So as predicted the last week has been rather busy. All pretty much in the lead up to our Bonanza on Saturday. Turns out its pretty stressful to organise a bonanza. However it was a roaring success. Yes nothing was arranged till the last minute, yes we started over 2 hours late and yes there was a tropical rain storm during by set up. However despite all this over 400 people arrived and everyone seemed to love it. So all in all I think it was a success and we have had some great feedback.
It decided to rain a lot last week. Appropriate as Wednesday was world water day. I seemed to spend most of last week soaked through to the bone!! As some of you will have seen from my photos I got very involved in world water day. We played a great water really game with the college we are based at. This inevitably ended in a water fight. I took many hours to dry out!!
After the madness of the week it was incredible to have a day off on Sunday. A group of us spoilt our selves with a curry for lunch. A much needed change of cuisine not a lump of Ugali in sight!!!
This week is flying by, today I had my exit interview and this going home malarkey has really hit me now. Quite happily stay here for another few months. However it will be lovely to see everyone and not have to wash via a bucket of cold water!!
However most importantly coming here, embarking on this project and adventure is quite easily one of the best decisions I have ever made. So now on to the next challenge!
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Sunday, 19 March 2017
A rather enjoyable Saturday
As the title suggests the social was success. Everyone seemed to enjoy the social yesterday. For the first time since getting to Tanzania I think for a day we all felt as though we were on holiday. Also thankfully no one died which meant our suspect risk assessment for the day wasn't called into question.
I did however try some Tanzanian Chardonnay. As people know I worked in the drinks industry before my African adventure. My detailed tasting note for this wine was that it tasted like mouldy vinegar with a hint of rat wee. Put it this way I was glad the bottle was shared between four of us!!
The rest of my week has mainly been taken up by teaching and we ran an extra CV workshop for students which was very well attended. I find it quite surprising how little the students know about CV writing and cover letter writing.
Next weekend it is my groups turn to put on Community Action Day. So we are putting on a Bonanza for Self Confidence. Meaning I feel like this upcoming week could be rather busy!!
Also found out this week that we have to write a two page story about how we have each personally developed on our ICS journey here. Fairly cringe worthy I know!! So watch this space... Any tips are welcome.
Only 19 days to go.... AHHHHHHHH
I did however try some Tanzanian Chardonnay. As people know I worked in the drinks industry before my African adventure. My detailed tasting note for this wine was that it tasted like mouldy vinegar with a hint of rat wee. Put it this way I was glad the bottle was shared between four of us!!
The rest of my week has mainly been taken up by teaching and we ran an extra CV workshop for students which was very well attended. I find it quite surprising how little the students know about CV writing and cover letter writing.
Next weekend it is my groups turn to put on Community Action Day. So we are putting on a Bonanza for Self Confidence. Meaning I feel like this upcoming week could be rather busy!!
Also found out this week that we have to write a two page story about how we have each personally developed on our ICS journey here. Fairly cringe worthy I know!! So watch this space... Any tips are welcome.
Only 19 days to go.... AHHHHHHHH
Sunday, 12 March 2017
Mikindani, Lindi and a Career Fair
As the title suggests this week has been incredibly busy. I am in the group which is organising the next social. In the next village (Mikindani) there is a hotel called the Old Boma. It is an old converted German colonial fort. The hotel is very pleasant, has an incredible swimming pool and is certainly set up to accommodate westerners. So we have decided on here as the location for Saturday's social. Obviously a risk assessment is needed... so Sam, Albany, Saraa and I took it on ourselves to go on a investigative field trip on Wednesday afternoon. This was my first trip on a public bus in Tanzania (all the other buses have been private). It really is amazing how many people you can squeeze in, and even when there is no room more people will get on and just sit on top of you. Been gentleman Sam and I let the girls sit in the front with the driver. However, we did manage to bag ourselves what we thought were some fairly good seats... however, we ended up having a little girl fall asleep on our knees and then slip down the gap between our legs. The mother really didn't seem bothered or impressed when I tried to inform her that her daughter was asleep and about to fall... Hey ho that aside we made it to Mikindani. The risk assessment continued we tried out some mocktails at the hotel, negotiated some lunch at a good price for next Saturday and went and splashed out on some Calamari for lunch. All in all a successful trip out.
The following day was Thursday and the turn of Mtwara's career fair. Thankfully this time there wasn't a 4am start only a 6am start. The fair went fairly well however the students in Mtwara didn't quite seem as enthusiastic as in Lindi. Something we need to feed back to VETA to try and discover why.
This weekend was our MPR (Mid Phase Review). For this we travelled to Lindi and stayed in the luxury of a hotel which had, running water, hot water and AC (crazy I know!!). We also got the added luxury of our own rooms! Sam and I had volunteered a while a go to be the chairman and Secretary of the weekend, without realising how much we were meant to do. This quickly became apparent in Lindi when our project officer told us the weekend was now ours and every question was been fired at us. This was despite there been another 8 people on the MPR team. However we managed to convince everyone we knew what we were doing. The sessions went well, we looked at our own personal development and progress of the project. Both topics bought out some great ideas and interesting thoughts. Including one person who described me as charming and down to earth. Maybe I should move to Tanzania I'd that's people's perception me!? After the sessions we had some great food and 2 nights of great party's followed. Much Gin was consumed and much singing and dancing happened.
We spent this morning nursing our hangovers on a beautiful beach. Our Tanzanian volunteers then arrived by Bjaji still singing and dancing as they had been the night before.
The pArty really
The following day was Thursday and the turn of Mtwara's career fair. Thankfully this time there wasn't a 4am start only a 6am start. The fair went fairly well however the students in Mtwara didn't quite seem as enthusiastic as in Lindi. Something we need to feed back to VETA to try and discover why.
This weekend was our MPR (Mid Phase Review). For this we travelled to Lindi and stayed in the luxury of a hotel which had, running water, hot water and AC (crazy I know!!). We also got the added luxury of our own rooms! Sam and I had volunteered a while a go to be the chairman and Secretary of the weekend, without realising how much we were meant to do. This quickly became apparent in Lindi when our project officer told us the weekend was now ours and every question was been fired at us. This was despite there been another 8 people on the MPR team. However we managed to convince everyone we knew what we were doing. The sessions went well, we looked at our own personal development and progress of the project. Both topics bought out some great ideas and interesting thoughts. Including one person who described me as charming and down to earth. Maybe I should move to Tanzania I'd that's people's perception me!? After the sessions we had some great food and 2 nights of great party's followed. Much Gin was consumed and much singing and dancing happened.
We spent this morning nursing our hangovers on a beautiful beach. Our Tanzanian volunteers then arrived by Bjaji still singing and dancing as they had been the night before.
The pArty really
Sunday, 5 March 2017
Halfway House
Wow, how are we at the halfway point already. Terrifies me to think that a month today will be our very last day in Mtwara. The last six weeks have been challenging but so rewarding. It's strange to think that in a months time our team will probably never all be together again. Anyways rather than dreading the future let's live for the present....
My hair cut from Monday evening got a whole range of reactions, the being from Lydia who just didn't recognise me. Many people are now saying I look like a US Marine so are calling me Sergant Street, not sure if that is better than been described as an arms dealer?!? As I previously said the haircut was probably the most terrifying moment of my trip so far. It somehow took an hour, involved three different people trying to cut my hair, many locals filming it and an argument over the price. I now genuinely look like a goat in my opinion.
Tuesday and Wednesday were packed full of teaching with us covering the topics of Good and Bad work habits and also personal development and understanding your characteristics. With the language barrier teaching can be challenging as it's safe to say my Swahili is not quite fluent yet. However, with Musa and Evaline's help Jess and I manage to battle through. However Musa did have to bollock a class on Wednesday as they really weren't paying attention.
On Thursday we headed to Lindi for a career fair. Lindi was a good 3 hours bus ride away so it was a 4am start, because what journey here wouldn't involve many hours waiting around. Many people took the opportunity to sleep on the bus, not sure how as I was more concerned in checking we weren't about to crash. Anyways we survived, the Career fair was a success and it was great to catch up with the Lindi Volunteers. At the Career fair Jess, Irene and myself ran a Graduate Masterclass for the students to ask former graduates questions about careers. This went very well and was very popular. However as ever many areas for improvement for this weeks career fair in Mtwara.
On Saturday we held a Community Action Day at a local school. The topic was Early Pregnancy. Amazingly this day was attended by 140 people. Such a great way to spread a vital message. Following this we celebrated Asedi's birthday at a bar called Mantaray, had lunch at our new favourite restaurant Ginger and Garlic ( I had rice and beans for the equivalent of 70p) and then spent the afternoon chilling on the beach planning many UK reunions when we are back.
Basically right now life is pretty damn sweet!!
My hair cut from Monday evening got a whole range of reactions, the being from Lydia who just didn't recognise me. Many people are now saying I look like a US Marine so are calling me Sergant Street, not sure if that is better than been described as an arms dealer?!? As I previously said the haircut was probably the most terrifying moment of my trip so far. It somehow took an hour, involved three different people trying to cut my hair, many locals filming it and an argument over the price. I now genuinely look like a goat in my opinion.
Tuesday and Wednesday were packed full of teaching with us covering the topics of Good and Bad work habits and also personal development and understanding your characteristics. With the language barrier teaching can be challenging as it's safe to say my Swahili is not quite fluent yet. However, with Musa and Evaline's help Jess and I manage to battle through. However Musa did have to bollock a class on Wednesday as they really weren't paying attention.
On Thursday we headed to Lindi for a career fair. Lindi was a good 3 hours bus ride away so it was a 4am start, because what journey here wouldn't involve many hours waiting around. Many people took the opportunity to sleep on the bus, not sure how as I was more concerned in checking we weren't about to crash. Anyways we survived, the Career fair was a success and it was great to catch up with the Lindi Volunteers. At the Career fair Jess, Irene and myself ran a Graduate Masterclass for the students to ask former graduates questions about careers. This went very well and was very popular. However as ever many areas for improvement for this weeks career fair in Mtwara.
On Saturday we held a Community Action Day at a local school. The topic was Early Pregnancy. Amazingly this day was attended by 140 people. Such a great way to spread a vital message. Following this we celebrated Asedi's birthday at a bar called Mantaray, had lunch at our new favourite restaurant Ginger and Garlic ( I had rice and beans for the equivalent of 70p) and then spent the afternoon chilling on the beach planning many UK reunions when we are back.
Basically right now life is pretty damn sweet!!
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