My third week in Tanzania has been very settled compared to the previous two weeks of introductions and acclimatisation. At the beginning of the week, the rector (the head of NIT) was able to clear time in his very busy schedule to meet with all the people I will be having regular contact with, Neil and myself to discuss my role over the next six months. During my time here my key aim is to help improve the reporting relating specifically to the professional driver training program (PDTP). At the beginning of the week I collated the existing information from training that has taken place over the last 10 months to begin some further analysis on class sizes and pass rates. The meeting with the rector went really well. Neil advised that I would have to adapt to a new type of time keeping in Africa – and he was not mistaken. Our meeting was scheduled for 14:00 – it did not begin until 14:55 due to the various attendees being held up in other meetings prior to ours. I met all the deputy rectors and the relevant heads of departments along with their deputies. The outcome of the meeting was that I'll have regular contact with both the deputy rector in charge of academics, research and consultancy and the head of the transport safety and environment studies department. Through regular meetings I hope to understand where current reporting practices can be improved and suggest potential changes to help the effectiveness of the PDTP in the future. During the week I focused my time on looking into the existing data that is held on the PDTP to perform some further analysis. Outside of work, Neil and I had a very relaxing week; I ventured to the local supermarket on Friday evening, which involved about a 1km walk from our house on the NIT campus. The walk was very interesting, I have found that when walking alone anywhere in the area around NIT I get treated with a somewhat celebrity status. While the areas of Dar es Salaam closer to the coast have a larger population of white people, it is not very common near the NIT campus. On the walk most people asked how I was, if I was having a good day and similar questions – they seemed to find my very basic Swahili greetings quite amusing. I walked through a rural allotment like area directly behind NIT, feeling like I was getting a true glimpse into the real Tanzania outside of the sheltered confines of NIT and the expat areas I have visited so far. Walking through the streets there are plenty of interesting sights and smells – lots of small stands sell freshly cooked snacks. I was very intrigued by one particular salesman who had a cart selling sugar cane, while it smelt amazing I chose not to indulge – yet. Over the weekend I spent Saturday relaxing at the beach, this is a benefit to my placement in Tanzania that I am not going to take for granted over the next six months. The beach resort was host to a very large Hindu wedding this weekend, which was an amazing spectacle to observe. The elaborate decoration, music and stunning clothes added to a really enjoyable Saturday at the beach. On the taxi ride to the beach I had my first real view why Transaid forbid the use of motorcycle and motorcycle taxis in Tanzania for any employees or volunteers. While the traffic and driving of motorcycles I have seen is generally erratic and very unpredictable; on Saturday I witnessed a motorcycle taxi (locally referred to as a boda boda – the term is used because they were historically the vehicle used to get to the border of a country) lose balance while carrying 2 passengers (3 people in total on 1 motorcycle, with shopping bags and no helmets) everything, including the people, flew over the two lanes on a very busy road. Luckily the cars nearest to the bike were far enough away from it to stop or swerve so there were limited injuries, but the true danger of the form of transport was made very clear to me. In Tanzania a local speciality food is ‘Mishkaki’ – marinated beef kebab that is slowly roasted over charcoal. When a boda boda is carrying more than one passenger it is referred to locally as mishkaki as well. On my taxi ride back from the beach I was once again witness to another of Dar es Salaam's many road accidents. A car had veered off the road and was in a ditch at the side of the road, the way the local people had stopped to help remove the car from the ditch indicated to me that this type of accident is more common than I would like to imagine. Within one day I was able to truly see the need for increased training and road safety within Tanzania. The Swahili word for accident is ‘ajali’ – I have a feeling that I will be witness to more during my time in Tanzania. On Sunday I attended underwater hockey again, unfortunately I only lasted 30 minutes in the pool before having to admit defeat. At the time I believed I have sprained my ankle while using the fins, associating it with the fact that I hadn’t warmed up enough – however on Monday morning, after a very uncomfortable night’s sleep I woke up to find a large lump on my lower leg – I am hoping that I have just bruised a muscle and not torn anything, but for now I am planning to rest my leg as much as possible before attempting underwater hockey again. On a brighter note I joined the underwater hockey team in a local bar for a beer before going home, this was a great opportunity to talk to some people who have lived in Dar es Salaam for a lot longer than me, and gain some information on things to do and see. |
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