Dar es Salaam, what will you look like in 5 years?

Our first month in Tanzania has been wild, but wonderful.  After moving into an apartment, starting new jobs, making some new friends, and continuing to explore the city we are starting to feel like Dar is home.  It’s difficult to reflect back on the last few weeks because each day was unique and it feels like so many things have happened, but we’ll give it a try!

Home sweet home!

‘YOU WANT AN APARTMENT’:  One of our main priorities in our first weeks here was to find a place to unpack and make our home.  Tanzanian culture is all about who you know, family, and connections so we started the search with someone who came with very high recommendations from many colleagues, a woman named HALIMA.  Halima is a feisty, aggressive, experienced, and caring Tanzanian woman who’s age is made apparent by looking into her eyes which are starting to turn blue.  She is the kind of woman you want on your good side.  She is also a bit of a legend and when telling people you are working with Halima, a slow smile comes to their face.  Halima is very opinionated and informed us that ‘you want an apartment, not a house’ because a house is too much work and that ‘you want to live in Masaki’ because ‘all white people like Masaki’ and showed us how to drive carefully around ‘all these damn crazy drivers’ in Dar.  After hours (and over several days) of laughter and confusion with Halima, we found a place to live.  We are surprisingly living in Masaki in an apartment, just like Halima said, and we are happy.

Fish is the meat of choice living by the ocean.

For anyone who has not been to Dar es Salaam, there is an area of town often referred to as ‘The Peninsula’ in either a derogatory or prideful way depending on the conversation.  Masaki is a neighborhood on ‘The Peninsula’ and it’s maybe the most Western area in all of Tanzania.  We live in a great apartment complex with other development workers and with amazing staff (guards Tindwa and Kisinza, handymen Ima and Juma), a swimming pool, and a generator for power outages.  We have a microwave, something Shannon has never used in Tanzania until now.  We are unbelievably spoiled and comfortable, yet we hope to never stop being conscious of our choices and their impact here.  We walk to the local ‘mboga mboga’ (vegetable) stand where everything being sold is Tanzanian and eat at the ‘hoteli’ (local restaurant) where there is no menu because the food prepared that day depends on what vegetables are in season and what animal has just been killed.  We do not have dirt floors, we do not use the bathroom behind a bush, and we can drink our tap water (after boiling it for a couple of minutes).  We are lucky, and we know it.

Ferry rides are fun, despite the look on Nathan’s face.

‘THEY’RE DOING GREAT’:  A few days ago were introduced to a colleague of a friend who was impressed that we had settled in so well.  Our friend replied, ‘Yeah, they’re doing great!’ and we think she was right.  We have been able to meet so many people who we already consider friends from both Tanzania and abroad.  Work has been going really well for Nathan and he has already participated in workshops and many meetings among their partners.  Shannon has also recently found a job as the Volunteer Team Leader with a Swiss-based NGO called help2kids which supports education and health projects in Tanzania and Malawi.  The job is still very new but so far has been rewarding and challenging as there are expected to be more than 10 international volunteers working with help2kids over the next several months.

Aracely – our first guest and whale whisperer. It was so nice to have you Aracely!

Exploring the area has also been fun and we have learned our way around fairly well on many forms of transportation, from private car to ‘bajaji’ (Tanzanian tuktuks) to ‘daladala’ (Tanzanian public buses).  Dar has changed so much over the last few years and there are tons new restaurants, new roads, new daladala routes, faster ferries, and more.  Some of the highlights include a trip on the passenger ferry to the South beaches of Dar, going shopping at Kariakoo market (a massive market with everything from potatoes to brooms), and having drinks on the Indian Ocean with our first visitor Aracely who then spotted whales offshore.  It feels good to be in a place again where the ‘Must Visit’ list keeps getting longer.

Ima with the nest – look closely for the coat hanger.

‘IT IS A BIG BIRD NEST’:  While we have been having a great time, we are also aware that life is not easy for most Tanzanians.  We got home one day from work and saw one of the staff at our apartment holding a huge, long crow’s nest which had fallen out of a tree (no, there were no eggs or babies yet).  The Tanzanian staff were amazed at the size, while Shannon was mesmerized by the building materials used by the crows: some sticks of course, but also zip-ties, string, strips of plastic bags, even coat hangers.  The crows reminded us in this moment that it is not just necessary to be creative and use anything you have when living in Tanzania, it is the norm.  The people here are huge part of why we wanted to return because selfishly they teach us to be better people ourselves and make the most out of every single day.  We look forward to several years of growing with this community and building our own little crow’s nest!

A day at the beach is made even better with Stoney Tangawizi, Tanzania’s ginger ale and Shannon’s favorite soda.

NERD ALERT:  Ramadan (the Muslim month of fasting) came to an end a couple of weeks ago and we were reminded of the Middle Eastern influences on Swahili culture.  Did you know that many Swahili words are derived from Arabic?  Dar es Salaam itself can be translated to ‘house of peace’, and the words ‘safari’ (trip) and ‘rafiki’ (friend) are even originally from Arabic but now common in English too!