There are two ways of understanding ‘happenings’ in life: 1. They happen for a reason. 2. Believe that they happen for a reason and act accordingly. In reality, there’s no difference between the outcomes of the two ways of understanding. Whether they actually happen for a reason or that you believe they happen for a reason is actually the same thing. Am I not making sense? Maybe. My eye is still swollen. I’m still stuck at home during my precious […]
I’m mainly interested in the impacts of economic systems on marginalized communities. Most can agree that the capitalist system has failed to deliver its promises to the poorest of the poor in the drive for globalization. In my perspective, the capitalist model is fundamentally incompatible in servicing the poor and must be systematically changed for more equitable and sustainable development. My question is thus divided into threefold: How is the current economic system (capitalist in paradigm, hybrid in theory, and […]
Riding on the dala dala is always eventful. If not the dripping sweat, sardine-like cramming type of eventful, then it’s the interesting cultural difference type of eventful. Here’s a few recent little surprises: – someone just plopped their baby on my lap. According to my friends, this is quite common. People just trust you with their babies when the bus gets too crowded. Plus, everyone needs at least two hands, if not three, to hang on tight when there’s a […]
I was trying to find something in my email and I came across this little gem…a heated exchange between my parents and I: i am not going to masters immediately because 1) I have had enough of only studying, I need some real life experience to motivate me to study more. 2) I don’t really know which field within development I want to focus on. It would be useless of me to go do a masters without really knowing what […]
There were no fans. My head was pounding. My eye was tearing. Rapid-fire Kiswahili echoed in the room. I was in a meeting today where I was supposed to be the facilitator. I was a bit sick and I felt it would be better if the flow of the meeting wasn’t interrupted as much with the translation of every sentence. So I asked the stakeholders to facilitate the meeting. Result: much boredom and more energy to dwell on my now […]
I’m sick with conjunctivitis*; first time sick since I’ve been on this continent. Darn, I can’t brag that I’ve never been sick here now. Come to think about it, I’ve been remarkably sick-less these days. In Canada, I would have had at least two colds by now. I think it’s the stress. When you’re at school, all nighters are so common. Here, nothing would make me sleep less than I need, except maybe the occasional day where I have something […]
4 months ago, I thought 6 months was really long. Now, 6 months seems way too short. I wish I knew what’s going to happen in 2 more months.
I’ve got an awesome holiday plan coming up. I’m travelling overland to Harare, Zimbabwe to visit a friend. A Zimbabwean friend I met in Norway. (What a world, eh?) I just got my train ticket on Saturday. I was so excited I literally skipped out of the TAZARA station (Tanzanian Zambian Railway Authority – funded and built by the Chinese; random Simplified Chinese writing in the station was very entertaining) with my second class sleeper ticket. I was in such […]
Sweat dripped from my nose. One arm crossed over my head, awkwardly grabbing the nearest pole. Toes gripping hard at the small piece of stair I fought to keep. Face centimetres away from the dala dala conductor, his breath on my cheek. Super overstuffed dala dala in a traffic jam; nothing new anymore. “You teach me some Mchina language.” The conductor stroke up a conversation with me. “Mimi sio Mchina. I don’t speak Chinese.” I automatically replied. Before you bash […]
One of the groups of farmers we work with farm in a controversial area – the Msimbazi Valley. In the past few months, there’s been lots of media attention on the valley, mainly due to research findings (confirmed or not depends on who you ask) about the toxicity of the water and soil. The Msimbazi Valley runs along the middle of Dar es Salaam. It’s huge, with estimates of hundreds of, maybe even a thousand, people who directly make their […]
