News from Bongodox and Tanzania

Finally, news from Africa!

One week in Tanzania and still I get amazed, confused and overwhelmed every other minute. My head is exploding with things to be mentioned in this blog, but I’ll try to give you a short impression of my experiences.

I’ve spent my first week around Bongo Camping, trying to get familiar with the people and the area. The campsite was pretty quite when I arrived, but fortunately a couple of guests stopping by this week have brought the place back to life. I already made friends with all the local children; all it took was 10 minutes and a football.

Saturday we had our first meeting about Bongodox and it felt fantastic! All though I only understood half of what was said, I felt the amazing energy and will to do this project. Yesterday we had a meeting with the HIV/AIDS Coordinator in our district and hopefully we’ll soon get permission to start our research about HIV/AIDS in the local villages. I’m full of optimism!

I must admit that it’s big challenge to be a white girl living in Africa. I feel like a total stranger, but at the same time I feel more than welcome in this colourful country. People stare at me or laugh at me as if I was an alien and or joke, and sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m doing here... I’m so fare from everything I know. I’ve shaked hands with hundreds of Tanzanians and one of the first things, my colleague Eddie told me, was: “You are part of our family now”. Overwhelming and definitely not like Denmark!

That became even more evident to me, when one of my colleagues asked me: “Are you a Christian?” No. “Muslim then?” No. “So what do you believe in?” Eehh, nothing, I’m ateist. “Arhhjj… Aaha ha ha ha, but why?!” … And this is just one out of many experiences that illustrate the funny and interesting differences between my life in Denmark and in Tanzania. Another one is my morning run. So fare the most crazy and overwhelming I’ve tried here. I ran through villages and along the mainroad in a beautiful scenery with green hills and women on their way to the market. Everywhere people shouted at me, greeted me and tried to touch me. In their eyes this sight was unbelieveable: a running woman, a “mzungu” (white), and she’s wearing SHORTS… ! I can’t complain, it feels like running for the Olympix and it’s probably the best support I will ever get.

Well, I’m hungry now, so I better end this and drop by the market for some mangoes and pineapple for breakfast...