This first Tanzanian blog post is a little long. It took a while to get access to the Internet, and there is no Internet when the power is out (which it has been 4 times in 3 days).
I departed Sweden on Monday, with the help of Anya and my dear friend with a big car, Johanna, I got my 4 large checked bags checked and delivered to Tanzania. (Traveler’s tip #1, take a picture of your bags you will check.) Fortunately, I had 2 of the plastic trunks from when we moved to Tanzania, so they are good for shipping as well as storage (duct taping over some vent holes to try to keep the vermin out of my dry food storage and other items).
With all the hassle of a lot of luggage, international travel, security checks (a bit of a formality for arriving passengers in Addis Ababa), I experienced a lower state of unsettledness than usual with all the hassles of travel–and this is a big move! Then, I received a text message from Marta in Norway who said she was praying for me. I know that others were aware of travel and praying too. What a blessing! (Travel tip #2, if you are traveling heavy to Africa, Ethiopian Airlines has 32 kg bag options at a bit of a higher cost, does not weigh carry-on bags, nor seem to mind if you [other travelers, not me] have 3 large carry-ons, yet be prepared for a crowed airport and an introduction to “This is Africa” in Addis.)
Helpful information in the Addis Ababa bathrooms!
The challenge was getting through visa processing and then customs at Kilimanjaro International Airport. I didn’t say I was here for tourism, but I can’t say I’m here for research yet, because my research visa hasn’t been approved (a process I started literally at the end of April). So, I said I’m here for cultural exchange and learning Swahili. When I mentioned doing language learning, the visa official wanted me to pay for a business visa. But I said, I’m not doing business. I’m doing cultural exchange and that includes learning language. So, a supervisor agreed that I didn’t need a business visa, and I ended up with a “leisure and holiday” visa, as I leave on 13 November, 77 days from my arrival (as I’m going to present a paper at a conference in the USA) as part of this project.
Three lines and $100 later, I picked up my luggage. But the trunks are suspicious, as they are not typical tourist baggage. However, everyone’s luggage goes through a luggage scanner upon arrival, including carry-on backpacks. So, 4 of my bags were required to be open. Strategically, I had put clothes and my Swahili dictionary, and ordinary things on top. A customs official, a courteous women, asked me how long I am staying when she saw kitchen utinsels. I said I leave in 77 days. She asked why I’m bringing kitchen things? I said, I have a place on the Tumaini University Makumira (TUMa) campus, but it has no kitchen things, no bedding, etc. She also noted that I had a steel box in a suitcase (packed in tourist-looking luggage), which I explained is a way to keep things safe, when it is chained down. That made sense to her. So, she seemed satisfied, but noted that I had 2 laptops to her supervisor. Yet, with some chatting in my basic Kiswahili and telling her that I used to teach in Monduli, she was kind, and I ended up without any additional custom’s fees, which I’ve heard can be about 40% of the perceived value.
Dr. Daniel Kosia and his younger brother were my wonderful welcome crew and luggage wrestlers! (And that’s my front door! Another picture will come when I get WIFI.)
My former colleague at the Maasai Girls Lutheran Secondary School in Monduli, Dr. Daniel Kosia, is now the head of the science department at TUMa. He has been a HUGE help to facilitate communication. He and his younger brother (half-brother?) Joseph, wrestled the luggage into Daniel’s small SUV. Daniel took me to my house on the TUMa campus, where I actually visited on Easter, probably 2023 or 2024! It is where the ELCA missionary, Nancy Stevenson, lived. She had a day for the children from the TUMa community on Easter, and invited Anya to join in. I learned how to harvest papaya that day. The tree is still there, and hopefully, I will have some sweet paypays later.
I’m so far glad that I brought a bunch of stuff that I knew I would need, or would make things easier to get going and dealing with some of the quirks of this old house. It will take a considerable amount of processing and methodically plodding through the set up. I still will need some things here, like hangars, a mop, a fly swatter, etc. I’ll have more details later, especially about my planned system for doing laundry by hand. It is about 25 minutes of walking along a busy road to where I can find an ATM (no longer one at the TUMa gate) and go to a “supermarket” that is about the size of a tennis court. Tonight, Daniel re-introduced me to dala-dala travel (privately owned vans that serve as public transportation) with the current prices (a trip to the grocery store is 500 Tanzanian shillings or 2.5 sugar bananas).
(Travel tip #3, keep flashlights handy. The first evening, I kept wearing a headlamp, just in case, as it is pitch black when the power is out. Tonight, I had unpacked my hand crank flashlight, which is on an lanyard around my neck–no batteries so cheaper and better for the environment. And remember to flip off the lights you turned on, so if you go to sleep in the dark and the power comes on in the middle of the night, there won’t be lights on. When there is power, the refrigerator hum is constant, so it is my clue that I have lights again!)
After a day in my house, I was told that I had an Ethernet cable (no WIFI, so I had to go to the library to download pictures from my phone for this blog). So, I have internet access, but sometimes there is a ruckus on the roof with the monkeys chasing each other! What an interesting world.
Animal watch: Lizards, greater hornbill birds, vervet monkeys, Colobus monkeys, a 3 inch (7.5 cm) cockroach, and 2 dead dogs on the road walking back from the grocery store.
A vervet monkey on campus