My Sister's Month in Tanzania

My sister is a medical student in Sydney, and doing a one-month internship in Tanzania. Here's what she has to say of her travel and first day there.

Date: Monday, December 6, 2010
Location : Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the Way to Tanzania

Hello hello,

Me voila larguée à Dubai quelques heures... heureusement qu'il y a de l'internet gratuit! Après mon vol de Sydney à Bangkok, et de Bangkok à Dubai, je vais bientôt entamer mon vol Dubai-Dar Es Salaam, et ensuite le chauffeur de taxi m'emmène au couvent (!) pour que je puisse dormir, et va me récupérer pour me déposer à mon bus le lendemain. Ouf!!

Ok, miss you! Just letting you know I'm still alive. Dad, I used your credit card to buy a coffee, I hope it's ok (felt a bit silly to change currencies just for that).

Bises,
[007’s Sister]

Translation

Hello Hello,

Here I am, left to my own device in Dubai for a couple of hours… thankfully there’s free internet! After my flight from Sydney to Bangkok, et from Bangkok to Dubain, I will seem start my flight from Dubai-Dar Es Salaam, and after that, the taxi driver will bring me to the convent (!) so I can sleep, then he’ll come to pick me up to drop me off at the bus the next day. Oy!

Ok, miss you! Just letting you know I'm still alive. Dad, I used your credit card to buy a coffee, I hope it's ok (felt a bit silly to change currencies just for that).

Kisses,
[007’s Sister]

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Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Location: Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Coucou famille!

Me voila donc enfin à Dar Es Salaam.

When I got to the airport it was a zoo to obtain a visa-- vous connaissez tous comment cela se passe donc je skip les détails! Mais je m'en suis sortie. J'ai récupéré mon sac (toute suite j'ai vérifié que rien ne manquais... tout était là, sauf le mobile merdique que Scott m'avait prêté pour l'Afrique. Merde! C'est bizarre d'ailleurs, ils ont laissé tout le reste. Enfin bon), et je me suis dirigée vers la sortie, ou le chauffeur de taxi m'attendait bien avec une pancarte "[007’s Sister]", malgré mon heure-et-demi de retard.

Évidemment-- j'ai changé mon argent australien en schillings, et j'ai tenté de m'acheter une carte pour téléphoner-- bien sûr, je me suis fait rouler (parait-il, il faut "register" les SIM cards avant to pourvoir les utiliser... détail qui m'a couté milles schillings, voir un dollar!).

Ensuite on se dirige vers mon couvent (et oui maman, mais pas Catho--Pentecostal). Là, j'apprends qu'en fait mon chauffeur n'est pas Juma mais son ami... je suis ni surprise, ni ravie. Bon, il est sympathique et je lui apprends du français en échange du swahili. Je ne doute pas qu'il m'a roulé pour le prix du taxi, que j'ai quand même tenté de négocier... mais il est 3 heures du mat' a Sydney et j'avoue que je suis bien crevée!

J'ai pu prendre une douche (ma dernière pour longtemps, je pense), et j'ai mangé au couvent... miam! Maintenant, au lit, j'ai un bus à attraper à six heures du mat demain.

C'est marrant, être ici me rappelle beaucoup Mada... mais il y a de la construction partout et j'ai même vu des feux qui fonctionnent sur la route!! Un pays qui à l'air de bouger, il n'y en a aucun doute.

Gros gros bisous, j'écris à toute vitesse dans mon journal et je prend plein de photos,
Deso pour les erreurs de grammaire...

[007’s Sister]


Translation

Hi Family!

When I got to the airport it was a zoo to obtain a visa—you all know how that goes so I’ll skip the details! But I figured it out. I went to pick up my bag (I immediately check whether anything was missing… everything was there, except the shitty cell phone Scott had lent me for Africa. Shit! It’s weird in retrospect, they left everything else. Oh well), and I went to the exit where the taxi driver was waiting for me with a sign “[007’s Sister]", despite my hour and a half of lateness.

Naturally—I changed my Australian money into Schillings, and I tried to buy a card for the phone—of course, I got conned (apparently, one has to “register” the SIM card before being able to use them…a detail that cost me a thousand Schillings, or a dollar!).

After that we go in the direction of the convent (and yes Mom, but not Catholic—Pentecostal). There I learned in fact that my driver was not Juma but his friend…I’m neither surprised, nor happy. Despite that fact, he’s pleasant and I teach him French in exchange for Swahili. I have no doubt that he had me for the price of the taxi, despite my tries to negotiate… But it’s 3:00 a.m. in Sydney and I have to admit that I’m really tired!

I was able to take a shower (probably my last one for a long time), and I ate in the convent…Yum! Now in bed, I have a bus to catch at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.

It’s funny, being here reminds me a lot of Mada [Madagscar]… but there’s contruction everywhere and I even saw traffic lights that work along the road ! A country that seems to move, there’s no doubt.

Big big kisses, I’m writing very fast in my journal and taking tons of photos. Sorry for the spelling mistakes…

[007’s Sister]


Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Location: Muheza, Tanzania

Hello hello,

I'm in Muheza! The bus ride was looooong, but I didn't read a single sentence-- my eyes were glued to the landscape... I'm really in the foothills of Mt Kili... [Mount Kilimanjaro]

Anyway, tonight all of the muzungus are having dinner together (it's a Tuesday night ritual; we students are also going to draw up a cooking roster), so I don't have time to connect my laptop to the wifi hotspot at the hospital (pretty fancy huh!). I just went to town (were I was less mobbed than at the train station), I can hear a cow mooing outside of my windows and kids playing soccer. We have no running water and the elec cuts out more often than not, but the students (all Aussie) seem very cool. I am the only one who came out here alone!

The hospital is... Very different. Let me wait until I spend some formal time there to describe it further.

Also, send me texts!
Sent from my iPhone

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