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I can’t sum up my year in Africa. Nor could I bring home all the things that I loved. But here are some of the things I miss, and the memories that make me smile.
1. Buying cheap produce on the street. There’s nothing like leaning out of a bus window and buying an already peeled orange for 15¢.
2. While it can also be frustrating, the “no rush attitude” is precious. Hakuna matata, right? The sense of calm and tranquility in everything ranging from business transactions to daily activities is mind-blowing. But the level of stress associated with this attitude is minimal, and things always work out in the end.
3. The people make do with what they have, and they do so happily. For the things they don’t have, they certainly don’t lack creativity. Want to play a game of soccer and don’t have a soccer ball? Just collect some plastic bags, roll them all up into a ball and tie them with a string. Can’t afford a toy? All you need is four bottle caps (as wheels) and a plastic bottle (as the body of the car) and a stick to pull your new toy car along. My parents will tell you the story about the man in Zanzibar who was using a wheelbarrow with a flat tire but used a string to lift the weight off the tire. You have to admit that they are pretty damn creative.
4. When my family and Elior came to visit, Elior thought he was going to Kenya. Pretty much up until he boarded the flight for Tanzania.
The right clothes for safari. Just the wrong country. No big deal.
5. Tanzanians are huge on greetings and it is rude to ignore this custom. While at first I found it annoying to ask 20 questions when I only wanted to know where something was, the idea sort of grew on me. By the end of the year, not a taxi ride went by without me asking about their house, family, marital status and health of their children.
6. Swahili. It was exhausting for me to speak Swahili, but the response and look on peoples’ faces upon seeing the white girl speak Swahili was priceless. There are some words and aspects I really like about the language too. For example, shikamoo, a greeting used to show respect for your elders. Or pole (polei), a word that literally means sorry and is used for everything from a person tripping or sneezing to a death in the family. Or calling everyone either dada (sister), kaka (brother) or shemegi (in-law) even though you just met.
7. Speaking of Swahili, things often got lost in translation – or so we thought. This story was written so well by Julie that instead of rewriting it, I’m just going to provide the blog link: Funny Hot Dog Story.
8. They sell alcohol in a bag. It is a little 2 oz. packet that is so easy to smuggle into the club. What a smart idea.
Julie and I pouring Konyagi into a coke
9. When I stayed in Tofo, Mozambique I didn’t wear shoes at all. Not to the beach, not to the market and not even to the bar at night. It is such a small beach town and all the roads are made of sand that I didn’t even bother to put on a pair of flip-flops for the week. People who know me well know this is my ideal living situation: no shoes.
10. In the beginning, the rain pounding on a tin roof in the middle of the night would always wake me up. But then I started to like the sound – it was soothing. There was something beautiful about the rains in Africa. Maybe because it meant I was excused from everything. Drainage isn’t up to par, so the roads quickly become rivers. Unless you want to swim to your next destination, you just stay where you are.
11. To continue with the rain theme, when I was a little girl, my sisters and I would float bottle caps in the water on the sides of the road after it had rained. When it rained in Tanzania, it poured. And as the roads turned to rivers, I couldn’t help but think that floating bottle caps as a kid in Tanzania would have been way more fun.
My street after a quick rain
12. The sense of community. I would often see 3-year-olds wandering down the street alone. I thought it was crazy until I realized that everyone in the community was looking out for them. Pretty admirable and respectable, considering I don’t even know my own neighbors. This sense of community is also why group loans in microfinance have been so effective.
13. The lack of confrontation. There’s nothing like seriously bargaining for something while laughing and smiling, even though the likelihood was that I was annoyed and angry for being charged “mzungu prices.”
There’s plenty more, but I’ll leave you with a funny story.
14. One day I was waiting for a dala-dala at Posta, one of the main stops. To get to my apartment from Posta, I had to take two buses, which meant switching and paying twice. There was a direct dala-dala but it didn’t come very often. I decided to wait for the direct bus. When it arrived and started to slow as it neared the stop, I did what I knew all the Tanzanians would do. I ran alongside the bus and started throwing elbows as I pushed and shoved my way onto the bus. I don’t even think the dala-dala ever came to a complete stop as people got off and on. I know, it sounds crazy, but if you don’t go along with it you’re likely to end up face down on the road as you get trampled on. I got a seat by the way, and with traffic the ride took about an hour.
The next day, Rita, the Kiva coordinator at Tujijenge had a funny story to tell me. She was on a dala-dala entering Posta when someone on her bus said, “Look! Even the mzungu (white person) is running and pushing to get on the dala-dala.” As Rita looked out the window to see this spectacle, she realized that “this mzungu” was me. She didn’t understand why I was running for a Posta-Mwenge bus when they come so frequently. But when I explained that it was in fact a Posta-Kawe bus, Rita said, “Oh, good thing you ran, that bus is very rare. Did you get a seat?”
Me painting on Emily's wall in her NYC apartment
Well, I’m back in the US now so I guess this is the end. Thanks to everyone for reading!
In Vilanculos I met a journalist on her first trip to Africa. As travelers usually do, and journalists even more so, she asked me how long I had been in Africa and what I was doing here. I explained that I had been working in microfinance in Tanzania, and now I was just traveling for a few months before heading home. She asked me if the experience was rewarding, and I blurted out that no, it wasn’t rewarding. She and I were both equally surprised by my response. I later thought about why I didn’t find working in microfinance to be rewarding. The truth is, I wasn’t really doing anything special. The concept of microfinance is cool because it is a sustainable method of development where the poor get a chance to help themselves. It isn’t about giving charity, which is not sustainable and likely to make them dependent on aid anyway. These people were finally just getting a chance to make something of their life and business, on their own. And they were doing it in a fair and responsible manner by borrowing money and paying it back in a timely fashion, with interest. Rewarding for me? No. Inspiring for me? Most definitely!
If you also like the idea of microfinance and want to get involved, check out www.kiva.org where you can lend (you’ll get paid back at the end of the loan term) as little as $25 to an entrepreneur in the developing world so he or she can expand his or her business.
Kiva has just been voted as one of the top 5 entries in the American Express Members Project competition, which keeps them in the running for the $1.5 million grand prize!
I know many of you voted to get Kiva to the top 5, which is great because it guarantees Kiva receives at least $100,000. But now the votes from September have been reset to zero and Kiva has until October 13th to generate the most votes in order to win the $1.5 million grand prize, a huge sum for a non-profit like Kiva.
What can you do to help in 1 minute? American Express Cardmembers, Vote Today: http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/P6KQEI
$1 donated to Kiva’s Operational Expenses has led to $8 in loans. If Kiva wins $1.5M, this could help facilitate $12M of additional loans to 24,000 entrepreneurs this year. The beauty of the Kiva model is that when an entrepreneur repays his/her loan, the lender can re-invest it, which happens 60% of the time. So over the next 10 years, your vote for Kiva could help generate $30 Million dollars in loans to 60,000 developing world entrepreneurs.
How far Kiva has come in just 3 years since its founding in Oct, 2005:
– $44 million in total loans
– 92,000 entrepreneurs empowered with a Kiva loan
– 338,000 Kiva lenders
– 98.5% repayment rate
– Lenders in 135+ developing countries
How far will Kiva go in the next 3 years…
– $250 million in total loans
– 500,000 entrepreneurs empowered with a Kiva loan
Thank you for your support.
I am finally in love. In love with my job, that is. But who wouldn’t be when their job entails meeting men and women, whom with access to credit for the first time are improving their economic well-being. Like the woman I met last week in Kichemchem. A small loan enabled her to expand her butchery business and increase her monthly income from $100 to $800! It is known as microfinance – offering financial services to the poor. A relatively new phenomenon, the key concept behind microfinance is that a small loan to a poor person can help him or her break the cycle of poverty. Typically the poor lack access to credit, but microfinance institutions (MFIs) all over the developing world are now offering them the opportunity to borrow money. Microfinance has already improved the lives of billions of poor people, but there are many more that have not yet been reached.
Microfinance is the reason I came to Dar. Man, did I jump in the deep end! I take up to three crowded, sweaty public buses down bumpy dirt roads to visit a loan group. Once I’ve arrived, I locate the meeting place only to find 20 people gathered around counting money. They are making their weekly loan payments, but while counting and recording payments, they are chatting with each other and laughing. They range from young to old and are mostly women, many whom are carrying small children tied to their backs with colorful kangas. These aren’t just any people receiving a loan from a typical bank – these are Tujijenge Tanzania clients. And if I am taking 2-hour bus rides to remote areas of Dar es Salaam to visit them, then they are Kiva clients too.
Kiva is an NGO based in San Francisco. It is a fledgling organization, but it is innovatively changing the face of microfinance. Through a website and MFI partners around the world, Kiva enables the average person to lend money to an entrepreneur in the developing world. And not just any entrepreneur. The one you choose, in the country of your choice, conducting business in an industry of interest to you. The money you lent is returned to you, and you can take it out of the system or re-lend to someone else. So for $25 (that you’ll even get back!), you can help someone in the developing world break out of poverty. Check out www.kiva.org for more details, and maybe lend to an entrepreneur while you are at it!
So where do I come in? I am here as a Kiva Fellow working with one of Kiva’s partners, Tujijenge Tanzania. I help them post business profiles onto the Kiva website to raise funds to disperse. Then, I head into the field to visit clients and get an update on the impact of their loan – information I pass on to Kiva lenders.
With the opportunity to work for organizations like Tujijenge Tanzania and Kiva, and see the success of microfinance first-hand, how can I not be inspired and in love with my job? Regardless, it definitely beats working at Fannie Mae.
Me and Rita, the Kiva coordinator at Tujijenge
