[above: Kabula on the left and smiling at the camera, and Katega on the right focusing on her drawings][above: the view of the Mwanza valley in the mid-afternoon from the veranda next to my hotel room at Tai Five. I have no idea why this hotel is called Tai Five since it’s supposedly Tanzanian-owned, though …
[above: dude carrying a load of sponge-bed-square-pants mattresses for one of the many motels for migrant miners along the main road in Kahama] Kahama is a dusty dry dude town on the highway to Rwanda and Burundi, between Tinde and Bukombe. Its existence depends on gold mining, and all of its industry is built around …
Tonight was a welcome departure from the norm. After a long day of training and some disappointing sessions from the doctor I’ve been trying to train (mostly disappointing to me and probably of relatively high quality for the Tanzanians – which illustrates the poor teaching they are regularly subjected to), I did not feel like …
The waxing moon, three cats, and a bowl of tiny lake anchovies. Read More »
[above: HIV Care and Treatment Refresher Training participants, trainers and UCSF help-staff (i.e. the team i work with in Tanzania) in Shinyanga, picture taken on 15 August at the Ngoloko Hostel, Catholic Arch Diocese centre; this was a historic Refresher training because all of the direct trainers were Tanzanian and a majority of the training …
[above left: Tanzanian stamp honoring The Scholar and the Athlete, Bruce Lee… and above right: Tanzanian stamp sheet honoring Jackie Chan (The Clown and the Athlete?)] Yes, my people are AWEsome. My colleague Elitumaini told me the other day that Tanzanians view Chinese people as friends. “We have been a socialist country, and so for …
Bukombe is a trip. It’s a diamond and gem mining town in the interior of Tanzania, on the road towards the Rwanda and Burundi borders from Nzega and Shinyanga. Because this region is built around the mining industry, it’s filled with young men from all different parts of Tanzania (and other East African countries) who …
[above: (picture on left) Young Whan, Bibi and Babu of Valerie, sophy (picture on right) Valerie, Bibi, Babu, cousin, sophy, cousins in the front] Tanzanians have a wonderfully welcoming culture. You don’t necessarily experience it as a tourist – Tanzanian tourist culture is an entirely different beast. You really have to be living or working …
chakula cha mchana: lunch at Tanzanian family homes Read More »
Haraka haraka haina baraka. If you hurry hurry, you will not receive blessings. The pace of life in Tanzania, particularly the rural inland region of Shinyanga (where we are working now), is pole pole. It is a remarkable departure from our compulsive, over-scheduled, and micromanaged culture at home in the US. Here, we are less …
African Standard Time (AST): living in the present moment Read More »
Run, Jenny! sophy cracking up – Oh no, they’re after me too! Ndege mwabaru (marabou storks) rule Shinyanga. They are bigger than me. They circle in the sky. They will inhabit an entire acacia tree with their gigantic nests. They wander around town and hang out at eating holes, scavenging for food waste. They take …
It’s Young Whan and Sophy’s Kiswanglish lesson time: Shiblingi = Tanzanian money coveted by young urban people Sponge Bed Square Pants = the unfortunate source of almost all mattresses in Tanzania Mchizi kama ndizi = crazy like a banana Shikamoo marahaba jambo sijambo mambo poa safi habari ya nyumbani salama nzuri asabuhi njema na wewe …
Shiblingi, Sponge Bed Square Pants, and Fat Ties Read More »
