Arriving in Tanzania

Day 2: 18^th Dec, 2009

Well I couldn’t sleep at all last night. It took me hours before I could drift off. I couldn’t help thinking about home and family and friends. It dawned on me that I was in Africa, a good 7-8,000 miles from home and with no clue about customs, traditions, attitudes, language, or anything that is in anyway important to my time here. This hit me very hard.

Combining that with issues caused by altitude differences and the heat, I was not a happy bunny. I finally met Mrs Mason/Auntie Dinah when she arrived back to her house. She is a lovely woman, but was not helping me to settle in whilst she discussed the possibilities of me collecting a vast array of diseases in the same way that a child would collect football stickers.

I was told I would be on the road at 8 o’clock the next morning so I tried to get an early night. I anticipated it would be easier than it actually was; I had visions of falling asleep as soon as the head hit the pillow. This did not happen. I lay awake for the longest hours. My mind pondering how much more comfortable I would be if I was back in Brighton, in my bed, in my room.

Eventually morning came and I was up and washed with the bag packed ready to leave by about 7:30. Peter, the eldest of Mrs Mason’s sons was joining me on the trip to the boarder. Eventually he woke up, at about 8:30, advised me to have breakfast whilst he sorted something out. Still not in the best of form from the lack of sleep and the feeling of being completely out of my depth Mrs Mason came downstairs. She advised me to try ginger root in my tea, which gave it a spicy edge, but was very drinkable and quite soothing. Conversation was more upbeat, and different things regarding Tanzanian culture were explained to me. She also provided me with a fizzyfeelgood multi-vitamin tablet which was fizzing away in the water. This also helped to pick up the spirits so she sent me on my way with a tube of them.

Four hours on a nice road was okay (Solomon was a good driver), it gave me a lot of time to think and to take in the Ugandan countryside. It is far greener than I was expecting. Each town that we went through seemed to have at least one child which chased the care whilst waving. I was informed that the waves were for me because I am a mzungo. Having visited the men in a hut at the border, my passport was stamped to indicate that I have left Uganda. A quick drive across ‘no mans land’ and another visit to a hut, I got my entry visa for Tanzania. I think this was a very exclusive stamp, it cost US$100...I think I should feel privileged. I don’t though.

Finally making it to my destination country I had another hour of driving before I made it to my temporary residence in Bukoba. Salum, my driver for the Tanzanian leg of the trip, was a very loud, very jovial, and had a quite at ease character. Most of the conversation was in Kiswahili and I have to admit that is not my first language. I didn’t have a clue what he was saying. Luckily, it was only an hour!

Arriving at Professor Maliyamkono’s Bukoba residence was lovely...only my host was not there. I met with another lecturer from the University of Dar Es Salaam. I can’t for the life of me remember his name. However, I am assisting him tomorrow on some data collection for a research paper that he is doing. It relates to how the public in the local area perceive the current MP. Incidentally, the MP is my other boss. I almost feel as if I am snooping around to get an opinion of him from others before I start working for him. It’s not the best situation to be in. I have discovered that I will be in an office working on the Bukoba Development Project (BDP) but I am not sure when I go to the office, nor am I sure when I actually start. I am still none the wiser as to my role in Africa. This feels more than disconcerting. I hope that one day soon I will find out exactly what I am doing. Fingers crossed at least.

I am currently staying in a rotunda house. It is a self serving, self-contained bit of everything. At the moment I am typing away on my laptop to get these notes down, but to my right are three chairs around a table. There is a fridge, a kettle, my own kitchenette (that’s in a room on its own...not part of the sitting room/study/bedroom), bottled water (thankfully they had some in the house!) and a big double bed. Around the corner are my own shower (which was freezing earlier) and a toilet. All in all this is a really nice place to be staying. The surroundings are wonderful, so natural and has the noises of nature, and during daylight there is a spectacular view of Lake Victoria (a different view from last night obviously). Charles, the houseboy, prepared a lovely meal for me and Professor Maliyamkono, chicken curry...with a Tanzanian edge.

Despite all this I am still quite down. I am missing home a tremendous amount already, and this is worsened by the fact that I have no way of contacting anyone there. My SIM card for my phone doesn’t work abroad, so until I get a local card I don’t know what to do, and there is no internet access as of yet. Again I think I will have that when I get into town. This isolation from all that I know and all that I am comfortable with is really taking its toll. Whilst I do feel a bit better than I did last night, this is still all so intense and I can barely make head nor tails of what is happening around me. I really am hoping that this will get easier...