Moving to Tanzania has not disappointed in this regard. I researched only a little about this part of Africa before coming: mainly the climate of where I would be moving to, and the political situation in terms of safety and security. Other than that, I wanted to keep an open mind about what to expect. My own earliest memory of the mention of 'Africa' was at primary school where we were shown video footage of a young child pouring boiling water on her foot to show how she couldn't feel it anymore. I don't remember why she couldn’t feel it: I just remember that it was linked to poverty. In R.E. at secondary school we watched 'Cry Freedom', and I remember feeling indignance at the injustice and discrimination that was portrayed. We always saw adverts on T.V. and on the internet and pamphlets inside newspapers and magazines showing sick, malnourished, ‘African’ children needing access to the basic necessities of life; in fact, in England I found that it was always easier to refer to Africa the continent rather than the individual countries, unless you encountered people who have been or who are from here. So I was aware of the need to balance this media presentation of sickness and poverty that apparently rampages across the entire continent with the knowledge that it isn’t all bad everywhere, and the best way for me to do this is by exploring it in person. So it is with this background that I arrived in Dar es Salaam, via Nairobi.
I was collected by VSO at the airport and spent the first week with the whole group of new arrivals totalling 21 of us: I was the only Brit; the rest were from Holland, the Philippines, India, and Canada. We had meetings about the organisation of VSO, and to introduce us to the project of EQUIP-T-ELT that us teachers would be involved with - more of that to follow! After a week in Dar on this orientation we then went to Morogoro (4 hours' bus journey) for several days where we had intensive Swahili training, which was brilliant. We then returned to Dar for a few more days for more project-specific briefing before being sent on to our respective placements. For Team Iringa that meant an 8-hour bus journey, back again via Morogoro, heading west into Tanzania's highlands.
Once I was able to think past arriving in Tanzania and what work I was actually going to be doing, I think the biggest surprise I had was how much I depended on a washing machine before. It never even crossed my mind that there wouldn’t be one where I was staying! I was prepared for living without a fridge; that electricity would be intermittent; that I might not even have regular access to the internet (how awful!), but it was really eye-opening to myself how I completely missed that one about no washing machine. I am relieved to say that mostly the clothes here just need a regular washing through from the dust (so far, anyway!) and a freshening-up, and so can withstand my feeble attempts at handwashing. All the same, at every opportunity I take my laundry to the staff at the local hotel and am more than happy to supplement their income by doing so. They also seem very happy and obliging when I turn up with yet another big bag of washing! I still have to do my own knickers though: not that that's an issue; but you’re not allowed to hang them out to dry where other people can see them. If you hang them on an outside line, they need to be covered with a thin fabric (like a ‘kanga’) so they cannot be identified as underwear. In what must be a rebellious response to this I have taken some photos to post here on the blog of how creative I have been at hanging my underwear inside to dry :-)
If you think about the things you do and use on a daily basis, is there anything you realise you take for granted? What could you live without?