Habari Kila Mtu Tena!

Many greetings to you all again.  Some time has passed since my last entry.  I have left Tanzania, and that hill in Lindi town, and have arrived back in Ireland.  Now, I attempt to recount some of my experiences during the remainder of my time in Tanzania; it being impossible to mention all which I was fortunate enough to encounter. 

Having arranged and arrived at a village in the Lindi Region, I was greeted with immense hospitality.  My interpreter and I were immediately housed with a family and given full permission to carry out our work in the area.  We resided there for six weeks, each day packed it seemed and with so much to learn.  New skills were necessary and everyone in the village were more than willing and generous with their time to teach us daily tasks, the local language or just to sit and talk and share conversation.  I had also made it time for mango season to my delight; more mangoes than one could possibly eat!   Although a very different setting to what I’d gotten used to so far during my time in Tanzania, the welcome of the residents made me sorry to leave when the six weeks were up.  A big huge thank you to everyone in the village for making my time there so memorable!

Coming into the village

Conducting research went extremely well as everyone was very open and vocal about their experiences of the national campaign for the free distribution of mosquito nets to children under five year of age I was looking into.  There weren’t enough hours in the day as it turned out and evenings were taken up with more socialising so time went very quickly.  I could not have accomplished the task without the interpretive skills of Veronica, my translator.   My Swahili at the time was not good enough for conducting research and Veronica was able to explain, contextualise and ‘fill in the gaps’ for me during our time there.  Furthermore, she was a companion and now a good friend. 

Veronica is also from Mtwara.  The residents of the village spoke alot about Mtwara and how it compared to Lindi and I was fortunate enough to accompany Veronica to her family home in the region to see first-hand the place I had heard so much of.  There again, I was met with overwhelming Tanzanian hospitality, met many of Veronica’s family and was stuffed to the brim with delicious regional home-cooking.  I still wish for coconut rice!  I returned to Dar es Salaam the next day to round up some last-minute interviews and organise myself for the ending of my time in Tanzania.  Veronica and I met again in Dar where I was introduced to more of her family and we got to spend some time together on my last day.  We are in touch and no doubt, we will be more and more so as the analysis and write up of my thesis gets underway.  I look forward very much to seeing her again.

View of administrative offices

I was able to meet with and thank all the great people I had met and worked with during my time there, including Dr. Masanja from UDSM, Ms. Kimberly Bonner from the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) in the Tanzania Ministry of Health, Ms. Monica Gorman from Oxfam, Mr. Adiel Mushi from the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Ms. Irene Mashasi from the Department of Development Studies at UDSM and Ms. Angela Kimweri from the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI).  They have all become colleagues and friends whose assistance, input and friendship made my experience of working in Tanzania such a positive one, leaving me eager to get myself back there =)

Last night with Irene and Veronica

And to my delight, I have returned to the Department of Anthropology in Maynooth to find Mr. Kamugisha Gozibert working hard in the CDPC fellow’s office!  There were lots of habaris and mambos and swapping of stories as we had not seen each other before I left.  Mr. Kamugisha has equipped himself with a warm puffy jacket and is settling into Maynoothian life and the Irish weather I think =) He also keeps me on my toes by throwing some Swahili at me everytime we meet which I appreciate very much.  It’s brilliant to be reminded of Tanzania while being in County Kildare!  I will have the pleasure of Mr. Kamugisha’s company until May while he is here at NUI, Maynooth undergoing training as a CDPC fellow. 

My training with the CDPC has been excellent.  This needs no explanation for those who have read my last blog entry or even just this one.  I was equipped with so many opportunities and connections thanks to the organisation, as well as financial aid and academic support.  What’s all the more amazing is that the experience continues even with my being back in Ireland.

I want to thank everyone at the CDPC, especially Ms. Hayley Coristine who was always at the other end of the phone helping me sort out any issues which cropped up which were hard to deal with when you’re in another country!  Many thanks also to Dr. Thomas Strong for all his support and insight  and to Dr. Jamie Saris for his good advice.  A big thank you too to Jacqui and Deirdre in the Department of Anthropology for all their assistance and phone calls to me while I was away.  Amazing where you can get phone reception in Tanzania! 

All my best to you all and many thanks to everyone mentioned again.

Bahati njema na kwaheri for now,

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