Report from Tanzania – 1st Installment

I guess I’ve always taken a “sink or swim” approach to new adventures. I firmly believe that one of the best ways to experience a new, unfamiliar country and culture is to simply dive headfirst into it (proper preparation and support, along with a willingness to adapt when the unexpected happens definitely helps). I have been in Tanzania only two full days and already I am on sensory overload, as Tanzania is brimming everywhere with a myriad of sights, sounds, colors, and hustle and bustle.

First Impressions

I have been so busy I hardly know where to start. Since this is the Kindness Continuum blog, I will describe my initial impressions through the lens of noteworthy kindnesses shown to me since my arrival, then add a few miscellaneous items about what I’m actually doing here at the end.

1. When my volunteer coordinator, Michael, met me at the airport, we were on the road not 5 minutes before he asked me if I had been in touch with my family to let them know I made it and then insisted that I link with his portable internet hotspot so that I could make contact right away.

   

   I must say it was great fun chatting with family members and sending a couple snapshots from the car window as I was witnessing the wonders of this country for the first time. At one point Michael told me to look out the taxi window and there was Mt. Kilamanjaro in all its glory right in front of me, larger than life, its snowy peak rising up out of the fog as if it were floating on the clouds (we were going too fast for me to get a good picture, but I’m hoping to have another opportunity).

2. My first full day here was spent again with Michael 1) learning how to navigate the public transportation system (definitely not for the faint of heart – more about the dala dalas later), 2) getting set up with a wifi hotspot so I could always be connected to the internet (an important requirement for my volunteer work), 3) mapping out the city and learning where the markets, banks, and major shopping districts are located, 4) changing some dollars to the local currency, and 5) meeting the other people I will be working with while here. I can’t even imagine how many times Michael goes through this same process with hundreds of volunteers, yet he patiently explained everything to me and answered all my questions as if he had all the time in the world. I can’t say I felt very confident or competent to get around all by myself after the orientation, but I did know that there will be plenty of people (just as I had predicted!) that are here to help me. No one will leave me stranded anywhere in the city and help is always a phone call away. The Projects Abroad team makes sure all the volunteers have all the resources they need to get help quickly if needed.

   

3. I met my host family only to discover that none of the children described in the material sent to me are actually living at home (what to do with all those gifts??). The mother of the house has been gone all week, but her housekeeper Anna, made sure that I felt welcome, and my volunteer housemate, Chihiro, promised that she would let me shadow her comings and goings until I felt confident that I knew what I was doing. Both women are interesting young ladies and we have had good conversations as we get to know each other.
4. The other volunteers are an unbelievable bunch, from what I can tell so far. There are about 15 of us currently working out of the Projects Abroad office in Arusha. Three of us are on the human rights project, and the others are working on various projects – microfinance, public health, education, journalism and broadcasting, for example. Unsurprisingly, I’m the oldest one of the group, as they are pretty much all college students, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, with lofty aspirations for their lives and careers, and the tenacity they will need to achieve them. Despite their youth, they have embraced me with open arms as if I were any other volunteer, and they are easy to be with, and eager to help each other out and do things together.
5. The Projects Abroad staff are equally amazing. I think it must be really hard to have so many different volunteers coming in and out of that small office almost on a daily basis, yet they never miss a beat. They are very good at their jobs, are determined to make sure that no volunteer falls through the cracks, and give us (who have no idea what we’re doing) the confidence to take on project responsibilities that pick up where previous volunteers leave off. Many countries are represented – Japan, Austrailia, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, among others. I don’t know how they do it, but the staff keep us all straight and know when everyone is arriving, when we are leaving, and even remembers our names (a skill I don’t have but greatly admire).

What Will I Be Doing?

Now that I’m here, I am learning what my actual responsibilities will be. They fall into two categories – working with women and working with juvenile offenders.

The Women

In Tanzania, the Constitution clearly states that the genders are equal, but hundreds of years of gender inequality is difficult to change, and so women by and large continue to live life as second class citizens. They don’t always know their legal rights or status, and they don’t understand that they can stand up for their rights. Domestic violence, divorce, custody, and land rights are all circumstances where women’s rights are frequently ignored or denied.

The Projects Abroad volunteers provide community education to these women so that they know what their legal rights are. With this knowledge they can make better decisions about their economic and family situation and be empowered to exercise and defend those rights in court. Where the cases require legal intervention, volunteers refer the women to the Tanzanian Women Lawyer’s Association, which provides free legal representation through the use of pro bono (volunteer) attorneys. There are six different women’s groups that the volunteers visit once or twice a week. We pick a topic, prepare a presentation, and then present it to the women with the help of a translator. Each week is a different topic. So that will be something I will be doing while here.

The Juveniles

The other category of work the human rights volunteers do is to help juvenile offenders who are in detention know what their legal rights are. The Constitution and juvenile laws are very clear about what the police and prosecutors are supposed to be doing with the cases that come before the court, but it is not at all unusual for the police to beat the kids to get a confession, or have them sign a document without reading it, or not to tell them what they’ve been charged with, or to continually postpone the case way past the allowable time periods. The children are routinely left to languish in detention for long periods of time, sometimes over a year. These detentions often occur for extremely minor offenses, and there doesn’t seem to be any effective mechanism for getting the children out while they await trial. They are not entitled to legal representation, and rarely understand what is happening or why they are being held for so long.

The volunteer role with the juveniles is twofold: we interview each one to learn about the circumstances of their case and try to figure out whether any laws were broken. When the case involves police or prosecutors running roughshod over the child’s legal rights, we draft a petition on their behalf that asks the court to consider dismissing the case, or make recommendation for lesser punishment. The volunteers cannot appear in court on their behalf, of course, but these petitions are filed by the social welfare representative appearing with them and are hopefully considered by the magistrate. Apparently the success rate for securing the release of these boys (eventually) is pretty good.

The Projects Abroad team is working with 15 juveniles and the volunteers try to track the progress of their cases as best they can. With new volunteers coming in and out every few weeks, you can imagine how frustrating it is for the boys to always be meeting new people and answering the same questions over and over. Nevertheless, it’s the most that can be done for them, and the Human Rights project director, who knows all the boys and their cases, does provide some continuity. The real problem is the system, and systemic change, while it is happening (we are told), is very slow.

The second way the volunteers help these boys is by providing general education workshops about their legal rights. This is to help them stand up for themselves when they do go to court, and also to help them understand what is happening to them. Sadly, these case drag on for months and months without resolution. Many of the boys dropped out of school very early and are mostly illiterate. It is not unusual for the parent to kick them out or abandon them when they get into trouble, and many of the kids are homeless prior to committing their offense.  The cards are stacked high against them and while the Projects Abroad volunteers can do very little for them during the short time we are here, we are able to show them that someone cares about them and is trying to help them. Sadly, that has to be enough most of the time.

The Incredible Dala Dala

I can’t end without talking just a little bit about the public transportation system here. If you don’t have a car, there are basically three modes of motorized transportation available to you: taxi, motorbike, and Dala Dala. The taxi can be expensive, and the motorbike can be dangerous (lots of horror stories of accidents on motorbikes where helmets are rarely worn and passengers are getting on with unlicensed, young, inexperienced showoff drivers), so most people opt for the Dala Dala.

The Dala Dala is the most reliable, safe and available means of public transportation. Extremely cheap, these large minivans are equipped with perhaps 13 actual seats, yet it is common for them to be stuffed with 15-20 adults or more (not to mention the occasional live chickens, goat, big parcels from the market, or babies and small children). Today when three of us were looking for a ride, the DalaDala that opened its door for us was very clearly crammed to the gills. We were going to pass and wait for the next one, but the steward beckoned us forward and all three of us stuffed ourselves inside (with our big backpacks), standing on the floorboards and squashed between the people seated and anyone who could be squashed in behind us. It is pretty incredible. New York subways have got nothing on the DalaDala – just sayin…

Tanzania is a third world country, and it shows. One is struck by the population density, the extreme poverty apparent everywhere you look, the heavily rutted dirt roads, the inefficient and poorly provided infrastructure, lack of work opportunities, reported corruption, and poor education. That said, at first glance this is an endlessly fascinating and beautiful country and culture, with a lot of resilience, curiosity and adaptability on the part of its population. I look forward to learning more as I traverse the streets of Arusha, and talk to the women and children over the next two weeks.