A post I wrote for the Sustainable Cities blog. I had an “aha” moment the other day. I was having dinner with some new friends. The person who sat next to me was an American who worked with the department of social work at the University of Dar es Salaam. Among all the interesting differences she learnt about social work in the US and in Tanzania, one in particular stood out in her mind. Government-provided social safety networks are practically […]
Here’s a video I helped make for the UBC Dollar Project! Check us out :) Sorry I can't embed it…
I walk up to a store. “I beg you for rice, beans, and eggs.” (Naomba wari, marage na mayai) Don’t freak out, I’m not that low on cash yet. In Tanzanian Swahili, whenever you ask to buy something at a store, you use the verb “naomba” which means “I beg.” As people keep telling me, Swahili in Tanzania is very polite, so polite that you actually don’t use “please” very often. I mean, I guess if you’re begging already, please […]
I had a long and interesting talk with one of my roommates last night. I don’t really remember the specific details since I was quite brain dead after a 12-hour work day. But I remember we were discussing about how we were adjusting to life here in Dar. As I mentioned in another post, frankly, there wasn’t much adjusting on my side. This is way easier than how we lived in Kampala, which was my first time in any “developing” […]
It’s 2:40 am. A rooster is crowing outside my window. Who in the world thought about domesticating these birds? Now that I’m up and unable to fall back into slumber, I might as well give you an update. Work has been pretty crazy the last two days. But I’m really starting to see how I fit into the whole picture of SC’s work here; especially my role and involvement in the legitimisation of urban agriculture part. Let me explain that. […]
