps the terminal is packed with more people, buses, minivans then I would care to imagine and many of them (if not all) are trying to make a buck or two. Needless to say the harassment is insane but we made it onto a bus, got dumped in the middle of nowhere (our plan) picked up a dala dala, waited by a chicken hut for a vehicle, jumped into a chicken truck, went bombing through the game park, got flagged down by a ranger with a gun, threatened, back in the truck and eventually made it to where we were supposed to be. With the adventure like that I was feeling a little worried that it was worth the effort. It was, we had amazing time, saw tons of birds, wildlife, had long walks on the beach, a scrabble game that we finished despite the winds flipping the board twice and loved every minute of it. We fell in love with the Saadani Safari Lodge crew and they with us and we had a full moon party on the beach under the full moon with too much wine, great fish surrounded by the most eclectic people I have met in a long time. A greek from Burundi running a eco conscious NGO (and lodge owner), his father and uncle (French speaking), a Dutch Olympic Dressage Breeder, an English Lodge Manager, a Yemeni, a tribal leader and a few others that had similarly amazing backgrounds.

At times I feel that at the age of 31 I have made it. Life is good I don’t need to rough it like I did in my 20s. Yet, my mother continually reminds me how to do things with style and grace. As I returned from Saadani to work with a backpack on my lap, crammed between coolers of smelly fish and feeling the spray of the rain coming through the floorboards of my dala dala and eventually soaking my feet. My mother charmed a pilot at Saadani and was flown free of charge on a private plane to Zanzibar to continue her holiday. I have much to learn.

Work is in funding mode, making exciting plans for the future of the project. May have to stay in Tanzania for a little bit longer…

Miss you all

xoxo

Ninapenda Chakula

Weather: It actually cooled off at the weekend and I marched around in glee, with Mum in tow looking a little pink and almost collapsing after I made her take a tennis lesson with me (I think I must be acclimatizing), but alas the humidity and heat are now back in full force. Looking forward to some pool time this weekend!

Swahili word of the week: Damu ya Mzee: direct translation- blood of an old person, actual meaning- the color: maroon. I tried to explain that old people’s blood was not a different color but my mwalimu did not believe me!

Special Shout Out: To the corresponders out there. A BIG thanks for the emails, its lovely to hear the news as it makes me feel a little closer to everyone.

Ninapenda Chakula

Work has been full pelt and we are developing our goals and objectives for next years work. Included activities are increasing and improving the image of nursing in Tanzania. Developing an integrated and modularized HIV/AIDS curriculum in the BSc nursing programs, providing skills labs in nursing schools, nurse faculty development and working with the Tanzania nursing council. My application is in for my Tanzanian nursing license, and then I hope to start volunteering at the Ocean Road Cancer Center.

Well as a foodie it was only a matter of time before the subject of food in Tanzania reached the written page. Food is a focus in Tanzania for many different reasons. In rural areas it is a primary focus because of the length of time and effort it takes to grow, harvest, prepare and cook food. Because the main production of food here is small, sustenance farmers there is not a large amount of surplus food (a necessity for city dwellers) making a noticeable lack of cities in most countries in Africa (compared to the western world). For example, 85% of Tanzanians live in rural areas. It is these rural people that are producing the food. The produce here is quite delicious probably because it is small production farming but it does make me wonder why there is such a lack of variation in the cooking here.

While in Dodoma a visited the one and only winery in Tanzania. I bought two bottles of wine for $6 so was a little skeptical. Though definitely not a Duckhorn, it was drinkable.
Standard food here is Ugali (corn based porridge), Rice or Bananas served with meat, stew, fish, vegetables or beans. There is a plethora of fruit (all seasonal). I swear I have been surviving on mangoes, it will be a sad day when they are out of season. Food in Dar is never more then 5 minutes away and is a focus on the streets not only visually but auditory as well. Each food vendors appears to have a different “call” on the street. Water boys yell Maji, Maji while making a kissing sound. Peanut vendors, who sell delicious roasted nuts in recycled paper cones (the paper will often have hand written homework on it, recycling to a whole new level), clink large coils of coins in their hands creating an underlying metal beat that follows me around wherever I go. Sister, sister ladies sell oranges and bananas piled high on the baskets on their heads, which will often hold my gaze in wonderment on how they can balance it all (especially when I can’t balance when trying to stand on one leg in yoga with nothing on my head). In addition, the bicycle boys bike around huge baskets of mangoes, watermelons, pineapples, coconuts, apples or oranges. I often will do my shopping on the walk home making it an eclectic commute.
Dar is an ocean port and boasts an amazing fish market that has tons (literally) of seafood. You can smell the market before you can see it but the quality, choice and price of the seafood are unbeatable. The Indian influence in Dar is very evident creating a melting pot of cuisine. Pilau, biryani, and masala are integrated into standard Tanzanian fare. I have found the most delicious dosa place, close to my home which shames DOSA in SF. Menus also included is Egg Chop (French fries/chips in an omelette), Masala chips (spicy French fries/chips), fried bread, fried rice cake, kebabs and curries.
I have been cooking at home, often in a full sweat. Created from a mixture of the incessant heat and humidity and my love of spicy food. But I crave the experience of buying new foods and spices and trying to create, often 'trying' being the operative word (though Mum said my Rice Pilau was pretty good). All in all its an experience though I have to say, I miss cheese…

Time in Tanzania

Weather: Arid yet Hot, I am in Dodoma, TZ an "arid disconsolately nowhere" and capital of TZ

Swahili Word of the Week: Kiti Moto: Pork, direct translation of fire chair. "Why?" I asked my Mwalimu (teacher). Because the meat is so good that you keep jumping from your chair to grab some more, like the chair is on fire...

Special Shout Out: Happy Birthday Maggie!!!

TIME

Time has been an interesting concept for me this week, especially because I am not a time conscious person. I always try to cram too much stuff in a day, or an hour and I never seem to be on time, it is a battle in my life (shown by the many flights I have missed). I feel like its opposite week as time seems to be on my hands indicated by many occurrences throughout the week.

In Tanzania time is just complicated, pure and simple. We'll start with the concept of "swahili time". Swahili time is from dawn to dusk, so 6am is when the day begins and 6pm is when the days ends. So if you wake up at 7am, you are actually waking up at 1, 8am is 2 etc! Take this concept and then add in trying to say it in swahili while doing mental calculations on what time it is "swahili time" and you can see why I get flustered. My mwalimu simply says Hakuna Matata...Hah.

I obviously had not made a complete fool of myself at the Kitchen Party on Saturday night, as I got invited to the Send Off party on Thursday. This had promises of being bigger, grander and inclusive of men so I was excited, and yes got a new dress made to match the silver and red theme! I was prewarned at the kitchen party to not arrive on time. The party was supposed to start at 4pm and I showed up at 530 and was probably one of the first 5 people there out of 150. So, I thought, I will not make that charlatan mistake again. The send off was supposed to start at 6pm. At 6pm I was still playing tennis made it home by 7, taxi at 8pm and arrived at the send off by 830. I was literally the first guest, they were doing sound checks and the lights were off. I ordered myself a Tusker and laughed at myself. The send off was great, again lots of dancing, including a traditional Rwandan tribe who did Kupiga Vigeregere-the high wail with a reverberating tongue, if that doesn't get a send off party going, I don't know what does. Late morning in the office after too much Tanzanian Wine (did you know they had vineyards here, I didn't...) and then off to Dodoma on Sunday which rounds out the blog of the week.

We were heading to Dodoma for a curriculum forum and to do some site visits of a university and a lab. In my invite letter I was told the bus was leaving at 730 am and to "please keep my time." I was a little perplexed at what time I should actually show up, considering my experiences the previous week. I decided to play it safe and show up at 730, I was the first but not by much and soon everyone was there and we began the long (8.5 hours) bus ride to the middle of nowhere. As our bus tootled out of Dar, one of the Deans stated Muwa mua Muzungu, Asante Sana. I was told it translated to Thank you all for acting like a white person, ie she was thanking everyone for showing up on time for the bus (I guess that's what Muzungus are known for).

Work is good, making great progress. Doing some site visits tomorrow. Mum arrives Thursday and we are off on some adventures.

a few pictures of Dar

Chicken dinner!

Indian BBQ

Commute with local traffic

Walk to Work

Birthdays, Kitchen Parties, Car Accidents and Thunderstorms

Weather: Hot & Humid. Occasional lightening and thunder so loud I woke up and almost peed my pants, followed by an immediate electrical outage for 16 hours…

Swahili Word of the Week: Mboo- so rude, my instructor will not even say it out loud. He whispers it in my ear. It means penis. Unfortunately, it sounds like the word for vegetable, Mboga. I will NOT mix this up!

The Week:

It seems to be a week of excitement in Dar. Our office boy, Maganga, turned 25 this week. He is lovely and I got to witness some new birthday traditions, I can now add them to my repertoire. His thank you speech touched my heart as he stated “I am proud to be 25, and to have a birthday cake with my name on it!”. Another important birthday, my dear friend Jon. Happy Birthday Jon!!

My office is located in central Dar and there is always many happenings around. The BIG excitement this Friday was a car accident that happened right outside my window. This caused a hullabaloo that was beyond imagination. The giant crash first of all got all my co-workers excitedly running to my desk to look at what was happening. I think literally anyone that was in a 4 block radius came running through the streets to witness the confrontation with the TZ army officer driving the landy and the gentleman driving the vintage Mercedes. It lasted a good two hours with traffic stopped in all directions, everyone offering an opinion and the crowd growing rather than dispersing until finally the cars were pushed to who knows where…

I was invited to a kitchen party which I attended last night. Great fun. Mama Safe the Tanzanian nurse I work closely with said that “you can come on my umbrella”. Basically meaning I could come as her tag along Muzungo (white person). I was told it was like a wedding shower. Hmmmmm, it was not quite like that. I arrived thinking it would be small, intimate affair and I was nicely surprised. I arrived and it was a huge hall, with probably 150 women. It looked like a game show with stove, refrigerator, microwave and any type of utensil you could think of displayed proudly in the front (gifts from the guests). The dancing started at 4pm and probably ended around 1 am. My favorite ceremony (there were many!) was each table presented 1-4 kangas to the mother of the bride by dancing in a line and then wrap the kangas around her until she looked like the abominable snowman. She probably had about 50 kangas piled around her. All I can say is she must have been hot. We all got given sieves as party favours at the end of the night and as I meandered out around 1130, I looked back and caught a glimpse of 50 Tanzanian women dancing up a storm with sieves flying wildly above their heads. A night to remember!

Work has been very busy. I am excited because we have confirmation that our mobile libraries have been shipped and should be arriving mid Feb. I will be traveling to the different nursing schools to help train librarians on how to manage the libraries (our survey results stated that most nursing books currently in the nursing schools are published in 1950-1960, youch!) I am going up the Nation’s capital next week. It is described in my rough guide as “a disconsolately arid nowhere!” I will be there for 6 days, Yay?? The purpose is a meeting with all the deans of the nursing schools. We are converting many of the curriculums to be shorter and more defined in order to increase the workforce of nurses as they are desperately short over here.

Life is good!

a
xoxo

First Days in Dar

Well things are going relatively smoothly so far. I am now situated in the office which is set in Downtown Dar. There are about 10-15 people in the office, mostly tanzanians with a few scattered volunteers from the US. The project has started to make more sense in my head and the more I learn the more I am impressed with its design and sustainability.

The funding, although from the USG is funneled through a non profit which provides the logistical partnerships with an American Institution and a Tanzanian Institution . I am part of one of five partnerships in TZ (they have a social work partnership, lab partnership, substance abuse partnership, nurse partnership (me)). They also have partnerships in Ethiopia, Nigeria, SA, and some other countries. All partnership projects are HIV/AIDS related. The idea in the partnership is very collaborative with the host country (TZ) directing what expertise they would like from the partnering country (US). The idea is to be capacity building the current country so that when the partnership eventually ends, we have not left a hole instead have built a strong infrastructure, team of workers so current projects can be maintained by host countries. The Nurse project has about 5 different themes and is quite complicated.

The overall idea is to build the HIV/AIDS education of new nurse graduates in Tanzania (so we are working with all 68! nurse trainee schools) but we have a lot of projects that are working on this major program outcome. For example a mobile library project that is delivering HIV/AIDS books and resources in shipping containers (Go Danny!) to schools, the HIV/AIDS curriculum which we are integrating into current curriculum, training of faculty members in school, increasing the capacity of current nursing schools through infrastructure development, long term planning with the Tanzania Nurse and Midwifery Council on the direction and education of Nursing Education and a few more that I haven't even got my head around. My to do list is long!

Dar is a nice city, though right now is quite sickly hot (34 C at night) so I have a tendency to melt after walking around for an hour or two. Apt is quite sweet, about a 20-30 minute walk down dirt roads to the office. I have a local bar across the street where I had a Tusker and watched a footie match. I believe my neighbors are english (heard voices yesterday) so will have to go introduce myself. The askari 'Jon' is hilarious, speaks very little english and is (I'm not joking) about 4'11" but the place is very secure so I'm sure he wont have to take on any attackers. The houseboy is on holiday, I have yet to meet.

I believe I am starting my Swahili school today at lunch with a volunteer. Will keep you posted.