Settling In

Our first weeks back in Shinyanga have had their highs and lows. On the up side the weather is great, watermelon season is in full flow and we might have found a place to buy fresh pork but unfortunately the one hotel in town serving Indian food has put up it's prices, it's also papaya season and sometimes it's just too hot.

Paul has now been in his new job for two weeks, the main highlight being the two meals a day provided in the office! So far, it's been busier than expected but a lot of that is trying to set up systems and digitise data to help down the line. There's been a couple of late evenings but hopefully that won't become the norm.

ICS Shinyanga is an office of around 15 people, all of whom are very welcoming and friendly. They've helped us with transport, moving house and even done the dreaded Immigration Office visits on our behalf. ICS are primarily involved in agricultural and child protection projects. The project Paul is involved in is the first major one with water but it's an area they hope to expand - if this goes well!

Being back in Shinyanga has meant that Alice will able to visit and get involved back at Buhangija. We went together for the first time last week and were amazed at the continued general health and cleanliness of the children. We really hoped that things would continue to improve when we were away and it seems that they have. The nurse we helped employ is still there every day and is doing a great job of taking care of the health and hygiene of the kids and their environment.

In other news, we're very excited about Ian, Clare and Stu coming to visit us this weekend. Clare and Stu will be here for two weeks, Ian somehow managed to persuade the army to give him five weeks (Irish taxpayers take note!). It's Clare and Ian's second time here so we really think the Tanzanian tourist board should start paying us. We've planned a trip to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls and will spend a week in Shinyanga to show them what life is really like!

Swahili word of the day: Mhandisi Maji (Water Engineer)

Shinyanga 2: Shinyanga Harder

After three and a half great weeks in Ireland, we are now back in Tanzania. Having had our fill of pork, cheese, fresh milk and being cold we are back in the land of rice, beans and UHT. It was wonderful to see people and we were very glad we decided to come back for an extra week and a half. Thanks again to Swords and Dublin West for asking us to share some of what we’re up to.

This post has the making of a monumental catch up but in short, the couple of weeks before we left for Ireland proved to be complicated in a uniquely Tanzanian way. On our emotional last Sunday in Shinyanga, we piled a Hilux high with our stuff, strapped a mattress to the roof and took off for Geita, our ‘new town’ (see previous blog post). Fifteen minutes into our four hour trip, Paul got an email asking him to attend an interview in Mwanza (two hour car journey plus ferry ride from Geita) the next day for a job based in Shinyanga.

A slight change of plan meant that we dropped our belongings in Geita, and continued on to Mwanza. A further email received that night indicated that the interview had been postponed until Thursday. Continuing to rack up the miles, we travelled back to Geita on Tuesday morning to meet people, find out about their projects and familiarise ourselves with a new place – all the while knowing if the interview went well, this could be our one and only week there. In a major stroke of luck, we met Annette, a lovely German woman, who happened to be going to Mwanza the day before Paul’s interview. So on Wednesday morning, Paul arrived in Mwanza airport and after a very pleasant but challenging interview, Paul was offered the job! In most ways, accepting it was a no brainer – it’s a great project, will be good experience and allows us to return to our Tanzaniain ‘home town’.

All was going well until Paul’s lift back to Geita was delayed by a day due to some car issues. That would have been fine had he not taken both passports with him and immigration had not knocked on Alice’s hotel door in Geita at 10pm. After much negotiation, threats of jail, explanation and a conveniently sent whatsapp picture of Alice’s visa, sleep was had. Until 1am when Alice woke up and vomited til the early morning...the joys of life here...!

In summary, Paul has a new job. It’s with a Dutch NGO called ICS who’s main country office is in Shinyanga, very close to where we used to live. He has been employed to help manage a UK Aid funded pre-paid water project in villages in the Shinyanga region. It will aim to share Shinyanga town’s water supply from Lake Victoria with villages along the route which don’t yet have any mains water. Using existing mobile money technology, users will be able to ‘top-up’ cards for the amount of water they want. It’s a bit like this.

Leaving Tearfund ‘officially’ was a tough decision but a great chat with Shannon in the Tearfund country office freed us of any guilt which were are very thankful for! Returning to Shinyanga also allows Alice to continue working in Buhangija where she will be able to continue helping with the nursery school, working alongside the nurse, monitoring the food and water situation and hopefully starting some new projects. On top of all that, we received an email this week asking Alice to manage a hotel in Shinyanga for a month...Tanzania, how we have missed you!