When crossing a street here, you have to be mindful. A man will quite literally stand next to you as you struggle to find a break in the flow of traffic, and tell you that there is no need to rush. “There is no hurry in Africa”, he says while smirking at you. I flash a smile, nod politely and squint my eyes towards the road, concentrating on whether or not the speeding motorbikes have the potential of bulldozing me over. A strange contradiction. I am told daily to take things slowly, yet I am trying to get across a very fast-paced road.
At Wofford, the campus is small and the pathways lazy, but the workload is intense and demand for attention is high. An interesting inverse has occurred, where my mind slows down but the places to go speeds up. To learn in Tanzania is to experience. If a day passes where you sit in one spot and read and read and read, you will not learn nearly as much as if you were to dare greatly and cross the double-road street.
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I don't often write about where I am at this very moment, but this is where I am at this very moment: sitting at a rooftop cafe, contemplating how much carbon dioxide planes produce versus cars, and wondering about the inexplicable randomness of life. Down the road, if anyone asks me how I came to do the things I've done, I almost certainly will not have an answer. Heck, if someone asked me right now, in this very moment, how I came to be at this rooftop cafe... I would have no clue what to say. Perhaps I could say that I took my favorite bajaj driver, Houssain here and paid 3,000 shillings for the ride. Or maybe, I could try explaining how the power went out at the office this morning and had to relocate for optimal internet access.
You see, the power goes out a lot here in Tanzania. From this, a weird space of in-between living is created, that in this day and age, frankly does not occur often. No matter how many times the lights shut off and the fan stops whirling, we always seem to stare vacantly into one another's faces and ponder about what on Earth the next steps of living could be. Slowly, battery levels of devices are considered, transportation options weighed, and plans are formed to get through the work day. I always find myself wondering what my day would look like if I didn't need wifi or a computer to complete my job; if I didn't have any work at all. Would I sit in the house feeling the wind wafting through the open doors and windows? Or would I still get up and get out into the town, reintegrating myself into a world that is connected via cyberspace? Anyway, in this moment I am plugged in. I can talk to people halfway around the world and create endless more opportunities through these amazing technological advancements. I might never understand elements of time, how the past came to be or what the future holds. However, what I do know is that I always have the option to close this computer, amble downstairs, go out into this world and be okay with only being connected to the ground that I walk on. The TATU Project works to support the village Msitu wa Tembo. There are several different projects that are intertwined under the broad umbrella that is TATU. There is W.E. Grow, W.E. Thrive, and W.E. Care which all work towards women empowerment. W.E. Grow provides leadership development and educational seminars to the women, W.E Thrive supports micro lending, entrepreneurs, bicycle rentals, and the Masaa jewelry project, and W.E Care began the KiliPads project, which provides women with the necessary materials and education about their menstruation. TATU Afya is a health program that brings medical caravans to the village three times a year and encourages sports in school. TATU Adventures, whom I am interning for, is the only for-profit side of TATU. At Adventures we work with tourists to come and visit Tanzania in the most authentic way possible, by supporting the local economy in a responsible way and returning the profit directly back to Msitu wa Tembo.I had the chance to visit Msitu wa Tembo and was encouraged by the strength of the Maasai women and the beauty of the countryside. The women are in the midst of building a water pipe that connects the water from the well by the local school to the bike shop and Masaa building. The job is big, but through the collective effort of all of the women, they have made marvelous progress and have almost completed the pipeline. I also had the opportunity to sit in on the Masaa jewelry project’s weekly meeting. Although it was entirely in Swahili, I enjoyed watching the women interact with each other and see their passion about having something that provides them with independence.
This past Saturday, our Wofford group ventured to the Materuni falls. After our first week of work, it was a much needed break to get out of our daily routines and stretch our legs. The hike required a short drive out of Moshi to a small town called Uru. Uru is situated on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and is absolutely surrounded by natural beauty. Immediately, you are enticed by the tropical forest that is home to hundred of trees and wild flowers. The walk to the falls was a pleasant, manageable journey that had spectacular views throughout. At one point the faint noise of children giggling could be heard; two village boys had been hiding in the bush and handing out small purple flowers to passing hikers. Rounding the last bend, a gigantic waterfall appeared out of nowhere. It might possibly be the largest waterfall I have ever seen. Even from quite a distance, the waters spray at you, leaving you drenched. The waterfall is the result of the melting snows of Kilimanjaro, and is indeed very icy. Several of us jumped in the water despite the frigid temperature. Afterwards we sat together and enjoyed peanut butter sandwiches before returning back to Moshi.
It’s a Friday afternoon after a long first week at work and I find myself at Moshi’s vacant railway station for a business meeting. The space is communal, with people pulling out tables and chairs onto the tracks that have been slowly reclaimed by nature. Bottles with long necks of Coke and Fanta are shared while the melodic sounds of Swahili are heard over the radio. I am here to meet with the tour guides of TATU Adventures.
All week I have been becoming familiar with the tour company’s client list and marketing strategies. Adventures is the for-profit side of the TATU Project. For more information about the project of women empowerment in East Africa, you can check out their site here. If you ask any of the locals or ex-pats about TATU they almost all respond with ‘they do things there differently’. We live and work in the same house, which creates a laid-back atmosphere while simultaneously building a network of support between all the different branches of TATU. I’ve spent most of my time at TATU so far perched on a floor cushion creating spreadsheets and updating our social media pages. This afternoon I am out on the town and could not be more excited. I quickly realize I am meant to coach these guides in English conversation lessons. Challenge accepted. The days pass slowly but the weeks fly by. Everything about Tanzania screams new and shoves comfort out of the window. Coming from the United States into the slow, languid African way of life makes you wonder about what you value versus what other people tell you to value.
Taking a few steps back, I arrived to Moshi in a haze. After around thirty-six hours of travel and minimal sleep, I gazed out at fields of sunflowers and at the attentive eyes of locals from the window of a daladala. My mind struggled to catch up with where my body had been seemingly thrown into. For the first three days I found myself floating from place to place, numb from the sharp contrast of confusion and exhilarating brain-stimulating experiences. Following those initial days, I found myself fighting for control. I wanted to dictate outcomes: how much wifi I have access to, when I can eat lunch and dinner, the language I can communicate with, and even the efficiency of other people. But none of that matters. When you realize that the people you love will still love you no matter the amount of communication, that meal times are flexible, that learning a new language will come with time, and that everything has an adjustment period… you can settle in and enjoy the ride. Stepping on to a plane always feels like pressing pause. It is a place where time and space seem to be at a stand still. You have begun your journey, but you haven’t reached your destination. The future is a dimension that you cannot prepare for, regardless of how hard you try. Choosing to travel to Tanzania was something where uncertainty abounded. I knew nothing of what to expect, no means of micromanaging besides packing the few necessities. Working abroad for a summer will not only push my boundaries and exceed my expectations, but it is also an opportunity where I can pause and take a break from participating in the normal. It will be a refreshing reminder that there are infinite ways to live this life. There is no normal, only societal norms that are reinforced by your location. Therefore, Tanzania will not only challenge me professionally, but it will also be a breath of fresh air and a beautiful lesson about living in the now and remembering that ideas and thoughts can always change with every new experience.
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TanzaniaHi, I'm Helen. Welcome to Lifted ~ I write to lift myself up. Archives |