Days in Dar

The pictures loaded out of order, so from the bottom, up: my room before, after, and Hayden and I at South Beach.

Well I have hit the 10 day mark. In some ways it seems like I have been here much longer, and in some ways I feel like I just arrived. I have learned a lot about the culture here and some Swahili already, but I still have so much learn! 

I was finally able to move into the hostel.  I am sharing a room with Hayden Hill, a community development grad from Covenant two years ago. I knew her a little before I came, but have gotten to know her a lot better since I have been here. It is such a blessing to be able to live with someone who comes from the same religious and educational background.  It has been great to be able to digest things and discuss things about development work with her.  She is here working for Mission to the World as a community worker, she has recently started two microfinance groups with women in the community. Hayden and I are the first white people to ever live in the hostel!

Hayden and I spent all day Saturday fixing up our rooms.  We had to put up screens, glue a plastic covering to the floor, and clean things (we had to knock cockroach nests from off the bottom of our beds with a hammer!), and then we had to move all of our stuff in. The room is very small, it fits two beds, a small table and two chairs, a small fridge, and a few buckets, leaving a small walkway. We fixed up quite nice though, and it feels very homey already. Hayden has a portably two burner stove that we will use for cooking; we will do all of our cooking in our room. I think we will be eating very simple- rice, fresh fruits and vegetables from the market, and a lot of peanut butter and eggs for protein! I have started to learn some African dishes and look forward to learning more about what they eat and how to cook it.

Sunday Hayden and I went to the beach after church.  After two dala dala rides (the public transportation here) and a ferry ride, we got there after over an hour.  It was a beautiful secluded beach. We got seafood for lunch and then just layed on the beach for awhile and went swimming in the very warm water.  It was really nice to get out of the busy, dirty city for a little while! 

Today I finished my last day of a language acquisition course. Everyday I have been learning the tools I need to learn a language, then I learn a few simple Swahili phrases, listen to them over and over on a voice recorder, then go out into the community to practice. Today was my favorite day going out into the community.  I went with the Lyon’s house girl, Harriet.  We walked all over, talking to everyone we saw! I practiced my few phrases I know over and over again, “Hi, my name is Rachel, what is your name? I come from America, I am learning KiSwahili.  What is that? (point to something, repeat what they say over and over once they tell me what it is) What are you doing? oh, okay. Well, I don’t know any more words, thank you! bye.” Then I would move onto the next person, while Harriet held my hand and laughed and laughed.  It was a lot of fun. While we walked there were always kids yelling out, Muzungu, muzungu! (white person!) My favorite part is when I started talking to this one woman, then all of a sudden about twenty kids showed up out of nowhere and crowded around us.  I asked them all what their names were and what things were that they were holding.  They all got a kick out of it! 

From now on, I will meet with George every morning from 8-9am to learn Swahili. I will come to him with the phrases I want to learn everyday and then he will translate them for me.  Then I have to go out and talk to people to practice what I learn. 

Tomorrow I am going to meet with my two translators to train them in how to be good translators. I am also going to buy a bike, as I live in Buguruni, but will be doing my research in Vingunguti.  A bike is the best option for my transportation.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers.  You can continue to pray for the prayer requests from my last entry, as they still hold true. 

My time here has gone really well so far.  I can feel that many people are praying for me.  I arrived Saturday night on time, unfortunately neither of my bags came, but I was able to get them Monday night.  My host’s the Lyons (ReachGlobal missionaries) picked me up from the airport and I have been staying at their house until I can move in to the hostel, hopefully tomorrow.  They have been imparting all of their knowledge to me of the culture over the past few days based on their knowledge from living here 15 years and in Africa for over 30 years.  Steve is the head of the ReachGlobal team here in Dar, made up of about 20 people.  

Sunday I was able to go to the church that they planted which meets in a classroom of a school directly behind the hostel.  It is a small church but the people there are extremely friendly and vibrant people.  Pastor George is a Tanzanian and is the pastor of the church and he will also be giving me language lessons everyday for an hour in the morning. His son, Joseph, is most likely going to be my translator.

The Lyons have taught me a lot of the cultural norms here, the history of ReachGlobal and their work here, the history of Tanzania, how to cook, etc. and have been very kind hosts.  They live in the Vingunguti district which is where I will be conducting all of my research.  Out of 80,000 people, they are the only two white people. I will be living in Buguruni, which is the district next to Vingunguti. 

Yesterday I started my language learning.  Although English and Swahili are official languages here, virtually no one speaks any English.  It is quite frustrating not to be able to speak to anyone, and so I am eager to learn some Swahili.  

Some praises and prayer requests-

Praise that my luggage came and that I have been relatively healthy since I have been here.                            

Pray for me as I move into the hostel tomorrow, as it is quite rustic.  Pray that I will adjust quickly and not think about the inconveniences.  Pray that I can start to have relationships with the women living there.        

Pray for me as I struggle with loneliness and homesickness as I adjust to new and different surroundings.    

Pray for me as I learn Swahili that I won’t get too frustrated not knowing very much and learning slowly.

Pray that I will stay healthy!! 

Thank you so much for your prayers!

Just wanted to let you know my address if you ever wanted to send me anything.  

Rachel Miedema

c/o Steve and Carol Lyons

PO Box 63367

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

You can send letters and padded envelopes but don’t send boxes because they may never come.  Letters take about 7-9 days to get here usually.