Intern to Intern

Be warned, you may find this post boring unless you are planning to do an internship in Tanzania. The information below consists of some of the A to Zs of being posted at the LHRC in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania as a part of the CBA’s Young Professionals’ International Program.

Accommodation: the LHRC may help you with housing or you may have to go it alone. If you go it alone, look at Advertising in Dar for rental ads. Because the traffic in Dar is terrible, I suggest looking for housing in areas that are close to the office. A few things to look out for in your new house are: air conditioning (there will come a time when you need it), water storage tanks, mosquito netting on the windows, and a generator. The last item is not strictly necessary, but the other three are fairly important. We had to pay all our rent up front, which seems to be the general practice. However, it is illegal to ask for more than 6 months rent up front and it leaves you with little leverage should you need it.

While you are looking for accommodation, there are a couple of hostels that are fairly cheap (and a little dodgy) that you can stay at downtown, namely the Jambo Inn and the Safari Inn. On the Msasani Peninsula, there is the slightly more expensive and sometimes hang out for prostitutes, the Q Bar.

Dalla dallas: Dalla dallas run throughout the city. At the moment, a dalla dalla trip costs Tsh300 ($0.30). The destinations of the dalla dallas are stenciled on the front of each dalla dalla. If you need the conductor to give you a heads up on where to get off, say Naomba masada [name of the place]. They will let you know when you get there. The dalla dalla stop by the LHRC is called Sayansi.

Dress code: The dress code at the LHRC is fairly formal. You don’t have to wear a suit everyday (although you should bring one with you), but you do need to look fairly smart. Outside of the office, cool summer clothes and flip flops are the order of the day.

Gyms: There are a number of gyms in Dar. The price per use can range from Tsh6,000 to Tsh15,000, depending on the type of equipment and whether there is a/c. There is yoga twice a week at the Fitness Zone (Msasani Peninsula, near the Irish Pub) and the Golden Tulip (Msasani Peninsula). The Golden Tulip also has a great swimming pool, which you can use for Tsh10,000.

Money: I was unable to obtain TZ shillings in Canada, which wasn’t a big deal. You can draw money as soon as you get to Dar from an ATM at the airport. You need to have a 4 number PIN in order to use the ATMs in TZ. Not all ATMs accept Canadian debit cards, so keep your eyes out for Barclay’s Bank ATMs. You can draw a maximum of Tsh400,000 at a go, which is roughly $400.

Power of Attorney: it is a good idea to give Power of Attorney to someone before you leave. I gave my Mom POA and she basically ensured that my Canadian life kept ticking for the past eight months. Without her, things would be a bit of a mess.

Restaurants: There are a host of good restaurants in Dar, you just have to find them. A few of my favourites are Jan’s Trattoria on Kimweri Avenue, the Indian Badminton Club and Retreat downtown, and the fish restaurant and coffee house at Sea Cliff on the Msasani Peninsula.

Shopping: There are a number of places to shop. If you are shopping for food, Shirjee’s has a very good selection of fresh produce and other stuff. It has locations at Morogoro (near QBar), Shopper’s Plaza and Millenium Towers (near the LHRC). There is also a good grocery store at Sea Cliff. If you are shopping for household stuff, Game in Milimani Mall is a good bet. Of course, there is also the Karikoo area downtown, which hosts a horde of shops that sell everything. I didn’t find somewhere to buy clothes, but I didn’t look that hard.

Student Loans: if you have any government student loans, I suggest getting interest relief before you leave Canada. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to call toll free numbers from Tanzania and automated telephone systems can drain your phone of credit in no time.

Swahili: everyone at the LHRC speaks Swahili and English. I found that my relationship with my co-workers improved dramatically when I picked up a little Swahili. Learning Swahili also made it easier for me to get around. I would suggest bringing a Swahili dictionary with you to Tanzania and, if you are interested, taking lessons. Cristiano and I took lessons with Mama Jengo from KIU Ltd.. Her number is 0754296312.

Taxis: the taxi fare from the airport to the city and beyond should be about Tsh20,000. The taxi drivers will try to convince you that the ‘official’ rate (which is supported by a clipboard and a piece of paper) is $35 USD. Don’t listen to them and bargain. There are no taxi meters and every fare needs to be agreed on before you leave the taxi rank. The fare is normally 1/3 to ½ the price that is first quoted.

USB key: The LHRC server is prone to having viruses. It is a good idea to back up your work as you go along either on a USB key, or by emailing it to yourself.

Visa: it is most likely that you will obtain a three month tourist visa while in Canada and a resident’s visa once you get to Tanzania. The CBA Program Coordinator has the appropriate form for the resident’s visa. It is likely that Rose, the human resources person at the LHRC, will take you through the paces to get a resident’s visa once you arrive in Tanzania.

As a caveat, the information in this post is correct as of today's date and is based on my experiences. Things may change in the next 6 months. Good luck and have a great internship.

Getting caned

In Tanzania, corporal punishment is still used in schools as a means of disciplining pupils. The use of corporal punishment in schools is governed by the Education (Corporal Punishment) Regulations, which provides that a head teacher can strike a pupil on the hands or buttocks for serious breaches of school discipline. In a 2007 survey conducted in Tanzanian schools, 80 percent of students indicated that their teachers used corporal punishment. In the past few years, questions have been raised about the efficacy of corporal punishment as a punishment. In addition, concerns have been raised about the impact of corporal punishment on the quality of learning. In the 2007 survey mentioned above, children had indicated that they experienced difficulties learning from a teacher when they feared the teacher would use corporal punishment or other measures to demean or humilate them.

Ironically, in February 2009, the Bukoba District Commissioner, Albert Mnali, had 19 primary school teachers caned by a police officer. According to the Districit Commissioner, he ordered the teachers to be caned for lateness, truancy and not following the official syllabus. However, the teachers' union has connected the caning to a dispute between the union and the government over teachers' salary arrears. The District Commissioner has been dismissed.

Body language

One the things I love about Tanzania is the wealth of non-verbal communication that litters every day. For instance, when I am running desperately late and speed walking to the dalla dalla that is rocking back and forth on its shocks in anticipation of leaving, all I have to do is lift my eyebrows once or twice and the conductor knows I need to be on that dalla dalla and governs himself accordingly. The eyebrow wiggle and a sharp lift of the chin are key tools in catching someone's attention and, usually, they indicate that you want whatever the other person is offering.

My second favourite gesture is the reverse "twinkle, twinkle little star" hand movement. Doing this motion does not indicate that you are a fan of children's nursery rhymes, rather it is a come over here gesture. If you are in a restuarant and want the waiter to come over to your table, a little twinkle, twinkle is all you need. Of course, you have to catch your waiter's eye first. Then there are the guys who sell individual sweets, 2 tablespoon packets of peanuts and lone cigarettes that get your attention by carefully balancing a roll of coins in one hand that they jounce together to form a distinctive and compelling sound.

Last, but not least, there is the handshake and tano. I know, we shake hands in Canada too. However, the Tanzanian handshake is a little bit different. It starts out the same as the Canadian handshake, but instead of letting go at the end, you start sliding your hands apart before you grip each other's fingertips (kind of like when you lock hands to do a thumb war) and flick your thumbs across each other. We may have to try out this handshake when we get home. Then there is tano. Tano literally means five in Swahili, but it is also means when two people each make a hand into a closed fist and bump each other's knuckles together. If you are getting really fancy, you can tano with both hands before bumping elbows. It is what all the cool kids do, including one of my younger co-workers and I.

Shaking my body

Every Monday, one of my co-workers and I discuss our weekend doings and whether we had a chance to "shake our bodies". This weekend I shook my body with a few thousand other people at Sauti za Busara ("Sounds of Wisedom"), a six day musical festival in Stone Town, Zanzibar that showcases musical talent from across the African continent. This festival is held on an annual basis and attracts people from all over Africa, both in terms of spectators and participants.

The Stone Town we arrived in on Saturday morning was buzzing with energy and with wazungus (I think half of Dar had decamped to Stone Town on Thursday when the festival started). A marked contrast to the rather staid and quiet Zanzibar that Wes and I visited during Ramadan and during Eid al-Fitr. The energy was infectious. On Saturday evening, we got our first taste of what the energy and excitement was all about. We watched in amazement, as artist after artist confidently took to the stage and blew us away. At the start of the evening, everyone was sitting very demurely on the grass soaking in the music. However, by the time the last band hit the stage around midnight, the crowd was enthusiastically shaking their bodies.

For me, the emphasis on Sunday shifted from enjoying the music to enjoying the crowd that was attending the festival. The crowd was a mixed bag of ex-pats, tourists and locals. I had the good fortune to spend the evening sitting with a group of Muslim ladies and their children, who were endlessly fascinated by the mzungu bouncing away to the music. Ultimately, I bounced away to the music with a child holding each hand and a little boy leaning on my shoulders for support, as he tried all his moves. He had some pretty good moves, despite being only 2 or 3 years old. I was suitably impressed.

My favourites artists of the festival were the The Moreira Project from South Africa, Nawal from the Comoros and Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga from the DRC/Kenya.

Obama mania

Obama is big in Tanzania, BIG. Before the elections, there were a number of parties hosted in Tanzania to show support for Obama and any number of t-shirts with Obama's face silk screened on in yellow, green and blue (the colours of Tanzania’s flag) up for sale. Every man and his dog had an Obama t-shirt. Election day came and for about an hour between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. time stood still as people stayed glued to their television sets, the air thick in anticipation of the election results. The Obama win was celebrated in my office with big smiles, vigorous hand shakes and lots of hand slapping. Obama mania did not die out after the election. Rather, it resulted in Obama American Garden ads (American Garden is a company that produces food products and it is from the UAE but you would never know that from their advertising or their name) and the Obama kanga, which is pictured above.

A kanga is a length of cotton material that is approximately 1.5 m by 0.5 metre that is normally decorated with a vibrant pattern and that contains a Swahili saying. The Swahili saying is what makes a kanga a kanga. The saying in the Obama kanga is “love and peace to be granted to you by God” or something along those lines. My translation skills are not great. Kanga sayings tend to be proverbs that give messages of love, warning or caution, so it serves you well to know just what your kanga is saying.

From what I’ve seen, kangas are worn wrapped around a woman’s waist, used as a shawl or a head scarf, used as a sling to secure a baby to a woman’s back, or rolled up to create a cushion between a woman’s head and the item she is carrying on her head. I am only just beginning to appreciate the kanga’s versatility.

Going bananas

Around my neck of the woods, there aren't too many lunch options. In fact, many of my lunch options begin and end with ugali. Ugali is a kind of stiff porridge made by boiling water and flour. The flour is usually made from maize, sorghum or cassava. Ugali is normally served with a beef stew or a whole fish that has been deep fried. I am not a huge fan of ugali, as it has a certain rock-like quality once it is in your stomach. It also has little nutritional content.

Around week 4, I discovered mishkaki (grilled meat cubes) and ndezi (grilled banana) and I've been hooked ever since. In Tanzania, there are the normal, slightly sweeter bananas, which can be eaten raw or grilled, and then there are plantains. Plantains are cooking bananas, which are used to make banana stew, matoke (mashed up bananas that are akin to mashed potatoes) and chips.

Give me an H, give me an I, give me a V, HIV

The issue of HIV/AIDS has been on my mind lately because of a few incidents that occurred in January. In early January, two friends of mine took a long distance bus to another part of Tanzania. The bus left later than scheduled and they ended up traveling after dark. The bus ran into a timber-filled truck that was stopped in the middle of their traveling lane and was not marked with any reflectors. 30 people died. My friends were very lucky to walk away with cuts and bruises. However, there was a lot of blood. My friends are now taking anti-retroviral prophylaxis. Similarly, someone was carjacked and was cut with a knife that had blood on it. He too is now taking anti-retroviral prophylaxis. Both sets of people are taking ARVs out of an abundance of caution, but it reminds me that HIV/AIDS is something that needs to be taken into consideration.

In Tanzania, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS is estimated to be 6.2% or, differently stated, 1.4 million people. This prevalence rate is relatively low in comparison to countries like Botswana, which has a prevalence rate of 23.9%, and Swaziland, which has a prevalence rate of 25.9%. However, it is high enough to make it an issue that is fairly high up on the agendas of the government, donors and non-governmental organizations.

There is also a caveat to the statistic regarding the HIV prevalence in Tanzania. It only represents those people who have been tested for HIV/AIDS. In 2007, the Tanzanian government launched of year long voluntary testing and counseling program. It was fairly successful, as 4 million people were tested. However, there are approximately 40 million people in Tanzania. People are reluctant to be tested as there is a significant amount of social stigma associated with a positive result and, from what I’ve heard, the confidentiality of results is not always guaranteed. I think reluctance to get tested is a natural response. In November 2008, I had the opportunity to be tested for HIV. Even though the chances of me being HIV-positive are incredibly slim, I had to take a couple of minutes to think about whether it was something I wanted to do. The testing itself was incredible simply. One pin prick and 20 long, anticipation-filled minutes later, I had my result. As expected, it was negative. For me, getting tested was fairly nerve-wracking and slightly scary. I can’t imagine what it is like for people who run a real risk of being HIV-positive.

In an effort to control and address HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, the government passed the HIV and AIDS (Prevention and Control) Act, 2008 in August 2008. This Act addresses matters such as discrimination, treatment of HIV-positive people, and AIDS orphans. It is a fairly comprehensive act. However, I take issue with some of its provisions, like the provisions that puts a positive obligation on an individual who tests positive for HIV to inform their partner. In addition, a health care provider may disclose an individual's results to that the individual's partner. I get the rationale behind these provisions. However, given the social stigma associated with a positive result, the risk of violence against an HIV-positive person and the power imbalance between men and women, I wonder if this provision will act as a disincentive to being tested. After all, if you don’t know your status, then you don’t have the obligation to disclose anything. Of course, you also don't get treatment and may not take any steps to prevent the transmission of HIV.

This is Dar

Life has got mildly busy in Dar, as I am trying to wrap up my internship and complete the human rights report. Having said that, I spent some time taking pictures of Dar. These photos can be accessed through the "This is Dar" link under the Pictures heading.