Washington has an impressive concentration of medical expertise related to the developing world. We were fortunate to hear a number of lectures from experts at State, the military, GW and Harvard about all the tropical diseases that we will both see and have an opportunity to experience first hand if we are not careful. Tanzania has many areas where malaria is hyperendemic so it received a great deal of attention. We also learned about the causes of death among Peace Corps. It was a sobering topic. DEET and mosquito nets are our new friends.
Last Wednesday our cohort of roughly 45 volunteers had a brief graduation ceremony at Peace Corps headquarters and then split up for travel to Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda. Laurel missed most of these proceedings as she had already gone to Nairobi for a week long MSF psychiatric course that was held in the outskirts of the city at a lodge adjacent to a national park. Bill left DC Wednesday evening by bus for JFK in NYC. The flights to Tanzania the next day started with a 15 hour leg from NYC to Johanesburg, South Africa followed by 3 hour jump on to Dar-es-Salaam. We met up in Dar on Saturday where we are are housed at a Catholic retreat center along with our other Tanzania bound GHSP colleagues, selected PC staff and a small number of language teachers for a non-stop series of orientation meetings.
It is difficult to describe the relentlessness of the Peace Corps orientation process. It is all-encompassing and leaves little room for ad lib adventures or deviation from the script. This makes about two weeks straight of essentially fixed schedules. We are both feeling the rub of a bit we cannot spit out but understand the need to drink all that is offered. The disparate group that is our cohort of 18 volunteers and assorted spouses has slowly but surely begun to gel.
Highlights of our week included mastering the all important greetings that grease the wheels of all Tanzanian social interactions. These run something like "Hello respected elder one. How are you this morning?" "How did you sleep?" "How is your family?" "How is your work, house, spouse, dog ....?" All necessitate the same reply " Fine, and you?" So not much is learned in these exchanges other than neither of us are masters of Swahili after 5 days! Tanzania is an unfailingly polite society that is actually refreshingly friendly and open. We have been treated well by those we have encountered to date but are still in a Peace Corps bubble.
We have both found many of our preconceived notions of the big african city of Dar-es-Salaam to be erroneous. Despite its poverty this is an orderly society with rules, niceties and obvious pride. The streets are quite clean and not terribly crowded as we have experienced previously in developing world capitals such as Dakka and Addis Abba. Traffic laws are respected and car horns are seldom heard despite significant delays during peak traffic times.
Yes, it is a bit hot during the middle of the day but not oppressively so during this winter season. Come summer we will be glad of the air conditioning we are anticipating in our apartment.
We have been to the Peace Corps offices and gotten our bank accounts, medical exams and IDs etc. It is in a nice part of town and used to be close to the site of the US Embassy here that was bombed in 1998 along with our embassy in Nairobi. That marked the start of the US's war with Osama Bin Laden and his followers. East Africa was the second front after Beirut. It was sobering to be reminded of the history that anchors us to a place that is a mosaic of cultures and conflicts. We are Americans and are here to represent the US to Tanzania. It came home to us in a very real way this week.
ID cards
We went to Muhimbili University and the Muhimbili National Hospital today for a group tour. It was much nicer than we had expected although quite sparse by US standards. We were introduced and shown around with great fanfare. Clearly there are expectations of us in our new roles that will require significant effort if we are to meet them. The pride of the Tanganian medical staff was apparent. We came away feeling encouraged and enthused. It was also nice to finally see our future apartment building and neighborhood even if it was only from the window of our minibus as we passed. It will be another two weeks before we are free and clear of orientation and settled in our own digs.
In a few more days we will leave here and travel as a group to Dodoma, the capital that is about 8 hours away by bus. There we will have an additional 2 weeks of language and cross-cultural training. Before we leave we will meet with the US ambassador and be formally sworn in to the Peace Corps.
So good to see the recent photos and to know you're finally there! Rhonda
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