There is less than a month until July 14th and I’ll be home in good, old Derry!  Naturally my departure from Tanzania is bittersweet.  Like I said on facebook, it would be a lot easier to leave if I could just fit Martin in my suitcase!  It will be hard to leave all the friends I have here, but I also have a lot to look forward to in July and August including weddings and family parties!   


May was full of celebrations with the Sean Kingston concert, Martin’s birthday, and then our vacation to Mwanza, Tanzania.  Martin’s parents have both passed away, but I got to meet 4 out of his 8 brothers and sisters and their families.  We used Mwanza as our home base and traveled to Malampaka (where Martin grew up) to visit his eldest sister, Nsia, who lives in his parents’ house with her children Amos, Naomi, Ngasani, and Rachel.  Martin’s brother, Japhet, came to visit us in Mwanza.  We went to visit his youngest sister, Leah, and her husband, Faustine, who actually live in Mwanza city with their children: Bertha, Frank, and Flibert (yes, those really are their names…).  We also traveled to Sengerema to visit Martin’s sister Duke and Japhet’s son, Mzee.  It was really a perfectly balanced trip with meeting family, sightseeing, and relaxing.  I was so happy to get to meet some of Martin’s family and see where he grew up, but I was even happier to be able to bring him back to his home as he hadn’t seen any of his family in five years!  See the picture collage attached!


Besides the fact that the weather has cooled down a bit, probably the best part of this time of year in Tanzania is the return of past volunteers during their summer holidays from university or work.  Andy McKeegan, one of our best volunteers ever, returned for two weeks to make us all laugh and to introduce as many Tanzanians to the milkshakes at Mlimani City as possible.  Emma Hayward and Paul Taylor are back to work as team leaders and Alfred Letley is back for a 3-month internship!  And the infamous Juan Antuna Ros returned just two days ago. 


World Cup mania is underway and all my family and friends in the USA should be happy to know that the USA football/soccer team has a lot of support for Tanzania.  They seem to favor Team USA over England! 


All the best and see many of you soon,
Moriah 

click to enlargeHow could it be May already? I’m over the halfway point and I have about two and half months left in Tanzania before flying home on July 14th.  

Since my last update, I have been serving as “Acting Dar Manager.”  Our new Dar Manager, Sandra, arrived on April 14th and we are so happy to have her on board.  Before coming to Tanzania, Sandra had been working for RealGap, one of the volunteer agencies we work with, so she comes to us with a lot of experience.  I’ve now pretty much handed over most of the manager roles to Sandra, so I am anxious to see how I use the remaining time I have here to chip away at my long to do list, including good, old Mapinga! 

It’s not only rainy season here, but also football (meaning soccer) season!  On April 17th, Martin and I, along with two cars of volunteers, headed to the National Stadium to watch the two Dar es Salaam football clubs, Simba and Yanga, battle it out for the last game of the season.  Martin is a huge football fan, so I was really happy I got the opportunity to take him to the match.  I must admit that I have begun to enjoy watching football; it’s quite a nail-biting game to watch (but I think a tie/draw is awfully anticlimactic!).  It still amazes me how obsessed the Tanzanians are with all the different football leagues in Europe and my goodness, there are a lot of leagues!  I can only imagine what mania the World Cup will bring!  Erick, I think of your thesis very often while watching football here.  

Martin had his non-immigrant visa interview at the U.S. Embassy on April 22nd and unfortunately the outcome was different than what we had hoped for.  He was denied a visa because he didn’t provide enough evidence to show that he would return to Tanzania.  According to what they are looking for (bank account, ownership of the land, etc.), Martin doesn’t really have a lot of ties to Tanzania.  So now the question is: what’s plan B?  Good question.  I’d like to say we plan on applying for a non-immigrant visa again, but I’m really not sure if it’s worth the time and money unless we find some new evidence of his ties here.  So if he can’t be a non-immigrant, maybe he’ll just have to immigrate!  At this point, I think the realistic plan is that I’ll go home in July, hopefully find employment, and once I get my feet on the ground, we may begin to look into the fiancé visa process.  

I’m sure May will fly by, just as March and April did.  I’m looking forward to taking Martin to the Sean Kingston concert (yup, he’s coming to TZ) for his birthday and then taking some time off to go to Mwanza (northwest Tanzania) to meet some of Martin’s family.  Pictures attached!

Miss you all—think summer,
Moriah