Well, I made it back from my site visit. It has been a long week and it's good to be back. Let me tell you a little about my site - it's close to Shinyanga which is a pretty but town. It takes 12 hours by bus to get to Shinyanga, then another 45 minutes by smaller transport to my village. this is a semi arid region that gets very little rainfall, but we are currently in the rainy season. My little house is on a government agricultural site where they run a thresher almost constantly for sorghum, which along with sunflowers and a few other drought resistant crops are the main crops up here. The land is very flat and dry, but there is a river close by where they get their water during the dry season. I got a look at the river and it is more like a small creek, and remember this is the rainy season.
My house has two rooms, no running water or electricity. The nights I spent in the house were just fine, it doesn't get very cool here (although it is 5-10 degrees cooler than here in Morogoro), and it is about 50 feet from the closest (and only close) neighbor who is actually my host. This experience was very much like backpacking for those who have done it, living out of my backpack while moving between the site and various guest houses. One thing they have plenty of here is sun, so I will be purchasing my solar panel as well as all my furniture and a bicycle as soon as I come to stay in a few weeks. I forgot to mention, I actually have a little walled in compound with an attached storage room and chop (toilet hole/shower). It is a decent enough set up, and it definitely has potential.
My host Mshamu introduced me to the various dignitaries in both villages. This included the police, the magistrate, the doctor at the zahanati, the principal at both the secondary and primary school, the village leaders from both villages, and the Economic Development Council from my village. Everyone was very welcoming and I got to practice my Swahili greeting over and over again (I need a lot of work).
My photos: my home, the Economic Development Council, the zahanati, the secondary school.
Well that's it for the edition. I'll write more as time allows.
Until next time!