Another Day at the Kazini

Correctly assessing that I would be unable to find my way back from my hostel to the Women's Dignity offices (having ridden there in a sort of sleep-deprived haze yesterday), the WD folks kindly sent Rabojo to pick me up this morning and walk with me to work. His English is just slightly better than my Swahili (read: poor), so we spent the walk pointing a various things and saying them in our respective languages. Hopefully we were pointing at the same things. Hopefully I will also be able to remember the route: Kibasila road, then left at the painted advertisement for Kilimanjaro Beer, then right onto United Nations Road....see if you can follow me on Google Maps.

I have to say that my first day of work seemed to go rather well. The folks in the office are very welcoming and friendly, and incredibly receptive to my Swahili attempts. Elaborate greetings are very big here, so I've already learned my part in about five exchanges that in the US would simply be translated as "Hey, 'sup?". About half of the office speaks English; I'm going to work hard on my vocab in hopes of chatting up the others. Simon the administrator gave me a detailed orientation that hit all the highlights of the office: how to request a pen, where the coffee and tea is kept, what time lunch is served. Lunch is served communally here by the mama lishas - cooking ladies. They come to the office and bring traditional and plentiful Tanzanian food, eaten as a group at a table on the roof. Today involved rice, bananas, a bit of beef (or possibly goat), some leafy green mchicha, and oranges, which are currently in season and really tasty. A nice way of getting the office together and, for me, learning about food outside of the Indian restaurants all over my neighborhood. And the pen request form briefing actually came in handy; unlike US offices, there's not an overflowing cupboard of office supplies somewhere, so I had to make an official request of Patricia the receptionist in order to procure an underlining implement.

For I am reading documents! For an upcoming trip! They have been making plans for me. Big ones. I am going with Victor, a research consultant, on his trip next week to do health policy research in the Dodoma region in inland Tanzania. We'll be traveling from the 24th to July 9th. It's sort of shocking to me to be traveling so soon after arriving, but a good sort of shock. I'm excited to see the more rural parts of the country (Dar is the biggest city in Tanzania by far) and I'm especially excited to see the Reproductive and Child Health clinics outside the cities. This is basically what I was hoping for when I came, though I was trying to be more practical in my expectations. As Teddy my Tanzanian contact says, this seems pretty great for an NGO intern. Hope I don't slow Victor down too much. Maybe I can even be useful.