When we last left you, we had arrived in Tanzania and were safely ensconced in the rather dubious but relatively clean and safe downtown Econolodge. Hot running water, is always a good thing, All of the participants in this particular group were suffering from Jet Lag, culture shock, lack of sleep, lack of normal food and eating patterns and just generally out of tune with normalcy. Welcome to the new normal.
Our days at the VSO office consisted of taking an 8 am bus from the hotel through rushhour traffic and over to the peninsula, where we met in the main VSO office. During the week, we learned about the political and economic situation in Tan, the reason why CIDA and other governments provide funding to NGO's like VSO and more. We took cultural integration training and found out about what constitutes corruption in places like this. How things differ in this country from other east African nations and what we should look out for and be careful off. Much of the information was somewhat old hat for Lois and I as we have experienced this type of integration before and much was and is the same. But nothing should be taken for granted and we soon learned about petty theft, the ultra modern shopping complexes, the street people, how to move around on the Dalla Dalla and much much more.
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Morning bus to VSO |
Our group is very diverse, with talents ranging from full fledged doctors, to electrical engineers, teachers, IT specialists and much more. All of these people have decided to take a time away from family, friends and their normal way of life to contribute to the life of Tanzanians in their own particular field of expertise. Some for a few months, some for a year and some for two years.
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Part of our multicultural class taking a break |
Professional group meetings were held and also one on one meetings with the various country reps who will be our point of contact while in the country. Tanzania is a very large and sparsely populated countre and travel is a big concern. Many people will be living and working in isolated communities with few creature comforts, while others like Lois and I will be living in a very touristy part of the country. So we expect to be able to access many luxuries that other participants may not have available.
We were anxious to find out about our housing and when we met with the VSO staff person in charge of this, we were met with a few challenges. 1. It looked as though we had an apartment, but not with the other members of our team. 2. We did not know the condition of the apt. 3 We did not know whether or not it was completely furnished and did it have a fridge. 4. A particular concern was that it was about 25 km from where Lois would work and that meant a commute each day of about 90 minutes each way. We made known our concerns and the staff began to research the answers and options open to us.
Meanwhile, the week was coming to a close and our next challenge was to move to the town of Mgorogoro or GoroGoro to do a week of Swahili language training. This meant that we were to take a 4 hour bus ride from Dar to the town and then find our accomodation and prepare for an intense week of a completely different and strange language.
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Pit stop on the way to the mountains, this bus later broke down and we had to wait on the side of the highway for a spar bus to arrive. |
Our bus ride was an event. The busses here are designed for maximum loading and consist of seating in a 3/2 pattern, with three seats on one side and two on the other of a small aisle. As the bus travels and stops more people get on and most stay up around the driver until there is a mob of about 6 or 7 people sitting everywhere around the door. At each stop, the local merchants jump on board to sell everything from steering wheel covers (????) to pop and chips...which by the way are delicious. Goro Goro is up in the mountains and we were told that it gets cold in the evenings...so we made sure that we took jackets....as it turns out...cold means 30 degrees and not 35 degrees......so the jacket was a pain to carry and lug around.....our week soon started and we were off on our learning adventure...our next post, will give details of the language and our one day safari to the Mikumi National park.....we should have that post done in the next day or so.....
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the mountains of goro goro |
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