The daily grind...

The office I’m based in is pretty modern – everyone has computers, there’s  internet access most of the day, air conditioning, a water cooler, plus there’s a generator to deal with the (very frequent) power cuts. Other offices in the city which don’t have a generator might only have electricity some days in the week. Outside of the city, you might get no electricity at all. I honestly can’t remember the last time I experienced a power cut at home in Scotland.

The charity manager is an expat, there’s an English volunteer, and the rest of the staff are Tanzanian. Part of my role was to train the administrator, but when I got there I discovered that she had stopped working at the organisation a few days before I arrived!

The city centre banks are generally quite modern, both inside and out, almost like UK banks.  At one bank the queue for the tellers was about fifty people long, although somehow we managed to go straight to the manager’s office.

Just near the office are some small cafes, artists’ stalls, and a row of shops, including a small supermarket. Some days I bring in something to eat, others I get something from the supermarket, and other days I go to one of the cafes. Food at the cafes is quite cheap, and your food comes on a single dish divided up into different sections for rice, sauce, vegetables (such as spinach or cabbage), and meat/chicken/beans, along with a spoon to eat it all with.  Rice and beans (wali maharage) is probably one of the most common dishes you find. Chips (chipsi – this Swahili is easy!) are also popular, and in particular chipsi mayai – a chip omelette. I’m not yet convinced, but I’ll give it a try some time.

Sometimes a fruit seller comes to the office and we buy bananas, pears, or mangoes. The mangoes especially are delicious and I realise I’ve never actually eaten a fully ripe mango before now.