News from Tanzania

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