first impressions of Dar

Habari gani

Mambo

Vipi

Salama

Mzima

Hamjambo

Greetings to you all (there are many ways to greet people here and its quite a necessity)!

Ive been in Dar Es Salaam for about 6 days now and am trying to figure out what to write. Its been an interesting first few days, although that at the least should be expected.

The first few days left me with a lot of time in a city and with language I knew little of. Although, the people whether Tanzanians or foreigners are more than friendly which has lead to interesting conversations and a few adventures. Dar Es Salaam brings a peculiar group of people together in a city. The city itself is like none I have ever been to. With strong influences from the Arabic/Islamic north, India to the East, and Congo to the West it makes for a culturally, religiously, and linguistically diverse place. Just tonight I had dinner with a South African manager of a fair trade farm, a 60 year old Tanzanian man, a researcher of Impala from the UK, a refugee lawyer from Malaysia, and an Italian priest. Interesting dinner conversation.

I am staying at an Italian Guesthouse where people from all over the world come in an out frequently allowing me to meet many people. On my first day a few people from the US took me to a beautiful beach about a 15 minute walk from my place where they serve fresh fish, have live music, and white sand. While walking along the wake I met some Maasai men and we attempted to get to know eachother by both speaking swahili, a language neither they nor I spoke well. They seemed more fascinated by the colour of my lips that listening to my broken swahili.

The past four days, and for the next 2 weeks, I will be in Swahili Language school which is about a 15 minute Bajiji (3 wheeled taxi) ride each morning. Dar es Salaam, which means 'Place/House of Peace' in Arabic, is far from what its name might imply. Although Dar has been a fairly stable place for commerce and politics, day to day life is chaotic and full of life as people migrate in herds of taxis and buses through rush hour on the way into the city centre. In a country with increasing Western influence and little opportunity, many people are moving to the cities (including the traditional Maasai) in hope to find jobs and a better life.

So every morning I get up (with jetlag) to watch the sunrise over the ocean and catch a ride to school with my 2 classmates (a grumpy old man from Denmark and a wonderful French woman who has shown me around the city a bit). Classes are moving very fast and also gives me a fair amount of homework to stay busy with. It feels oddly like French class in highschool again, although I'm actually trying to get my head around it all and my fellow students are a little different. Swahili is a language very different from English and can be challenging, even though the pronunciations and rules are rather straightforward. I find it amazing how almost everyone I meet who speaks English speak it not as a first language but as a second or third. We (me) in North America are regrettably unique to only know one. 

After class and after going to lunch with people from class or from the guesthouse, I have time to visit the CRWRC office, meet some staff and go through some orientation. 

So far, I am amazed by the work that CRWRC is doing here in TZ. The organization here in TZ is run by my wonderful supervisor, Margaret, who seems to be an incredibly capable woman. What CRWRC does here in TZ is a lot of consulting with partner organizations which are working to become independent. The vision of CRWRC is to foster the growth, capacity, ownership, and self-sufficiency of  these new organizations that work to empower the disempowered and make God's Kingdom more of a reality in people's lives. CRWRC in Tanzania alone has 9 partners, with 282 committed groups reaching over 16 000 participants. Their work is spread across many fields from small business/income-generating projects, to agricultural work and training, work with disabled people, orphans and street children and more. In the next few weeks I will be visiting a variety of these partners around the Dar Es Salaam area. Ill try to keep you posted.

Wish me luck as I finish my first week of schooling tomorrow and as I continue to adjust. Your prayers and emails have been greatly appreciated.