A Portfolio
The work and adventures of Dwayne Hodgson,
+ Learning Designer & Facilitator at learningcycle.ca
+ Storyteller & Photographer @ thataway.ca
December 3, 2014 to February 7, 2015
Below is a Google map of our itinerary in Tanzania. Altogether, we covered approximately 4,300 km by bus, ferry, car, open-top-safari car, and two flights (not shown on the map).
When people go on a wildlife safari in Africa, they often keep their eyes open for the BIG FIVE, those iconic animals that everyone thinks of when they hear "Africa": lions, rhinoceros, cape buffalo, leopards and elephants.
On this trip, having never managed to spot a leopard, we scored 4/5 of that list, but we saw gazillions of other grazers (e.g. antelope, impala, topi, waterbuck and eland) and billions of browsers (e.g. giraffes).
But as we leave Tanzania this evening, we thought it would be fun to list our own BIG FIVE of things that we saw and did during our time here.
Tricia with our friend, Josephine.
1. Friends. It was great to see friends in Tanzania. We connected with people with whom we used to work and with some other friends from Canada. We also got to know some new Tanzanian colleagues, especially during the workshops we led. Independent travel can be quite solitary, so it was great to have so many connections here.
2. Swahili. After grunting our way through basic Turkish for three months, oh what a pleasure it was to be able to communicate easily again! Dwayne and I were pleased that we remembered quite a bit of Swahili after being away for 12 years, and we learned more words and expressions through the workshops we facilitated. (By the way, for any development heads out there, you maybe interested to know that "theory of change" translates to "nadharia ya mabadiliko". :-).
3. Safari. Dwayne and I have had a number of chances to see African wildlife over the years, but it is still magical. And seeing three of Tanzania's amazing national parks with our kids was wonderful. You can imagine how cool it was to spot lions while standing up in a Landrover with the rooftop popped open.
4. Food. I like Tanzanian food. The fruit is especially good. This is also home to the best rice on earth, IMHO.
5. I guess my #5 is simply being able to see again how big and varied the world is, and witness that with the kids. This is a pretty low-income country, and many things in Tanzania don't work well so most people struggle to get by. On the other hand, there is great beauty and generosity, and if you are connected in your community, most situations turn out quite well. So, it's a big world, after all.
Isaac does his best leopard imitation.
1. Serengeti National Park. In Serengeti, I liked it because there we saw lots of lions.
2. Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. Like Serengeti, I liked Ngorongoro because there were lots of animals. We saw lots of wildebeest and buffalo. We also saw 5 rhinos!!.
3. Playing with my friend Baraka on his PlayStation.
4. Swimming with dolphins off the coast of the island of Zanzibar.
5. Mangos. The mangos in Tanzania are really awesome.
Zoe with her hair braided into corn rows in Zanzibar.
In reverse order....
5. All the fresh fruit and colourful fabrics. Tanzania has awesome fresh fruit. We had a very good smoothie with mango and yogurt in Mwanza. Also, the women wear awesome colours, fabrics, and patterns.
4. Shopping for Christmas gifts in Iringa. There are beautiful handicrafts here. It's awesome for trinket shopping.
3. Zanzibar beach time and Christmas in Ruaha. The Zanzibar beaches are beautiful, white sand, lots of shells, and all around beautiful. For news about our Christmas in Ruaha, see the other postcard.
2. Swimming with dolphins. We went swimming with dolphins off Zanzibar. It's both beautiful and kind of scary to see wild animals that close.
1. Going on a safari in Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. I have never seen so many animals in one place. The zebras were migrating in Serengeti when we were there, so there were animals everywhere. Ngorongoro Crater and the space around it are beautiful and lush. In 2 days we saw 62 lions and 5 rhinos!❇
One of the few pictures of this rare species of photographer.
1. Catching up with friends and colleagues from when we worked here between 1998 and 2002. Thanks again to Rama and Baraka, Jean, Mutta, Mallumbo and his family, Makuhi & Kwezi and Patrick, Eric and Esther, Grace, Jim and Josephine, and Ralph & Louise & Hugo and Hannah. And meeting some new friends: Liberata, Zakayo, Rashidi, Philip and Jeannetta, Chris and Heather and kids, Paul and Laura & Wes and Ella, Brett and Cristina, Peter and John from AICT MUD, and Timothy at AICT Geita.
2. Volunteering with World Renew Tanzania to design and facilitate five learning events with staff and their partners. This turned out to be a lot of work in a relatively short time, but it was great to work with Tanzanians who are catalysts for change here. It was also fun to work with Tricia again, and to see her proficiency in Swahili come back.
3. Seeing what has and hasn't changed here. Having only been back here once before in 12 years, it was striking to see a number of significant changes: more traffic here in Dar, the explosion of mobile phone uses -- especially for sending money and paying bills via cellphone-- the influx of Chinese investment and business people, a lot more visible wealth and audible English in many places.
But at the same time, it is discouraging to see many people who still go without the basics of clean water and air, regular electricity, and easy access to nutritious food and decent schools. Despite the great wealth that is being uncovered and often exported from this country, too many people still aren't benefiting from the economic development that is making some very wealthy.
4. Watching our kids roll with things. Zoe and Isaac are remarkably adaptable and resilient kids. And after six months of travelling they have become adept at making themselves at home wherever that is today, making friends quickly with other kids, and even finding really creative things to do when Trish and I were busy working. Being away from home, family, school and friends can be really tough sometimes (for all of us), but it is great to see how they are experiencing life here, even as they have had to face some pretty unusual situations. But they've done really well: Isaac even asked to take a bijaij (motorcycle taxi) the other day. I'll be very curious to see how this short exposure to life in Tanzania influences their worldview and interests in the future. But for now they are healthy, safe, and thoughtful, so we're grateful.
5. Going on safari. Okay, it's completely touristy and over-priced, but it is absolutely amazing being 3 metres from lions, zebras and giraffes amidst breath-taking scenery. And as a would-be-National-Geographic-photojournalist, I love getting to snap pictures to my heart's content. One day, I'd love to come back with a really BIG camera with 2 feet of glass, but for now, it was great to see all that we did in Ruaha, Serengeti and Ngorongoro and take a few snapshots on the 4/3rds.
Gotta fly! Kwa herini!
"What a minute…!" you may be saying, "What's that about working? Wasn’t this supposed to be a year-off? ”
Well, yes, sort of. Trish is indeed taking a self-funded leave or sabbatical year from her work at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and I’m also taking a break from my various (but not sundry) activities as a freelance facilitator and trainer.
But as recovering Calvinists, we realized that a taking a full year off work might just kill us. So before we left, we contacted our former employer in Tanzania, World Renew, and asked them what they might do if two volunteers showed up in Dar es Salaam.....
Quite a bit, as it turned out.
Now, Trish and I are not exactly what you call handy in a conventional sense. We don’t know much about agriculture, micro-finance or community health issues; but we do know a thing or two about program planning and evaluation -- which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds.... but actually is very useful when you're working in places like Tanzania where community organizations and NGOs really want to make sure that they are making a difference.
So in the end,, World Renew staff here asked us to work with four partners in Dar es Salaam and in the Mwanza area near Lake Victoria to design and facilitate four workshops on planning, and proposal writing. I also facilitated 2.5 days of strategic planning with World Renew Tanzania's team. In total, we put in something like 20 person days of work.
Of course, since we’re in Tanzania, we did our best to facilitate a lot of the workshops in Swahili, a language that we have only spoken sporadically since we left Tanzania in 2002. Most of this vocabulary came back quite quickly; the rest was patiently corrected by our Tanzanian colleagues who were pleased that we had remembered so much after so many years away.
For us, this was a great chance to dip our toes back into development work, to engage with Tanzanians at a deeper level again, and to meet some dynamic staff who are doing some really important work. It was also interesting to visit Mwanza, Geita, Sengerema and Musoma again to see what had (and what hadn't) changed.
Tricia and I would just like to thank the World Renew Tanzania team: Jim, Chris, Zakayo, Liberator, Grace, Rashidi, Philip and Jeannetta, and to all the partner staff at ACHAMA, AICT Geita, AICT MUD and SISA. And also a shout out to the Ruffians, Zoe and Isaac, for entertaining (and educating) themselves while we worked. Cheers, dh
We realized that the shock to our system of working again could only be counter-acted by a does of intensive zoological therapy. As well, the kids had been really great about hanging out and reading while we were taking turns working, so we decided to splurge on a 3-day safari in the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. These are two of the premier places to see animals in Eastern Africa, and the kids were keen to spot and identify different animals, including (drum roll, please) 62 lions and 5 rhinos.
Below are some of the pictures that we took:
December 20, 2014 to January 12, 2015 / Dar es Salaam - Iringa - Ruaha - Zanzibar
Sorry for the radio silence. It's been a few weeks since time, laptop and WIFI have converged long enough for me to write a blog post. And even now with a relatively stable internet connection, I"m not sure how long I have before it cuts out, so you'd better read quickly....
Since you last left your intrepid travellers....we've:
Currently we're holed up in a hotel just north of Dar as I prepare to facilitate a Strategic Planning session for World Renew's Tanzanian program this week. (This hotel is much nicer than the usual "warm and dry with WIFI" hovels where we usually crash; there's even a pool for the kids and an AC unit to blow off the rainy season's heat and humidity. But other than that, this is a somewhat-generic-might-as-well-be-anywhere-kind-of-place with interminable jangle-twang of Mexican-Cowboy Movie Muzak echoing through its empty hallways. I'm often feel like Clint Eastwood walking into a ghost town anticipating a gunfight....).
As the pictures attest, we're really fortunate to be seeing and doing some really cool things. But in between the photo ops there are also more "normal" days that can sometimes feel a bit long. Without having our own place or the set routines of school and work, or if we end up in lonely hotels with gunslinger music serenading the hallway tumbleweeds, we sometimes have a lot of unstructured time on our hands, and its usually then when the homesickness hits.
On the other hand, it would be exhausting to be on the move all the time, especially in a cross-cultural context where finding gas, food and lodging takes much longer than you'd expect. So we can't always be in the busy tourist mode. The trick is finding the balance and making the most of each place we visit.
At any rate, we're looking forward to the week ahead to talk shop with colleagues and to enjoy a few more swims in the Indian Ocean before we head north to Mwanza, Tanzania's second biggest city, to do some more volunteer work.
Safari njema!
Greetings from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
I will resist the temptation to write long discourses on Swahili vocabulary and grammar -- been there, done in a blog I wrote when we lived here between 1998 and 2002. However, a quick lesson on how to greet someone may be in order as I update you on the news from our first two weeks back here with the kids.
Rule #1:
The first word that you need to know is “habari" (hah-bar-ee), which translates roughly as "news". It is the first question someone will ask to inquire about what "news" you may have about themselves (Habari yako?), their children (Habari za watoto?), their cows, the place where they are from, their house,...pretty much anything.
Rule # 2:
If someone asks you “Habari….?”, the answer is usually "-zuri" or "good news". Habari yako? Nzuri. Habari za watoto? Wazuri? Habari za kazi? Nzuri. This is the case no matter how bad the actual situation may be. In fact, they may be sad, the children may be sick or the cow may even be dying or have already died, but they tend to answer the same regardless.
So with that brief introduction, here is our news from Tanzania.....
Nzuri! After a short and unexpected visit with our friend, Stu, at the Istanbul airport, we arrived safely in Dar es.Salaam at 3 am, got our visas and luggage and caught a lift to a guesthouse.
Unfortunately, some microbe either followed me from Turkey (“But I didn’t eat the salmon mousse......"), or greeted me upon arrival here, which allowed me to reacquaint myself with the intimate details of Tanzanian plumbing during the next 36 hours. No one else got sick, at least.
Nzuri! Well, Nzuri kidogo (a little bit good). It's hot here. Africa hot. 30 C and 70% + humidity and pounding sun all day, making you feel smothered all the time. We quickly become lethargic and find ourselves slouching between pockets of air conditioning, huddling under ceiling fans and holding cold drinks to our foreheads to remember what not being picking hot feels like.
Of course, having lived here, we knew darn well it would be a hot time of the year to visit, but I’m surprised how we feel so incapacitated some days.
When we lived here, we always joked that “Dar is a fine place to live, but I wouldn’t want to visit here”. Although it was a city of 5 million +, there are not a lot of touristic sites to visit, and the things that we liked to do tended to be spread out all over the city. Of course, during our 12 year absence the city has only spread out and filled in further, and it has taken a while to find our bearings again.
The major change, however, has been the massive increase in traffic since 2002. The city’s infrastructure was always a bit creaky: potholes on main roads, secondary roads that needed a 4x4 to crawl down, huge pools of water fed by open sewers and leaking pipes when it rained….but now the traffic (“fulani”) has become a constant hassle and preoccupation as private cars, taxis, daladala (taxi buses), bajaji’s (motorcycle taxis or “tuk-tuks”), Chinese motorcycles, bicycles, handcarts and pedestrians all compete for road / sidewalk / alleyway space.
A trip across town that used to take us 30 minutes now can last over 3 hours, and our friends complain that the longest part of travelling to Kampala or Nairobi is the drive to the airport. The city government is building a rapid bus transit line through one of the major arteries in town, but of course the construction is contributing to further tie ups in the meantime (say, that sounds like Ottawa…..).
A visit with Ibrahim Makuhi, his wife, Kwezi, and their kids.
A key reason for coming to Tanzania, aside from showing the kids a few places that we used to haunt, was to see friends. And on that front, we’ve been quite successful. So far, we’ve met up with:
We even connected with another vagabond family from Ottawa for a few days hanging out on a beach south of town.
Tomorrow, we are taking a bus down to Iringa, a regional city about 8 hours from here that I used to visit every month. There we will visit some other friends who worked with our partner organizations as well as two good friends from our church in Ottawa who now live there, and another family who is visiting from Geneva. So, our blessing of friends continues.
When we decided that we were going to be in Tanzania, we’ve offered to do some volunteer coaching and training with World Renew and its partners. They were very receptive and they have lined up four short projects for us while we’re here.
We started the first one by visiting ACHAMA, a volunteer-run organization that works with former sex-workers and youth-at-risk in three neighbourhoods of Dar es Salaam. ACHAMA provides HIV/AIDS education and vocational training so that they can find alternative and safer livelihoods. Their committee members gave us a short overview of their work, and we met a few of the participants in a sewing class.
But now, things are slowing down for the Christmas and New Year's break, so we'll focus on preparing for a workshop with ACHAMA, a strategic planning exercise for the World Renew Tanzania program, and a field visit to Mwanza where we'll work with staff from another partner in January.
When we were first just finding our way in Istanbul back in September, Zoe suggested that we really should have eased into travelling by visiting a Western European city first. “That way, it wouldn’t have been such a big change for us”, she sighed.
Oh my, I thought. Just wait until you get to Tanzania.
Of course, after a few weeks, we did learn our way around Turkey and the kids started to have firm opinions on the best Turkish food, mosques, beaches, football teams, etc.
Isaac bears a striking resemblance to his long lost relatives at the National Museum in Dar es Salaam.
This time, the kids largely have taken this transition in stride, albeit with some understandable complaints (see above). Between the heat, the traffic, the presence of security personnel everywhere, and the constant sensory overload of noise, bright light, colour, and people, diesel smoke, and dust....it is a hard place for anyone to get used to. Life here is really difficult for most people, and I wonder how much we can expect our kids (and us, frankly) to adjust to in a short time.
But after two weeks, already a few places are starting to look familiar, our Swahili has come back to as good as it ever was, and we’ve resigned ourselves that God made our bodies to sweat.
In the meantime, we’re doing our best to negotiate the challenges, find some fun-ner things to do when we can,, and point out the beauty all around us.
If you can see through the stench of the open sewer, there are flame trees and marvellous plants everywhere. If you can listen through the noise of traffic, you’ll hear lots of joking and laughing as people commiserate and just keep plugging on despite everything. If you can concentrate on the one part of your body where there is a slight breeze, you can remember what it feels like to be cool just long enough until you find the next ceiling fan or a cold soda to hold against your forehead.
Habari zetu? / How are we? -- Nzuri, tu.
