Jambo!
I am back with my second blog post about my experience interning abroad. If you are interested in learning about the process and all the introductory aspect, I recommend reading my first blog- 'Next Stop: Tanzania'. As mentioned, I was enrolled for summer 2023 in an internship in Arusha- Tanzania working with an NGO in the Maasai community on Women's Empowerment and FGM Awareness.
A bit about Tanzania is a country in East Africa, the capital is Dodoma, and the national language is English and Swahili - extremely beautiful, with great natural views and interesting and heartwarming culture. Is also home to some of the best national parks in the world. I stayed in Arusha, located at the base of the Mountain Meru.
The institution I worked with was a connection through other bigger organizations (Intern Abroad HQ, MediTrip, and SiretVolunteers). I was assigned to work with Tupendane Africa Foundation, which was founded by Roseline Mushi in November 2022. It is a non-governmental organization based in Tanzania, Arusha. The main goal is to support women from economically and socially difficult backgrounds to develop their own long-term income. In the project, the women learn different skills, such as beading, cooking, English, and tailoring, amongst others. The organization is still pretty new, so there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and they have a lot of plans and vision for what they want it to look like. Also, on the foundation, there is a daycare for these women's children.
Tupendane is Swahili for "Let's love each other," which describes the solidarity and community in the group.
I left Knoxville on Friday, June 2nd, and arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport on Sunday 4th. From the airport to the hostel took around 1 hour. In the hostel, there were around 20 girls or more from the US, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Austria, and the UK. At first, I was rooming with 7 other girls - but later on, it became 10 of us. There wasn't a laundry machine, so we did it by hand, or you could also pay the women that cleaned and cooked at the hostel to do it for you.
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| My room |
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| The bathroom |
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| The hostel I stayed in |
Throughout the week, we had breakfast from 6 to 9 am and dinner from 6 to 9 pm, but we usually all ate early because of work. For breakfast, it was always the same toast or crepe, coffee and tea, eggs, and fruits ( avocado, watermelon, orange, banana, pineapple, mango). However, for dinner, it was different dishes throughout the week. On the weekends, they only served breakfast, so we often went to the market to get snacks and products to cook.
Speaking of food, it was really good, and I was able to experience some of the traditional plates as well, such as kiti moto, ndizi na nyama( meat and plantain soup), chappati, mtori( banana soup), mchemso(Tanzanian meat and vegetable soup),sukuma wiki( collard green)- whatever vegetable\greens sides they use on dishes they refer to it as mboga majani, kachumbari, chicken and chips (french fries), mandazi, vitumbua(coconut rice pancakes) and chipsi mayai. We also end up exploring international cuisines in the city, such as chinese restaurants.
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| Mandazi |
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| Breakfast with toast and egg |
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| Chapati, beans, and collard green |
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| Barbecue chicken, fries, and avocado salad |
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| Spaghetti |
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| Breakfast with crepe |
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| Chipsi mayai |
Tanzania has dry air, at least during the time I was staying there, so you may need a mask if the dust bothers you. Is also pretty chilly, especially during July. For those interested in adventuring the city and doing excursions, you must plan ahead for activities and pay for everything already; it just makes it easier.
Some of us, to go to our placement, had to take public transportation and do a few minutes walk. For me, was 34 -35 min to get to work. The bus is called dalladalla, and the interesting thing is no matter where you go, it will always be 500 Tanzanian Shillings. 500 Tanzanian shillings to go and to come back, so per day, I spent on transport 1000 Tanzanian shillings, the same as $ 0.42 USD; unless you make some detours, but you still won’t spend more than $ 5 USD daily. I also tried tuk-tuk, and the drivers are the ones who set the price depending on how far you going.
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| Dalladalla |
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| Tuktuk |
My huge deal breaker and challenges were trying to figure out the bus stops and the language barrier. I could blend in with the locals, but whenever they would try speaking to me, they would always be surprised that I couldn't speak Swahili. I got a lot of questions, such as - “Why don't you speak Swahili?” “You are a black American…?” Sometimes at public transportation ( dalla dalla ), people were pretty rude to the fact that I was 'black' and didn't know how to speak Swahili. But it wasn't everybody. They also use motorcycles as public transportation, and you could order In drive, which was similar to Uber. And if you like the person, you can get their contact and call them whenever you need a ride.
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| In drive app |
In total, I worked around 97 hours for the whole 6 weeks I was there. My job consisted of community support, joining the coordinators as they visited women in the community or in their homes to continue to help individual cases of women in severe circumstances. Fundraising, helping to upkeep and run fundraising campaigns for money that goes directly to the project to keep the project running.Training and awareness, by developing training and awareness programs to give group presentations or teaching on topics women have asked for to develop their own knowledge. In we led debates on women's empowerment, and the topics usually were: Should men and women have shared chores in the household?\\Healthy relationship\\Men and women should be equal in Tanzania. There were also scenarios for English classes, such as selling products to tourists.NGO support by helping with the daily running of the center to help organize how the NGO operates, scheduling daily classes, ensuring marketing and awareness campaigns are running, and the staff has the information and resources to support the women. In addition, I also did online work, where I helped with social media campaigns, website running, and refreshing the marketing of the NGO to keep awareness alive for the project. We were able to achieve a lot, but there is still work that needs to be done.
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| Teaching class on stress management and debates on marriage |
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| Climate change lesson |
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| Cooking day at work |
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| Team Discussion |
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| Learning how to bead |
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| Shoes made by the women at the foundation |
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| Sewing class |
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| Daycare |
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| Volunteers and the women from the foundation |
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| Sewing class |
A. The whole internship process gave me more personal growth than professional ones, however in terms of long-term goals, I would say maybe organizational, and building more independence and communication skills, especially dealing with people from different backgrounds, time management, problem-solving, teamwork, flexibility, creativity, work ethic, computer proficiency skills, marketing, and project management skill.
1. The first few days were overwhelming, but I was able to get the hang of it and slow down and just go with the flow of the organization and the resources we had at the moment.
2. These women at the foundation are stronger than they think. Is hopeful and encouraging to see that they can smile and still enjoy life, even with all the difficulties.The way they leaned on us, even though we were neither professionals nor too knowledgeable, created room for trust and growth.
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| Type of blades used to cut girls. |
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| Mannequin on FGM |
In general, I personally didn't want to do big excursions, just explore more locally, but I ended up going on this Kilimanjaro excursion where I met people from other hostels and countries, so that was nice. We went on a hike to get to this waterfall, which took around 1-hour walk; afterward, we went on this coffee tour where they produce 300kg by hand, not sure if that is per week or per month. We learned that Tanzania has 140 tribes, all with their own customs and traditions and that coffee was introduced in Tanzania in 1880. Also that the volcanic soil is good for the coffee taste and strong aroma. They produce arabica coffee, which doesn't have a strong caffeine percentage, and it is considered the best type of coffee in the world. Their mojo is “No coffee, no life.”
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| Coffee tasting |
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| "No coffee, no life" |
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| Coffee |
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| The steps of the coffee production |
We also tried banana beer which has 10% alcohol. It had a sour taste, and the things on the top had a texture like a coconut.
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| Banana beer |
We stayed in this other hostel during the night because the other day, we went to Kikuletwa hot spring. A fun fact is that the water from the hot spring comes from Kilimanjaro mountain, and the kikuletwa (chemka) hot spring, also called maji moto, is hot water in Swahili. The water is fairly warm, not hot.
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| Hike |
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| kikuletwa (chemka) hot spring |
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| Materuni waterfall |
I also went to do some shopping and look at some tanzanites. Tanzanites are a blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite caused by small amounts of vanadium. Is really pretty.
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We also had a Swahili lesson at the hostel. Honestly did not use most of it besides the common daily greeting. Here are some of my notes:
Karibu-welcome
Hamjambo-are you all fine?
Asubuhi-morning
Kazi-work
Mwanafunzi-student
Pia-as well
Nzuri-good
Nauru sana-very good
Mbaya- bad
Nusu nusu-so so
Simbaya-not bad
Uneshindaje- how was your day?
Vipi -wassup
Jina langu ni - My name is
Sawa- okay
Valuntia- volunteers
Ninasema English- I speak English
Maji- agua
Nina toka kapeverde- I am from Cabo Verde
Sielewi -I don’t understand
Hapana Sana-no
Choo Kiko wapi? Where is the toilet?
Ninaweza kusaidin- can I help?
Pole - sorry
Tafadhali -please
Samahani- excuse me
Stendi ya daladala ni wapi? Where is the bus stop?
Bei gani? -how much?
Kwaheri - goodbye
I did not write down everything I ended up doing. However, we also explored some restaurants, karaoke bars, hotel rooftops, and clubs, amongst other nice places.
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| Driving is on the left side. |
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| Store(shoppers) |
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| Coffee shop |
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| Coffee shop view- there is a pizza hut on the corner |
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| Hostel view |
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| Gran Melia rooftop |
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| Hijab |
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| Gran Melia view |
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| Laundry |
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| Mount Meru |
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| Zeze's (karaoke bar\club) |
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| 5000 Tanzanian shilling-second largest bill ~ $2.07 USD |
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| Tanzanian coins |
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| Chocolate flavor drinks |
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| Arusha clock tower |
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| Maasai market |
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| Chinese restaurant |
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| Pads Notes- these are the thing I learned while I was here that is important for you to know if you planning to visit Tanzania: |
- Bring a repellent that says 50% or more deets;
- Bargaining on markets and local shops is expected, but there are limits;
- Some people show friendship by holding your arms or hands, but it can be overwhelming at first. Is not really about them not having a sense of personal space but is just the culture. So it may take time to adjust especially coming from a Western culture where consent, harassment, and personal space are a big deal;
- It has a 7-hour difference from Tennesse
- Don't forget to check if you are able to change to an international sim card with your phone because you will need internet and keep in contact with a close one. We had Wi-Fi at the hostel, but it wasn't the best especially having a lot of people using it at the same time;
- The car wheel is on the left side of the car.
-Bring a few jackets; approaching the end of June, it was chilly in the mornings and really cold at night;
- Be open-minded and willing to learn; there will be a lot of differences and culture shock;
-Greetings are important, so if someone says ' Jambo' respond with 'Poa';
-As I mentioned, public transportation was my least favorite thing for me. There is no such thing as a full bus, so there is always a place for more in dalla dalla, and there is no legroom if you are a tall person per se;
-Weed is illegal;
-Tanzania is really green( surprisingly I saw I lot of sunflowers);
-In the beginning, I thought it was a cultural thing to cut both male and women's hair in Tanzania, but I learned that most women do it because they do not have the money to keep up with the maintenance ;
-If you go by someone's house, even if you just stop to say hi, you have to get in; otherwise is considered rude.
About Tanzania, before going to the country, I did not have too many expectations about it and honestly is not that I had a bad experience but is not a place I see myself returning to. In general, there were some discrepancies from what is the internship description and what it really happened or went like. However, it actually gave me a lot of time to rethink my life and choices, and it changed the way I see travel, cultures, and people in general, so it was a great experience, and will definitely never forget it.
Kwaheri - Goodbye!