Days in Dar

July started with a trip to Capetown, SA for four days to visit Christian. It was so so good to see him especially after not seeing each other for two months. Capetown is a beautiful city, and although it rained the entire time I was there, we were still able to enjoy the incredible beauty around us. My favorite part was hiking out to the very end of the Cape of Good Hope (the southernmost point of the African continent), as well as eating numerous amazing meals, and going to a big outdoor Saturday market.

A few days after I got back to Capetown I celebrated my 21st birthday. The day of my birthday I just worked all day, but the on the weekend Hayden and I celebrated. Saturday morning we went to our favorite beach spot and invited some of the girls from the hostel. Four of them came and we spent the day swimming and laughing and laying out in the sun. As it got dark we said goodbye to the girls and they headed back to the hostel, while Hayden and I rented a tent out on the beach to stay the night. After the sunset, we went and got incredible massages at the spa there and then went back to our tent and ordered fish dinners to eat at the table outside of our tent. The next morning we got up at 6 to watch the sunrise. We took a blanket and sat out on the beach and watched the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen in my life. There were tons of little fishing boats scattering the horizon and it was cool (for once!); it was incredible. (see pictures)

My research has been going really well the past couple of weeks. I decided I need to implement a survey to find out if people have small businesses or what kind of work they have, if they are involved in ROSCAs, if they have ever borrowed from a moneylender or taken a loan from a Microfinance Institution, and if they save, and if so, how much, where, etc. I wrote the survey and had my Swahili teacher translate it into Swahili for me and then I started doing it right away. I individually interview people and ask them the survey questions (in my wonderful swahili) but my translator still comes along with me to help translate the answers. I have done 70 in the past week and a half and hope to do few more in the next couple of days to have a good sample. 

I can’t believe I only have two more weeks here! The time has gone so incredibly fast. It seems like just yesterday I was moving into the hostel, but now it feels like home. The next two weeks are going to be the busiest of my time here. I need to finish up the survey and then will spend the rest of the time analyzing my data and writing a large quantity of papers (more than I want to think about right now!), giving a final oral presentation of my research findings to my hosts, moving Hayden and I out of the hostel, and saying goodbye to many new beloved friends.

Thank you again to all of you for your constant prayers for me. My neck has been feeling the best it has since I have been here the last week which is a huge praise. You can pray for it to continue to stay better as well as for my overall health. I have had a little bit of a stomach bug lately so you can pray that it goes away and I am completely healthy for the remaining busy weeks. 

I will definitely be writing on here again to tell you some of the main highlights of my summer, so be sure to be check back again in the next couple of weeks.