What a beautiful day!
After many, many, many...long hours of travel, myself and other team members have arrived and gotten settled in Dar es Salaam to stay for a few days. I have experienced many things today. Day one, I can't believe that I am here. It still seems surreal, but my surroundings are awakening my senses and my mind to the reality of where I am and what I will be working towards for the next several months.
Walking the streets being hit with the sounds, smells, and sand-blasting wind gusts are all things to behold. It is a new experience to be in a place with such a mixed culture. Many don't speak english, but some do. Accomodations and minimal but nice, and even here at the Jambo Inn where we are staying I am in an internet cafe where they are also selling doritos, skittles, and Marlboro lights. I have much enjoyed getting to strike up conversations with locals that are always confusing with lots of questions, but always full of smiles and understanding. The people here are very excited and happy about the work that we are here to do, and this is definitely shown through the extensive ways they have helped us- even in just day one of our journey.
After going through customs and packing 10 people with all of our luggage into a 7 passenger van, we definitly got some looks as we were stuck in Dar traffic for over an hour. We stopped at our hotel to drop off luggage, and went to have breakfast with the group at a restaurant called Safari, eating toast that was as big as my head, fresh local fruit (papaya, mango, pineapple, and banana), and drinking tea with milk that tasted like butter.
We got phones and thanks to Lily Olson for letting me borrow her phone, it means so much that Keith used it when he did such meaningful work with water here in Tanzania. We are in the process of getting minutes onto the phone, and I am hoping to call home within the next day or so to touch base.
The day has been really great so far, I can't believe that I am lucky enough to be back in Africa again, and I look forward to each moment of every day for the next 6 months so that I can grow, learn, and experience life here.
Signing off for now, keep posted for more soon to come.
Peace and blessings to you all!
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Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI am so delighted to be commenting on your blog! The picture is beautiful and I will look forward to stopping by from time to time for updates. You painted a wonderful word picture and I can almost imagine being there with you.
I think your mission/experience is so valuable. I admire people who are able to give up themselves and match their passion with their "work". Enjoy this journey Lindsay. I will look forward to meeting you someday.
Best wishes,
Kelly Green