First social.........

Saturday social is underway, sweets, biscuits, cordial, frisbee, football and tunes......happy days!

Rain stopped play......

So it's Saturday, there's a power cut till late tonight and its tipping down with rain..... My computer is still dead, the lights are on but nobodies home scenario - think i might have to send it back to the UK  and buy another(unless of course you lovely people back home want to do a whip round and send me one! ha!), so no option to relax and watch films which would have been good. 

Yesterday the gender group came over to my host home to meet the women's group which my host mum chairs, the meeting went really well and the group said they got some really good ideas from it which they will take away and work on.

Also during the afternoon session yesterday some immigration officer turned up unannounced and started pestering about our visas (which everyone has they just happen to be on the other side if the country in Dar which isn't so helpful). It all got sorted though thanks to Aive, not sure what I'd of done if I'd been on my own though as the immigration guy was really rude and arrogant, reckon I've of lost me patience with him!

Our new house help started today and she has brought her baby who's 8months old, she's adorable but don't think there's much change of me being lumbered with the baby sitting as any time I go near her she screams, criesand runs   away - I hope she's going to get used to me though.

The team have planned their first group social event for this afternoon. Their going to eat sweets and snacks and play football and frisbee in a local school field. I wasn't sure I'd be invited but then got a text last night from one of the organisers saying I have to go cos I've been bought a Lolly! I just hope thus rain stops otherwise there's no way it can go ahead......

28/11/13 Technology malfunction....

I'm not sure how it happened but for the past two days I have been cut off from all technology. My lap top crashed, my mobile couldn't access the Internet and I also lost access to my blog. This has been very distressing and has also cost me a lot of time. Hopefully now my computer is fixed but unfortunately my blog is still in accessible so I'm saving this in my phone in the hope I can upload them once I regain access. Unfortunately some of my most recent post before this one has disappeared. 

Tonight has been really good fun.

I got home around 7pm and I've been sitting in the outside kitchen with mukylie, Dickson and my host mum Niema. We've been exchanging Swahili for English and now my head is baked!!! Information overload for sure! It's been funny though and we've had lots of laughs at all our mispronunciation (especially mine!)

Tomorrow were going to have our first team meeting with the volunteers (these will take place each Friday). We're also going to hold our first Global Citizen Day - this is where 2-4 volunteers (mix of TZ and Uk) organise a half day training for the rest of the volunteer group about any global issue. Tomorrows group are going to focus on Poverty and are planning to run sessions on MDGs (millennium development goals) and relative and absolute poverty (google it if you're not sure of the meaning). They've some games and activities as well so fingers crossed for them it will all go well.

After the meeting and GCD I am going to bring the Gender team to my home as my host mum holds a community women's group from my house every Friday. The gender group are going to meet with them to discuss their ideas for the program and to get feed back and opinions from the local women.

I was hoping to have some time off this weekend but Aive has to leave the community to go to Bukoba to collect money, which means I have to stay in the community. However I've learnt today that I will be attending VSOs annual conference on the 10th Dec which means I'll be travelling to Dar es Salaam and staying there for 3 days. I'm going to ask if I can arrange to take some of my annual leave and stay on after the conference. If its agreed I'm hoping to be able to go to Zanzibar for a few days.... We'll see.....

 Animal update: after two days of failing to get my laptop to even switch on a Gecko pooed on it and then it switched on straight away - very Random!

I accidentally gave the cat my breakfast!

Epic fail yesterday morning..... After explaining that I didn't fancy gross looking insects for breakfast there was a slight breakdown in communication between me and my host Mum. The other day we had Chapati for breakie and my host Mum was encouraging me to share with the cat, then yesterday morning I was running late and on my way out when my host mum offered me a chapati, I accepted and explained I'd have to have it take away.... Anyways she got a Chapati out and the cat was going bonkers practically climbing up her skirt! She put the Chapati in a bowl and made a signal which I read as 'put this down for the cat', so I put the bowl down, the cat snatched the Chapatti and scarpered then I look up to see my host Mum wearing the most horrified expression and saying quite sternly 'I can't make Chapati for Puss! That was for you! I was mortified.... I tried to explain that it was a genuine mistake but I seriously think that she thought I just didn't want it, so threw it to the cat! I've spoke with her in the evening though and I'm back in her good books now, thankfully.

I keep meaning to mention that the cockerel situ has been resolved, each night my family lock the cockerel in the outside kitchen and don't let him out till 7am.... This has been so much better as although I can still hear him from 5am it's kinda muffled and I'm able to get back to sleep!

Yesterday was the final day of training and 'forced fun' for the vols and as of today the they will set to work on their various projects. I now get to circulate around the various teams and offer support from arms length which should mean less 9am-7pm days and more time to do ALL the other work I have!

A funny statement one of the UK vols made about meal times here in TZ ''every meal is like a Christmas Dinner'' (due to the quantity Tanzanians eat at meal times) I think I now have an understanding with my family that I don't like to eat huge plates and I'm more a little and often kind of person. I've also managed to explain that for me eating dinner at 9.30-10pm every night is too late for me and we have reached a comprise where by food will be ready from 8.30pm and I can help myself and the rest of the family can still eat later. Means eating alone but guess I had 4 years in Tib Street to get used to that.

A final food anecdote, yesterday I ate a bread roll and after two bites (and swallowing) I realised it was riddled with ants!! Was not a nice experience at all!  

Hi I'm Samia uk vol......

I'm Samia from London and I'm working & living in Kamachumu, Tanzania for VSO&ICS :-)

Now I'm ready for the rain the sun has come out! Typical.....

Breakfast anyone.....

8am and I'm greeted by my host mum sticking  a bucket full of live, disgusting looking bugs under my nose and saying 'breakfast?' - 'eh no thank you mama, think I'll just have Chai today'..........

 

Just been looking through photos with my host Mum, these were my favourites.....

My host mums 3 sons:

Community gathering (my host mum is centre, leaning on her hand)

Host mum (love this pic)

Seems my host mum likes to dance as there were tons of pics of her dancing!

Kitty conference.....

Wall of fame......

Can you see yourself? X

Lets get planning.....

Today we split the volunteers into focus teams, Youth / Livelihoods / Environment / Agriculture and Health and they started to plan their work and activities for the coming weeks. It was so good to see them all really thinking hard about what they are hoping to achieve and the buzz in the air was really noticeable. It's difficult to keep the vols motivated as we have such little information and resources for them but they kept the vibe up and came up with some fantastic ideas for activities and events. 

In the afternoon we all walked (in the pouring rain) from our office at KAVIPE to our host homes for lunch. I'm definitely going to burn a fare few calories the amount of walking I'm doing! Then we met up again at Kamachumu Inn around 4pm and the volunteers started mapping their ideas and devising their own work plans. (There are some pics of this in the previous post). It's hard work managing the groups as we've (me and Aive) very little to follow and most of what we are doing is from our own initiative (or me driving Aive mad constantly planning and implementing things! I'm sure she'll get used to my ways in time?)

Tomorrow we're having a day off, FINALLY and I can't wait to wash my clothes and clean my lounge, bedroom and washroom and maybe do some more unpacking and nesting! I'm desperate to move my bed, weird OCD tendencies that I like at least two sides of my bed to touch the walls and currently none are touching! The bed is huge though and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to move it alone, but you know what they say, where there's a will there's a way!

We've had no power today.... Apparently it's has something to do with maintenance work taking place in Uganda. The deal is that we have electricity from mon - fri then Saturday and Sunday the power is off 6am-6pm, however it's now 8.45pm and still no sign of light! I'm grateful for what we do get though as I'd imagined much less power than we have.

It rained heavily today but was a good thing as meant I could put my wash basin outside to collect the rain and hopefully now I'll have enough water to wash myself, my clothes and my 'house' kesho (tomorrow). The locals here scatter  when it rains and the place turns into a ghost town... I can kind of understand why people here become scared of the weather though as on yesterday's news there was a report of a child who was hit by lightening and killed in their classroom. The lightening came straight though the tin roof of the classroom! Was rather unsettling today as we were all sat under a tin roof whilst the thunder and lightening was going on outside.

I've finally been exposed to the Tanzanian way of eating insects as snacks (although I am yet to try any of these delights!) Fried grasshoppers and fried grubs have been on the menu the past few nights! When the power is back, or during the day tomorrow I'll try n get some pics to upload. My host Mum is trying to get me to help her prepare some grasshoppers tomorrow, this would involve me pulling off their legs and wings etc whilst they are still alive, I've have strongly declined this and made a compromise and offered to make Mandaze with her instead (Mandaze is a bit like doughnuts).

BTW Mum, a local member of parliament visited our house yesterday and guess where he studied his Masters Degree? Salford! Crazy ey? 

Lets get planning.....

Today we split the volunteers into focus teams, Youth / Livelihoods / Environment / Agriculture and Health and they started to plan their work and activities for the coming weeks. It was so good to see them all really thinking hard about what they are hoping to achieve and the buzz in the air was really noticeable. It's difficult to keep the vols motivated as we have such little information and resources for them but they kept the vibe up and came up with some fantastic ideas for activities and events. 

In the afternoon we all walked (in the pouring rain) from our office at KAVIPE to our host homes for lunch. I'm definitely going to burn a fare few calories the amount of walking I'm doing! Then we met up again at Kamachumu Inn around 4pm and the volunteers started mapping their ideas and devising their own work plans. (There are some pics of this in the previous post). It's hard work managing the groups as we've (me and Aive) very little to follow and most of what we are doing is from our own initiative (or me driving Aive mad constantly planning and implementing things! I'm sure she'll get used to my ways in time?)

Tomorrow we're having a day off, FINALLY and I can't wait to wash my clothes and clean my lounge, bedroom and washroom and maybe do some more unpacking and nesting! I'm desperate to move my bed, weird OCD tendencies that I like at least two sides of my bed to touch the walls and currently none are touching! The bed is huge though and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to move it alone, but you know what they say, where there's a will there's a way!

We've had no power today.... Apparently it's has something to do with maintenance work taking place in Uganda. The deal is that we have electricity from mon - fri then Saturday and Sunday the power is off 6am-6pm, however it's now 8.45pm and still no sign of light! I'm grateful for what we do get though as I'd imagined much less power than we have.

It rained heavily today but was a good thing as meant I could put my wash basin outside to collect the rain and hopefully now I'll have enough water to wash myself, my clothes and my 'house' kesho (tomorrow). The locals here scatter  when it rains and the place turns into a ghost town... I can kind of understand why people here become scared of the weather though as on yesterday's news there was a report of a child who was hit by lightening and killed in their classroom. The lightening came straight though the tin roof of the classroom! Was rather unsettling today as we were all sat under a tin roof whilst the thunder and lightening was going on outside.

I've finally been exposed to the Tanzanian way of eating insects as snacks (although I am yet to try any of these delights!) Fried grasshoppers and fried grubs have been on the menu the past few nights! When the power is back, or during the day tomorrow I'll try n get some pics to upload. My host Mum is trying to get me to help her prepare some grasshoppers tomorrow, this would involve me pulling off their legs and wings etc whilst they are still alive, I've have strongly declined this and made a compromise and offered to make Mandaze with her instead (Mandaze is a bit like doughnuts).

BTW Mum, a local member of parliament visited our house yesterday and guess where he studied his Masters Degree? Salford! Crazy ey? 

Lets get planning.....

Volunteers arrive in community.

Today is the first full day that the volunteer team have been in the community.

We arrived yesterday afternoon after having completed our in country orientation and making the trip from Bukoba to Kamachumu. 

All of the host home members were already waiting when we arrived and volunteers waved goodbye to each other and headed to their new homes. It was quite an exciting yet somewhat anxious afternoon. Later in the day we met at the local inn and all of the vols had an opportunity to discuss their host homes and families. Everyone seems happy with their placements which is good. There were a couple of slight issues as due to us having an uneven numbers of boys and girls some volunteers are staying in bedrooms alone (as of course boys and girls can't be expected to share). VSOs policy is that only ICS participants can share rooms, however some of the host mum had decided to ask their daughter to stay with our uk females who were in rooms alone so that they wouldn't get scared or lonely, it's such a lovely gesture but due to the policy me and Aive had the awkward task of explaining to the host families that this wasn't allowed. The families under stood though and all is now sorted.

Today we had a 'tour' of the community and visited various places around Kamachumu and many calls of 'Muzungu how are you?' Could be heard coming from all directions! We were introduced to the Kamachumu Ward office who gave us a stern talking to and asked that we behave respectfully and professionally throughout our stay in the community, the official then asked directly to me (as the UK PS) if I could vouch for all volunteers - Awkward! Ha.

I had a chat with my host home this morning as the cockerel woke me around 5.30am today, I was far from impressed and despite all the challenges this experience is bringing me this cockerel situ is by far the worst! It was funny talking with them about it and they found it hilarious me reinacting the cockerel and my reaction when it wakes me up, then later on today I was chatting with Aive and she told me that the cockerel and his hens are going to be relocated for my benefit! I couldnt believe it. On one hand I feel relieved but on the other I feel super guilty as tonight I have seen the 'pen' where the cockerel and hens are living (which is directly outside my room so no wonder its waking me up!) and the pen is huge so I've not the first idea how they are going to shift it and if they do its going to be a hell of a job!

I'm starting to get more familiar now with the 2 girls and 2 lads who are the house helpers. Mikyla is 14 and has a wicked sense of humor and a bit of a naughty streak, she's always pulling funny faces to me whenever my host mum and dads backs are turned. She's been funny today as i brought some peanut butter from Bukoba and she hasnt seen peanut butter becore and is really excited to try it. when shes in the kitchen and im there she picks up the jar and holds it up to me with a massive grin, I hope it lives up to its porential and she actually like it! Samia is 25 and really sweet and we've got to the point where we hug to greet each other now. David seems a bit older and he does lots of hard jobs like fetching water and sawing wood etc, there's another younger boy also who takes care of the cows and his name is Dixon.

Last night when I came home from work Mikyla arrived on a push bike. Neither my host Mum or Dad were home and Mikyla took full advantage of this fact and communicated to me ( in body language) that she wanted me to have a go on the bike. To her delight I agreed and she took great pleasure in pushing me really quickly on this death trap whilst I screamed in shear terror!!! She and the others found it hilarious and it was nice to have a laugh with them although I cannot fully communicate with them yet.

Right now I'm just sat in my lounge typing this and Aive has left the PS mobile with me by mistake! I've answered it twice already and luckily both times it's been someone I know, fingers crossed it doesn't ring again as god help me if its someone speaking Swahili cos I've no chance! Lets hope there's no emergencies tonight! 

Some of the national girls.... Tumaini, winfreada, judy and Mary.

Lightening storm over lake Victoria.

Just sat by myself, on my balcony watching a lightening storm over lake Victoria. It's been going on for about half an hour now.... Not as impressive as it could be as its really quite cloudy tonight, but hey, I'm not complaining! Would be much better if I had someone to share it with but it's still pretty cool.

The weather has been super hot today and I'm still not onto top of whatever this bug is that I seem to have picked up. I'm not feeling dreadful but it's just really frustrating to not be on top form so early into the program. : (

Today's sessions have gone well again though and the group are really starting to bond and already on just two days their Swahili is getting really good. I'm quite jealous actually as my Swahili is now seeming really poor in comparison. I suppose I've a lot more time yet to brush up though so at least now I've lots more people round me to help.  

Ive been thinking today that's its funny how quickly we can adapt to a new way of life. I've only been here 10 days yet already the day to day here feels like the norm. My life back in Manchester really does seem a million miles away and although I've been getting the occasional twinge of home sickness and feeling sad about missing my family (including Sally and the dogs) and friends and driving and my bed and hot showers and baths, on the whole I actually feel quite settled. I'm just striving to just take each day at a time and try not think to much about how long I'll be away as I know that before i know it I'll soon be on that plane back to the UK and it will feel like I never even left! 

I'm not envying you all back home who are braving the cold weather and battling through the Christmas shoppers mind you, I've got to be honest and aside of missing Christmas Day and the few days either side I could quite get used to avoiding the rest of what UK winters have to offer.

Right now I'm going to drag myself away from storm watching and get myself in bed and watch some rubbish on my lap top I think.

Tutaonana.

PS. Cher Wraxall and Donna Varney if you're reading this you need to download an app called viber so I can speak to you! 

Where's my bag?!

First day of training compete and it went really well, better than could have been expected considering the last minute alterations that were made yesterday afternoon. Some of the national volunteers were a little quiet during some of the sessions but that's understandable as culturally it's normal to just listen in a lesson until asked a question directly as with the uk vols they are use to the concept of shouting out and debating etc. The group are really great though and although I'm probably slightly biased cos they're my team I feel really optimistic about the coming weeks and what we are going to achieve!

Also credit where credits due 17 of the uk volunteers arrived yesterday minus they're bags (which were still in Nairobi airport!) they handled it exceptionally well though and just accepted it and got on. However, all but 1 bag arrived at the hotel today and we treated the lad who's bag hasn't yet arrived  to a new pair of boxer shorts from the local town so he was quite happy, I think!

After today's success and despite being really exhausted I am definitely happy with my decision to take on this role. I feel really well suited to it and even though its stressful and already been hard at times it's a good kind of stress and I feel I'm thriving. I do feel like I've been here a month already mind you and it's only been 9 days! I'm sure things might slow down a little once everyone is settled into their host homes and roles within the community..... My plan at that point is to try to get as many siestas in as possible, as between the cockerel, dogs sheep, goats and cows singing to me every morning at my home stay I feel that the days of lie ins are a thing of the past! That said I am a actually quite looking forward to getting back to my little pad and seeing my host family. My host mum has been texting me today as well which is really sweet..... I forgot to mention as well that she is already introducing me to her friends and visitors as her daughter which is really nice.

Eve who is the TZ PS for Franks group has just arrived at our room (she's sneaked out of her hotel to come and see us) so I best wrap up here.

Lala Salama (good night) peeps.

PS. Please leave comments on my posts so I know who's reading and what you are making of all this!  

Delegation begins.....

Allocate responsibilities between yourselves: 

Room with a view.....

Day 1 of training......

Today is the first day of training. It's 7am and I'm just about to get up to grab a shower and then start my day. Yesterday was  pretty nuts trying to make the final preparations for the volunteers arrival. Our national volunteers started to arrive from around 3pm and the uk vols didn't reach the hotel until around 10.30pm, poor things had been travelling for around 36 hours and 17 of them didn't even have their luggage as it was still in Nairobi - is gong to be interesting to see how long before it all arrives. Its looking like it will be monday at the earliest not a good start as none of them packed spare clothes in their hand luggage! They all handled it really well though and the national volunteers were really welcoming and supportive so think that has really helped. 

We have mixed the majority of the volunteers into pairs (one national one international) for their room shares whilst on training but unfortunately 2 UK girls and 1 TZ  boys don't have have a counterpart at the minute  as our numbers were odd and 1 TZ girl dropped out of the program yesterday at around 6pm.

At 2pm my boss, Imissa, dropped it on me that I need to facilitate the first sessions today which of course Ive had no time to prepare for or even read the material. Aive is going to help though so we're just going to do our best with what we've got, likelihood is that all the volunteers might still be quite tired from travelling yesterday so might not notice that we're not as well prepared as we'd liked to have been! 

The hotel we are in is top notch, I'm sharing a room with Aive as we've so much work to do there was no point in having separate rooms! The view from our balcony is Incredible....I'll take a photo from my mobile but really don't think it will do it justice......

Do you know I've only just realised that its Sunday and we're working all day again.....boo : (

Making final prep for volunteers arrival.....

Hmmm.....? Where am I going to sleep!

I've lost where I was up to.......! : (

Hostage in the photocopy shop.....

It's 7.30, I'm hungry and tired and me and Eve are stuck in the photocopy shop waiting for our 100s maybe actually 1000s of copies to be completed. We've been set the task of making all the copies of the documents for training this weekend. Just to make the task even more arduous we first had to go through all the old papers that were copied for the last cycles (which were completely mixed up) and re use them which meant me sitting for over an hour trying to put them in numerical order then calculate how many additional copies we needed to make! It's been pain staking but I feel good as we've managed to save 26,600 shillings of the budget in the process so happy days! 

I'm also grateful that I didn't have to make the trip to the airport to collect the UK vols. as Frank and Aive left Bukoba at 8am and didn't arrive in Mwanze till 3pm!!! Bet that journey was awful!! I've got to do it next time but at least I've 3 months to prepare myself. 

Me and Eve were just chatting then and I realised that none of us have had a day off or any down time yet since arriving and the schedule for the next 9 days doesn't include any days off either!! Reckon I'm going to have to abscond at some point and just go AWOL!!!!

Check out the branding on mister potato chips..... Wonder if Man U are aware of this!

I crumbled after only 1 week and had to go snack shopping!

Rooster muzzle........

Mate from Vietnam just sent me this..... Not sure if it would work for stopping em crowing but the image is some what pleasing!!! 

My first lone journey on public transport.....

My host mother walked me to the dalla dalla (public taxi) this morning and I seated myself just behind the driver (travellers guide recommendations when travelling on public transport). Wasn't a good move as meant that for the entire two hour journey I was situated by the window resulting in two hours of baking in the direct sunlight without sun screen. There was no option to apply sun screen as an after thought as my bag was wedged underneath me and the bus was so rammed that there was no way to get to it. The bus seated about 12 people but on average there was approx 30 in the dalla at any one time! As a last resort I had to sport my rain jacket as a means to protect my delicate (anti malarial medicated) skin from the blazing sun! I made it to Bukoba however and my boss, who was supposed to be meeting me was nowhere to be seen when I arrived. After battling Piki drivers (motorbike taxis) who were all trying to help me with my bags (grabbing them from me) I managed to fight my way to a round a bout which i could use as a point of reference, I called the taxi who arrived within 20 mins to take me to my accommodation. 

The next epic fail was when I ordered a soda and due to miss communication between me and the waiter my soda ended up smashed on the floor! Whoops. Didn't have to pay for it though or clean up so happy days.

The rest of today has been spent doing more training and prep ready for the volunteers arrival on Saturday.

Right now we've just finished our meal - which took two and a half hours to arrive - and are headed back to our accommodation. 

Tomorrow me and Eve will be making arrangements ready for the volunteers arrival and Frank and Aive are headed on a looooooong bus journey to collect the volunteers from the airport. I'm really excited to meet them after having been looking at their paper profiles and photos for the past week.

When you're walking through the trees and it trickles down your knees............?

Yeah, so I'm not very well this morning (aside of my cold) and I've a two hour bumpy bus journey to contend with. The million dollar question though is, do I brave it or do I drop an Imodium....?Shame it's too early back there to put it to vote. 

I'm also going to be tackling the journey back to Bukoba alone as Aive has had to go to the immigration office this morning to try to rectify the fact that me and Frank still don't have work permits yet! I offered to go with but Aive told me that would be a very bad idea as the officials might keep me there till it was sorted!! Eeks! Think I'll brave the bus alone instead! 

Outside of being busy with work stuffs Ive been occupying my time conjuring various ways I might dispose of the cockerel which frequents outside my bedroom window and insists on crowing continuously from 5am till 9am.... Some ideas have been to shoot it, strangle it, or maybe set a trap of a line of seeds enticing it into the road! On a serious note though I don't know how much more I can take! I remember in Uganda the call to the local mosque woke me up every morning for the first week but then after a whole I didn't notice it anymore, Hopefully in time I won't notice the cockerel but I'm not confident.....after all cockerels are renowned for waking people up!

Right I'm off to find me Imodium! Happy Thursday all - one more sleep till your weekend..... I'm going to be working straight through! X

  

How to contact me.......

Just realised that I never posted my contact details in here: 

So......From mobile dial 08717724040 after connection 00255758808740# costs 7p per minute, or from landline 09119997373 then as above costs 18p per minute

00255758808740 is my number xx

I'm not from Canada no I'm from Chorlton.....

Today I met the VSO professional volunteer from the hospital and its turns out she is called Clare not Clara and she is from Chorlton not Canada! She seems really nice and has been here since Feb. Our work crosses over it seems so we are going to meet with her tomorrow to discuss the program and the plans for the coming cycle of Health volunteers.

Me and Aive also started visiting the various host homes within the community and there is definitely some contrast between the different houses, it will be interesting to see how the volunteers react to their accommodation as some of the homes and facilities are much more traditional than others and none have western toilets. I think it might take some of the UK volunteers a while to adjust. I guess thats why Me and Aive are here though, supporting them. All the families seem really kind and caring and are excited to meet the volunteers.

We also today started to prepare our sessions for the volunteer in country training which will start on the 17th nov.... We are leading some sessions but will also be observing the volunteers for the most part to decide who will be placed with who and in which  host home. We will also complete our initial 1:1s with the volunteers and discuss their expectations and what they hope to achieve during the program.

I'm full of a stinking cold which I'm really not happy about and the weather is also not so warm here at the minute : ( 

I bought some lemon from the market and have boiled it in water and have been drinking it so hopefully it will help. My host mother has also given me a cold tablet which I am just about to take, I'm normally really wary of taking foreign medication but going to make an exception this time as I'm feeling quite rotten and really need my sleep.

Tomorrow we should be visiting the hospital and government office as we were unable to make contact with the correct people in order to do it today, we also need to go shopping for bed sheets for volunteer host homes and Mosquitos nets and finish planning the training plus we have 3 more host home visits to complete!! Busy busy busy!

Animal update......

 So at my house we have two cows, one calf, 3 goats, 2 kids, 2 sheep, 1 lamb, 3 dogs, cockerel, chickens and a cat which has 3 teeny tiny kittens. I also saw monkeys, pelicans, stalks and lots of other exotic birds in the nearest town to here!

Film crew!!!!

So I'm sat here in my lounge doing some work when a local film crew arrive and ask if I will feature in the movie they are making as they require a 'muzungu' to play the part of the record keeper! Luckily Aive saved me and sent them off to find the Canadian VSO volunteer, Clara who works at the hospital!

Bedroom.....

My new pet

Have called him Larry, he lives in my bathroom!

Wash room.....

First day / night in my new home

Had breakfast at the hotel this morning then around 11am myself and Aive left Frank and Eve and made our way (by taxi) to Kamachumu. I made the school boy error of not using the bathroom before we set off a subsequently spend the whole hour n half journey bursting for a wee (which really wasn't helped by how bumpy the roads were!)

When we arrived we went straight to our office, KAVIPE (Kamachumu Vision for Poverty Eradication) I was shown around and introduced to the staff, none of which speak much English which means my Swahili should improve really quickly. The office is approximately 20 mins walk from my host home which is cool although I've learnt I won't be spending loads of time at the office as most of my work will be based in the field (in other words all over the show). A main part of my role is of course to support, manage and supervise the ICS volunteers so will be spending time visiting them at their host homes and attending there events which will take place across the community where we are living. 

I can't tell you how amazed I am that I have 3G access via pay and go sim!! It's just madness and its super cheap. I'm loving it though. I'm here right now lay in bed, fully aware of the fact of how far I have travelled and how far away from 'built up civilisation' I am - literally in the middle of the East African wilderness and yet I am blogging direct from my phone!! Seems unreal.

It does however mean that I should have no excuse for not putting regular updates on here. And I hope none of you will get bored of reading.......

I don't yet have my work permit so I've been told by my boss that I should declare for now that I am here in Tanzania just visiting friends (not a very likely story really) lets hope i don't get into any bother and the permit comes through soon!

Tomorrow I'm going to visit the hospital and sign the visitors book at the local government office as I have been told that this will give me official permission to be in Kamachumu. I'm hoping when I visit the hospital I can get some advice from one of the doctors there as I have started with a cold and have not brought any medication for that kinda thing. Have got tons of other stuff but absolutely nothing for colds. 

My host family seem really lovely and the two meals I've eaten with them today have been lovely too. Smashed Matoke which is my favourite was on the menu this evening which i was very happy about. It's seems my plan to lose weight out here will be rapidly going out of the window unless I plan on taking up jogging or something though as my host mother has a different agenda and has said I must get fat whilst living here!She wasn't very impressed when I only took a small amount of food this evening, but hopefully we will reach a compromise. 

Was quite funny when I arrived as me and Aive set straight to work putting up my mosquito net and I was stood on a plastic chair which unfortunately slipped from underneath me resulting in me falling flat on my face, fortunately I wasn't hurt but it must have looked hilarious!! Note to self.....don't stand on plastic chairs you've only just met!

Shop.....

Shop.....

Lounge.....

My home for the next 11 months

This is my house....I'll be living at the back in a separate bit with living room, bedroom and wash room.... 

Matoke and nyama (savoury boiled banana and beef)

Football bar......

Lake beach

My new neighbours!

Pelicans:

My room at the hotel in Bukoba

We've arrived! No more planes

Arrival at our second accommodation....

Off to what's going to be my new home for the next 11 months...

Today we are moving to our communities, me to Kamachumu and Frank to Karagwe. Both are within the Kagera region of North West Tanzania (if you fancy checking them out on google maps).

I will meet my host family for the first time today and see my new home home also! I found out that night that my hist Mum (mama) is called Nieema and my host Dad (baba) is called Micky Daddy. There are both in their 50/60's. I'm a little bit nervous if I'm honest as although I have tried not to have any expectations or let my imagination get too carried away with itself, I have failed miserably, and have already built a picture in my head of what's its going to be like and I'm sure I'll be way off. Anyway it's still exciting as with everything since we've arrived it's all just something new everyday. 

At least I don't have to get on any more planes! I reckon all these plane journeys were just VSO's way of making sure we don't quit, as I can tell you now it would have to get REALLY bad out here for me to even consider getting on another plane any time soon, if it came to it i think I'd rather travel by land! Ha!

Managed to find a place to watch the match last night, and with Frank being an Arsenal supporter it made the win all the more satisfying. Not sure how I'm going to get on in community for watching the games though as Aive really hates football so we'll have to see if we can reach a compromise.

It's much cooler here in Bukoba than it was in Dar and today it's raining. Nothing compared to weather you're all probably having back in the UK though. Here at the moment the rain is just a light patter with the occasional rumble of the type of thunder which you only get in tropical places. I'm actually glad it's cooled down as I'm not good with heat but on the other hand it is much easier to take a freezing cold bucket shower when the weather is hot!

Our first volunteers will be arriving on Friday (16th)! That's going to come around sooo fast..... We're going to spend 3 days in our communities from today then travel back to Bukoba to start preparation for their arrival. I'm a little disappointed as our boss has decided that this time Frank will go to the airport to collect the volunteers and I'll go next time. I'm a little sad about it as that's one part if the job I was really looking forward to, however on the plus side it means I get out of having to endure the 10 hour bus ride so every cloud and all that.  Mine and Franks groups are going to be placed in two different hotels and me and Aive will do our training for our volunteers and Frank and Eve the same for theirs. Frank and his lot are going to be staying at a 'dry' catholic hotel (where we are now) me and Aive are somewhere 'up the hill' at another hotel which apparently serves alcohol so could get interesting as already I'm envisaging a mass migration of the Karagwe volunteers to our hotel in search of the 'watering hole'! Watch this space.  

As I'm writing the rain has just started to really come down, it sounds really nice though as all the building have metal roofs. Time to get me waterproofs out me thinks........! 

Airport cafe

Really!

Small plane to mwanza

First time to Dar es Salaam beach / early start to make trip to Bukoba

So after touching down on thursday and going straight into work for 3 days, today we had to start at 3am this morning as we're making our way to Bukoba where we will stay for one night before travelling to our communities by bus tomorrow.

Today's journey consists of two flights and just completed the first flight to Mwanze on the smallest plane I've ever been in and arriving to the smallest (and my most favourite) airport I've ever been to. I really like to airport as the different sections are all outdoors so there isn't that 'penned in' feeling that normally accompanies airport visits!

 As you can see from the pics attached we went for breakfast as the airport cafe.... Chipati and omelette rolled together - very satisfying.

I've also been trying out a bit of Swahili today (which has been more interesting due to the lack of sleep!)

So a basic greeting conversation would go something like this:

Mambo : hello, how are you?

Poa: I am fine

Habari: how are you (again)

Nzouri: I'm good Asante sana: thank you very much

Karibu: you're welcome.

I'm actually surprised at how much I've picked up in only 3 days so reckoning that once I get into community I'll really start picking it up as many of the community members won't speak any English so I suppose I'll have no choice as those of you who know me know that I love to talk!!

Our next flight only 45 mins and will take us across lake Victoria and the next plane is apparently even smaller than the last.

Once we arrive in Bukoba the plan is to rest for a few hours then mine and Franks counterparts are going to show us round. (Frank is the other Uk PS who will be based out here but in a different community to me around 2 hrs away from where I'll be staying).

Yesterday after work me and Frank met with my friend from the Uk, Miller, who's been living out in Dar for the past year. We went out on a Bajaj (which is basically a tuk tuk). We went to the beach and then for dinner. Was really good to see him and we've agreed to go on Safari together during my time here! 

I've just had the call for my next flight so have to leave it there for now ( mental that an airport so small still has wifi!!)

Grilled cheese sandwich and fresh coffee.... Happy days : )

Me and Aive

Work mates

White Rabbit................

No sleep, 2 days work and a white rabbit

So day two and starting to feel a little better. Yesterday was quite testing and I have to be honest, I did end the day with a tearful phone call to my Dad which included the phrase 'I think I've made a mistake', however I hadn't slept for a long time and after a long drive to London, two flights, 3 airports and then straight into a full day of work I'm sure I can be excused for such early jitters!

My Tanzanian counterpart, Aive, was really supportive without asking any questions, she just squeezed my shoulder all the way back to the b&b in the taxi, which was really sweet and helped me to feel a bit better.

I've been learning a lot about what my role is going be and by the sounds of things I'm going to have no time at all for jitters or missing home too much!

The volunteers will be arriving on the 16th and there is soooooo much to be done: planning training, reading about 200 documents about the projects, deciding on who will be placed where and with who, as well as reporting on the program's, doing personal supervisions with volunteers and tons more!

My counter part, Aive has found me a host home with an elderly Muslim couple, they've had a volunteer stay with them before and she said they're really nice. She's also said that my place is in an annex to their home so I have my own bedroom and a sitting room. Sounds cushty! Kinda looking forward to getting in there and 'nesting' but also a little apprehensive as I know how basic living is in rural east Africa, so watch this space. 

Haven't taken many phones yet but will get onto that tomorrow and will try to post some pics of the people I am working with and my first accommodation (which is actually quite a nice b&b).

We went for dinner tonight at a 'western' restaurant and I had pizza! Not very Tanzanian but hey, Gona enjoy it while I can. Randomly there was a white rabbit hopping about the restaurant, which was the last thing I expected to see out here. (Wesley Fasa maybe you can shed some light?!) 

So we're working tomorrow half day (on a Saturday....not worked a Saturday in a while) then in the afternoon we're going to go for coffee and ice cream, looking forward to that.

I'm missing family and friend already but hopefully in time that might get easier (or of course you guys could always come out here to visit me!)

Going to try to get some shut eye now, cold shower-check, air con-check (feels weird to not be wrapping up under the duvets as its November but hey, not going to complain about that! 

Amazing check in guy

Amazing check in guy David who put 

me at the window, frank at the aisle 

and the middle seat he kept empty! 

Good start x

Hmmm.....thinking I might need to take a brolly!

The night before departure......

So it's 23.39 as I start writing and I would probably be best being asleep right now but after such a busy day frantically trying to get all me last bits n pieces together (thanks Mum n Dad for Chaperoning!) my head is still spinning.

Have had some lovely messages and gifts from friends and feeling very blessed to have the people in my life i do! It's been really hard to say all the goodbyes, but after all 11 months isn't forever. 

Sally cat is currently curled up sleeping at the side of me, purring away, completely oblivious to the fact that this is our final night of cohabiting the bedroom for almost a year and after tonight she will have it all to herself! Have you ever know a cat to have her own room in a house?? Funny!!

Been having some really bonkers dreams too.....this morning I work up and automatically raced downstairs as I was in a huge panic that I should have been at the top of a hill with my Dad watching an earth quake.....random, then I realised that's what I'd been dreaming as well as that I was in Rome/Japan and all my pounds had been turned into Monopoly money!!! Clearly I'm a little stressed!

So tomorrow my Dads going to drive me from Manchester to Heathrow where I will have an 8 1/2 hour flight onto Nairobi, have a 2 hr stop over in Nairobi, before an hour and 25min flight to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I'll be in Dar for 2/3 nights and then need to catch another flight (bout 2 hours) to get to the District where I'll be living (you can see where this is on the map on my previous post).

It's all really exciting but also really quite daunting as well. The least thing I am looking forward to at the minute is trying to manoeuvre my luggage (as Its pretty heavy) I'm also worried that I'm going to start blubbering again as this has seemed to be my go to activity for the past few days! I really hope I manage keep it together.   

I'm looking forward to posting my first few pics on here and giving some update about what exactly I'm going to be doing.  I know I've 8 UK girls and 4 UK boys in my first volunteer group but thats all I know about them at the minute and also won't get any info about my Tanzanian volunteers until I arrive........

Watch this space for updates and will also post my Tanzanian phone number on here and how to contact me as soon as I get set up.

Chow for now!!!

Some Info about where I will be going:

www.volunteerics.org

www.vso.org.uk