So the story begins on the second night in Tanzania. It had taken 4 planes, a boat and what may be loosely classed as a bus to finally arrive. Needless to say after 32 hours of travelling none of us were in a state to make the best impression to the 12 excitable national volunteers crowding around to greet us, and even less so to start the journal.
The journey itself started great as we indulged in all the luxuries of Qatar Airways, but as the hours wore on and the planes got progressively smaller our enthusiasm was wearing, especially after Theo was taken aside on arrival at Mwanza airport and interrogated by immigration. But we got through, we had arrived.
Perhaps I should backtrack. I'm Nadine and this blog is here to share my experiences of volunteering in Bukoba, Tanzania for VSO-ICS. For 3 months myself and five other British volunteers lived and worked alongside national volunteers and families in rural Africa. The aim of the programme was to work with teachers in order to develop innovative teaching aids in primary schools, as well as organise and orchestrate sustainable, student-led clubs. This was pretty much all the information we had when arriving in the country.
As we eerily emerged out of the airport our we were greeted by the ridiculously contagious smile of Aive, the national programme supervisor. She immediately sat us down with cold drink (welcome to my addiction to pineapple fanta) before loading us onto the bus for the final stint of the journey, the 8 hour bus/ferry ride.
Within half an hour I was sick. On the roadside. With a gaggle of men laughing and shouting in Swahili. Needless to say it was not my finest hour, but it was a wonderful introduction to the whole team of the evil that is doxycycline, which little did we know would be a constant battle for the next 3 months. Aside from this the journey was completely fascinating. There is something about driving across Africa with the windows open and music blaring that will never, ever, get boring.
When we arrived it was dark and we were beyond tired, but ushered straight into the conference room to meet the national volunteers and have some "icebreaker" activities, the first of many over our three days of training at the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment