Yes, this is Africa. The peninsula of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
Enjoying a local feast and breaking rules - Nayama Choma (Bbqed goat), salad (rule breaking),
African fries, Kilimanjaro beer, and ketchup with
hot sauce ALREADY added - why don't we have this?
Even on my time off, I'm visiting farms
My MeMoon suite in Africa -
seriously ridiculous. I felt a bit
absurd once I got here, and thought
back to my Samoan tent on the beach,
and that I don't really need much. Give me
a mattress, a mosquito net, and a guard, and
you can forgo the extra King size bed and
accoutrements
Amani = Peace Indian Ocean Beach paradise to myself with sea turtles =
Peace
Early morning hike. When I asked
where the trail was which is listed in the hotel literature, they
smiled and said "You go alone?", Me - Um,
yes, unless I shouldn't? "No, it's ok" with a
big smile. Don't worry, I was only hassled by goats, which I then ate for dinner
I'm often overwhelmed when I'm traveling over the last 2.5 years with how
amazing the world is and how one morning I can
be swimming in the Indian Ocean with sea turtles and
pirates, and the next morning taking a cappuccino in Rome.
I'm also often overwhelmed with wishing I could bring
you all with me, but have to appease myself with sharing
the memories and the hope that one day I'll go back - with
each of you.
***I apologize that there are no pictures of me with smiling African children. I was running
around so much the first few days of work that I barely took any photos, so yes it looks like I was just on vacation.
****I also apologize that there are no elephants, tigers, monkeys, lions, etc. in these photos. Having only 24 hours of free time, I couldn't venture into safari land. Next time - promise
You may remember that I journeyed to 'Africa' for the first time last April when I went to Tunisia. Many people would tell you that's not really 'Africa', (you know in the Vegas sense of the word). As my contract was nearing its end in late February, I was asked to help finish a project in Tanzania until March 30th, which basically entailed taking a project that had existed for over a year and trying to make it make sense and be in a publishable form in 30 days. Oh and journeying to Tanzania for a workshop to stand up for other people's work (good or bad) over the last year. So naturally this sounded thrilling, and I said yes.
Flash forward (or backward, I can never tell these days) to arriving back from New Zealand with one week in Rome to prepare for my journey to Tanzania in which I got to retake our Security in the Field test that you may remember; get yelled at by the medical center for not getting vaccinated/malaria pills earlier, and somehow manage to pull together the content/people for this workshop. Needless to say, I did not have high expectations for this trip or the results of this project.....
Security in the Field: As I mentioned we are required to take an exam where we are briefed on all of the rules to follow when working for the U.N. They cover everything from car-jackings, to hotel stays, to eating, to healthcare. Some of the rules include - 1) at hotels/and in our apartment we must only stay between the 2-7 floors so that we are safer from a break-in, but also in reach of fire hoses; 2) no ice, fruit, or food not cooked in front of you allowed; 3) no taking public transportation; 4) no announcing of our name or room number at the hotel desk; 5) no pictures with child soldiers. So off I went with the rules in mind, and no sooner than I landed did I break them - not intentionally, but if you can't adapt to your surroundings, why are you working for the UN in Africa?
First rule broken - ground floor hotel room, with the added bonus of holes in the mosquito netting, the power flickering on and off, and intermittent water access. The even better part was that it was a ten minute walk from the hotel itself (they put me in some side apartment unit strangely), so I couldn't even ask anyone about these issues without a bit of a journey. I had no time to ponder this situation since I had to scurry off to a meeting, but have no fear the next day I switched (mostly cause of the water situation) to the main hotel unit, and subsequently to a 2nd story room - rules in order.
Second rules broken - no ice/fruit, and no skin exposed to mosquitos. It was over 90 degrees everyday that I was in Tanzania and you want me to go without ice? This same logic goes for covering my whole body. If I'm going through the hassle of taking malaria drugs and slathering myself with bugspray - I'm going to let my skin be bare. I followed the skin covering rule my first day and showed up at the office in long pants and a suit jacket, only to be greeted by the FAO office staff (Europeans and Tanzanians) dressed in skirts and tank tops, sipping iced fruit juices. And you know what I say - When in Rome....But seriously, in this case, the first rule should be to follow those that know best who live there, and don't act like a paranoid weirdo from headquarters and alienate the local staff.
One of my colleagues journeyed on this trip from Rome as well and although he's Italian, he's much more of a UN rule follower(*Italians don't normally follow rules, see previous posts). Africa may also not be his calling. My favorite comment he made was that the hotel didn't have hair dryers in the rooms and he was considering buying one. He was also pissed that the rooms didn't come with shampoo. I was glad they had water and electricity (some of the time).
So with the rules adjusted (but don't worry, with my safety intact), I set about taking it all in. Here's a few general impressions/highlights/fav moments:
Best quotes upon my arrival: 1) From our consultant: "Oh, you're American, you'll feel right at home here cause America is just like Africa, since you have a lot of black people there". 2) From the driver that picked me up at the airport: "I thought you were going to be a man since your name is like Bill". Maybe Africa IS just like America?
Work culture: As I said, I was swooping in for the last 30 days of a project to somehow fix everything and deliver a workshop to Tanzanian government officials/academics/private sector. Two Tanzanian consultants had been hired six months ago to prepare some of the analysis, that I was also then going to need to supervise/work with to finish their reports. A lot of this made me uncomfortable, but most of all I didn't want to be seen as some HQ colonial style moron who was going to ride in on high and condescend to all the locals. I was greatly relieved the first day I met our consultants and how welcome they made me feel, and how happy they seemed. One of our consultants, just laughs/giggles uncontrollably every now and then - making work a lot more fun(ny) than my usual day to day.
One of the negative things about so many development agencies being active in Africa is the donor mentality that has been created. For all workshops, including training workshops, where you know, you'd hope they're getting something out of the workshop - you have to pay the participants to attend. And after you've agreed to pay them to attend, give them a nice lunch, and pay for their transport to the workshop, they often show up late and leave early. If your conscious tells you that you want to stand against this because it's perpetuating a bad cycle, then no one will come to your workshop. So again, I had low expectations - but was astounded when our main counterpart, the Ministry of Energy, who had agreed to OPEN the workshop, showed up 2 hours late. Yes, that means we could not start the workshop for 2 hours, which everyone said was totally normal. And in Tanzania you can not go around formality and begin without the official opening. What these delays, work-style mean, are that everyone has low expectations, so it's real easy to do a good job - especially in the eyes of my giggling consultant.
Bubble world: I often say that it's easy to get caught in the UN bubble, even in Rome, and especially in developing countries with all the rules imposed. Our office in Tanzania is located in the nicest area of Dar Es Salaam (the Slipway), and the restaurants that we are taken to by local staff are all ex-pat favorites; which means its hard to get a feel for the real culture and often feels very hypocritical. You know solving hunger by eating in the nicest restaurants in the nicest neighborhoods, doesn't really digest well, but this is a bigger battle I am waging within myself....I did endeavor to sample the local fare as much as possible, including Nayama Choma - or barbecued goat with Ugali (maize flour blob), and partake of some Safari Water and Kilimanjaro beers; even though the local office kept trying to take us for Italian food.
Tupac and Biggie: Are alive and well in Dar Es Salaam, hanging out with the likes of Mace and R. Kelly, or at least their music is
Amani: I had booked my travel with an extra 24 hours at the end to try and see a bit of Tanzania. For those of you that don't know, Tanzania is home to many of Africa's greats - Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, pristine turquoise beaches, and much more. I had fancied going to Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Dar, known for its Arabic influence, but when I checked things out once I arrived I realized the flight would be too risky since it might not leave if it was raining and I couldn't very well get stuck out there as my excuse for not being at work on Monday. So I found a place about 2 hours South of Dar near Ras Kutani, known as "an island getaway like Zanzibar right on the mainland", even better it's name was Amani - meaning Peace in Swahili. Having only 7 cottages, each with private access to a private beach, and their engagement with a local bio-farm, I decided it was a perfect place to check off swimming in the Indian Ocean with sea turtles. And surprise, surprise like so many of my mini-MeMoons, everyone else there was on their honeymoon.
The best of friends: I've realized in my travels/living abroad that the best friend a girl can have is a trusted taxi driver, especially when you consider rule number 3 above. One of the local FAO staff lent me her trusted driver Stanston to take me to Amani. Not only does this help avoid getting charged double cause you're a tourist/white, but also helps when he has a 4x4 with AC, and speaks English. When I first got in the car, he seemed a bit put-off that I didn't know ANY Swahili. Then he relaxed a bit and informed me about his theory that European men (white men) are not serious about marriage and that he doesn't understand why they don't pay for everything. He's really annoyed with white male tourists who share the bill with females. Over the course of the next 2 hours, Stanston became increasingly comfortable with me where we discussed why only women carry things on their heads (Stanston: they can't carry that heavy of weight in their arms); whether ugali from maize, cassava, or banana is better; the latest in malaria and HIV drugs; and finally to the point of him offering me marriage. Stanston is from a village on the border of Malawi and Zambia, where they still practice tribal custom (his dad has six wives), but no fear, Stanston has converted to Christianity. His one dilemma was how he would get the cow to my family, as the wedding offering. After some pondering, he then ventured that he would give my family 20 cows since I'm white and must be rich. When I told him that I wasn't sure what my family would do with one cow, and would definitely be overwhelmed by 20, he assured me that they could sell them. When I asked if my family said it was okay to give no cows, or perhaps something smaller like a chicken to save on airfare, he said that was not possible, that it would hurt his honor. I then informed him that in US custom he would have to ask my family's permission before asking me to marry him - he found this ridiculous, and then proceeded to call his cousin so I could talk to him on the phone, apparently thinking my family's permission could be exchanged for his. So family, whenever you're ready for your cows, just say the word. Till then, Stanston took good care of me in my safe (and much cheaper) transport to and from my peaceful 24 hour getaway, and has sworn that when I come back to Tanzania, he will give me a Serengeti tour and take me to his village - can't wait!
So all in all, I loved my journey into real Africa and I can't wait to go back. My greatest impression was how kind and happy people 'seem'. This might be partly due to bubble world, and partly due to Tanzania, which is one of the most developed countries in real Africa, and has an interesting history of Arab, German, English, Indian, and Italian influence. I'll get to practice my new rule adapting Africa skillz, when I get to really real Africa in Sierra Leone.
And like all my travels - I was romanced by the local language - Swahili, but only managed to learn a few key phrases. Most importantly - Karibu (Welcome!, similar to prego in that it can also mean you're welcome and go ahead or my pleasure); Mambo (hello!); and mostly, Asante (thank you).
So, Asante Tanzania for a soft and delightful karibu to 'real' Africa
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