Beneath the High Skies

Quite some time has passed since I wrote my last entry to this blog of mine. The reason for it is quite simple, I have had quite much to do here in Tanzania after my arrival. But before we enter that topic, I think that we should go back to the end of April, when I left Finland.

As I have mentioned earlier in my posts, my coming here was not really all that simple. The Finnish embassy in Tanzania delayed its decision, whether to fund this project or not, I got involved in an other project that demanded (and actually still demands) a lot of my attention, and the scholarship to cover my running costs in Finland and the flight ticket was badly delayed (I am still missing it). At some point during the spring time it seemed rather unlikely that I could participate in this project, if there even would be a project. But this time, as many times before, the unlikely thing became realized, and I got to go to Tanzania.

Africa hit me in Jomo Kenyatta international airport in Nairobi, Kenya. After an eight-hour night flight from London to Nairobi, I entered a transit passenger lounge to wait some six hours before my last leg of travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. There were plenty of other passengers, all trying to spend their time, some by sleeping and some by drinking. But there was also a single tv tuned to a local station, which transmitted programs with religious contents (preaching, gospel music, etc.), it was Sunday morning after all.

It reminded me once again over the big role of religion in a local lifestyle. Religion is not here really a private thing as in Nordic societies, but is widely discussed (for example while drinking beer and having a dinner in a local bar) and actively taken part in. Some even say that perhaps it would be time for Africans to come over to more and more down to earth Europe to do some mission work. The problem that I see coming through religion is that people may rely too much on an idea that all the good comes from the God, which diminishes the role of the individuals in their pursue for better future, and even paralyzes some to wait for Godly intervention. This is not to say that religion(s) should be swept away from the face of the earth, or that Marx had it right, when saying that religion is opium for the people. After all, I am a believer myself. But in my opinion, religion should bring hope and endurance to people in their day-to-day journey, not to paralyze them to wait something that may never come.

Once I arrived to Dar, it got more "earthly". My colleague, Marcus, had come to pick me up from the airport and took me to our apartment. Our apartment is located once again in Mikocheni area, just like the apartment we had one year ago. The apartment we are having now is spacious with ceilings being up high. There are three bedrooms to accommodate Marcus, I, and Ebenezer, who is our Tanzanian colleague. The apartment is also secure, which is important in Dar. There are high walls with broken glass on top of them (last year there was a electric fence!) surrounding the house, where our apartment is. Furthermore, the area is guarded around the clock. Whether the risk for break-in and burglary is that great, it is still a risk that you prefer not to take.


At the moment Marcus, Ebenezer, and I are in Dodoma, which is Tanzania's capital city, at least in official documents. We train local teachers one intensive week, during we cover all the topics and materials presented earlier in Dar. This week is the first of two weeks that we have planned staying here in Dodoma. The other week will take place in the end of this month. The topics we teach here now include for example information retrieval methods, personal data security, creation of web pages, and internet in business.


I have also continued to work in SMILE project, preparing the final two templates for it. It has been challenging to work with limited time resources and access to internet, but it has gone well. And working for several projects at the same time is not really anything new for me. In Joensuu it is always hectic, as the same people are having responsibilities, official or unofficial, for various projects at the same time. In Africa, at least, one is in safe from surprisingly occuring tasks.. ;)


P.s. No, it is not only work-work-and-work (with no play, makes..) here either. Marcus and I managed to sneak out on last Friday in Dar and went to a close-by resort called White Sands for some off-work relaxation in sun. :)