This week I have learnt that listening to Christmas songs about snow and cold weather is not a reliable method of distraction from the air con not working. I know I shouldn’t be complaining about the heat given that I will soon be home and wishing I was warmer, but I was definitely not designed to work in an office at 35 degrees! On Tuesday one of my colleagues at NIT returned to work after some time off recuperating from knee surgery; we went out for lunch to catch up on what had happened while he had been away. It was a great opportunity to go have some local fish for one of the last times before I leave to go back to the UK and the company, as always, was really good. On Wednesday (9th December) Tanzania celebrated a public holiday to mark 54 years since it became independent. For the first time in 54 years however the country held no public celebrations. The new president (John Magufuli) cancelled all public spending on celebrations this year as part of his cost cutting measures. He has pledged that the money that would have been spent on a large party at the national stadium will be directed to local hospitals. Over the past few months Tanzania has been experiencing increased cases of cholera and associated deaths. The president therefore requested that people spend the day cleaning their local areas instead of celebrating to help reduce the spread of the disease. While this is a great thing that he is doing I was selfishly a little upset that I would not be able to see the usual celebrations. NIT was really quiet again; it is such a strange occurrence for there to be so few people on the campus. On Friday I finally had the chance to meet with the new deputy rector for formal introductions and to discuss what Transaid is doing at NIT - as well as future plans. It was a very productive meeting and I was delighted with the enthusiasm shown towards increased reporting and class size reduction. This was sadly my last weekend in Dar; I was torn with how I wanted to spend it. Going home next week was starting to sink in and the reality that I am not going to be in the sunshine, so close to idyllic Indian Ocean coastline (although the Yorkshire coastline is wonderful!) this time next week. I went to the slipway for dinner on Friday evening to see the sunset and a little last minute Christmas shopping followed by going to the beach on Saturday for one last time. Before going to the beach on Saturday morning however I took a small detour to the Mabinti shop to buy a few more gifts – the shop is also where the products are made and it is a fantastic place. Everything in the shop is beautiful and you can see the quality of the handmade products. On Sunday I sadly attended by last underwater hockey session in Dar (I may join a club in the UK…). Unfortunately because the school that we play at for the Christmas holidays the water was not very clear, making playing difficult, as there was very little visibility. This also increased the number of bumps I suffered during the game – one in particular to my nose, but luckily I think it is fine! We attempted to play in the diving pool for a short time before the 3 meter depth became too much of a challenge for everyone to play in. It still seems surreal that I will be back in the UK next week – I am going to make the most of my last few days in Dar es Salaam before I leave! |
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The week started with the weather mimicking the UK! It started raining on Sunday afternoon and continued all day Monday, although the temperature did not fall too much, remaining in the late 20s. This news would usually have brought my brother a lot of amusement; however since he was flying out to visit me on Saturday, the change in weather suddenly became solely my fault.
I was very busy catching up with everything that I'd missed while being in Zambia and pre-empting anything that needed to be completed before my two week holiday with my family. This week in particular the laid back African culture got to me a bit, my frustration at having to wait longer than I would usually expect for information has been mounting – I think it is the perfect time for a holiday! While the cultural difference around timings creates a very calm atmosphere, it's definitely counter-productive to working to deadlines. On Friday I'd received a lot of the information I had requested, but was somewhat skeptical about the progress that would be made in my absence.
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