Nyumbani Mpya (New Home)

Life is a travelling to the edge of knowledge, then a leap taken. -- D. H. Lawrence

Good evening y'all.

I am writing to you while relaxing in my room after a long day.  Wow, already two weeks have gone by!  I have a feeling that my time here is going to fly by fast.

I am enjoying my time in Dar so far quite a lot.  I still am adjusting to the fast day to day hustle and bustle and differences in everyday things but ultimately I'm pretty happy with my choice to do an internship here!  Like I mentioned before the apartment is very nice and cozy.  Its kind of the perfect place to come home to after being in the office all day or going out and about.

My first week went very well, I went in last Monday and got acquainted with the team (small but mighty) Gill who manages the operations, Nondo who is the regional coordinator, and myself have an office about 10 minutes away from the house.  Gill has been showing me the ropes and how to walk to work, taking the morning in stride.  The walk is about half thru residential areas and half thru a busy main street. 

First day of work!  Do I look nerdy enough? ;)

The office work is fast paced!  We work with a global team with offices in Mexico and the Philippines and its a new experience doing a lot of work virtually.  Kind of neat that someone is working during each major time zone!

Views of clothes drying outside the office window.

Some of my first tasks are getting set up and get up to speed with email communications and doing some jobs around the office including organizing an existing database of partners/members who are interested in SRHR.  Its pretty neat as there are member organizations from all around Africa--so amazing how the internet can make the world so much smaller.  We also just concluded a large community event with local Tanzanian organizations.  I got to facilitate a brainstorming strategy workshop which was pretty fun and threw me right into the mix of what's happening.  It was a lot of information!  And I think the next few months I'll be learning things as I go, good real world experience I think--patience is key. 

Besides that I have slowly but surely been getting familiar with Dar.  The walks to and from work are helping me in orienting myself to where I am. I've also been introduced to a new mode of transport around town.  The bajage (pronounced bahhhh jajuh), a little tuk tuk motor car that weaves in and out of traffic from the other cars - its a cheap way to get around and Gill has a good relationship with one bajage driver in particular, Simon who sits outside of a a shop next to our work--he charges a fair price and is kind and takes as many stops as needed.  He invited me to go to him to church tomorrow- I'm really the church going type but eh its something new to do, so why not!

I caved and have begun to drink coca cola 

At the lovely sushi spot some night after work - Cape Town Fish Market!

The restaurants around town have been quite nice to go and visit.  Gill is also pretty knowledgeable about where to go so I've been happy and gracious to join the ride.  

The back view of Simon's Bagaje/tuk tuk - keepin it fresh n' fruity with the air fresheners :)

Last weekend I was shopping at this fancy area called Slipway center and a group of Tanzanian women who saw me sitting by myself and then decided to come talk to me.  Different norms for sure! They wanted their picture with me.  They also wanted my phone number.  I need to learn to say no more but I gave them my U.S. number and now they keep texting me and also giving their relatives my number too.  Well, lesson learned there.  I'm not fully sure their intention there but not really interested in pursing more than the passing moment, so I just stopped responding. There is definitely  some kind of instant impression that my appearance has, perhaps people think I'm wealthy or some important business woman or something.  Well this is just something I'll be navigating for the next 6 months--best to thicken my skin now instead of later...

A view of the Indian Ocean from Slipway Center

Some fishermen catching fish off the coast

Enjoying the beach paradise on a day off!

In the upcoming weeks I'll be doing a little bit of traveling.  Going on a work related trip a few hours outside of Dar es Salaam in a town called Morogoro for a conference on addressing issues of maternal mortality.  Its a 3 day event and the majority of it will be in Swahili.  I've been doing some solor reviewing but I think it will be a great opportunity to immerse myself in the language and perhaps come out with a bit of a better understanding.  More news on that later.

I also am going to go visit Zanzibar, an island a small distance off the coast of Tanzania's mainland.  It is supposed to be absolutely beautiful with lots of nice beaches and destination views.  I think I'll also be doing this trip solo.  A big step for me!  But if I do enough research and preparations I think I'll be just fine.  Hoping to perhaps stay in a hostel or backpacker type spot and just chillax after this big transition. :)

I've definitely felt out of my comfort zone off and on during these few weeks. Perhaps its joining a new team and just getting acquainted with norms and what's happening or perhaps its the feeling of being instantly identified as a foreigner at on the street and often therefore the center of attention.  I think a big part of it was I was pretty comfy in my cushy life back in the U.S., having a good group of friends and family close by it was easy for me to feel safe and relaxed and not have to put a lot of effort into putting myself out there.  Now, I feel like I'm staring from square one in a lot of ways.  Nevertheless, I've come here to learn and part of that experience is to feel challenged, so everytime I feel stressed or not really sure what I'm doing just yet, I'll remind myself of the entire reason I started this adventure, to learn and grow!   Always remember why you started, remember what matters!

^^ Learning from and connecting with other international human rights advocates is what matters most to me!

Until later!