We have spent a week and will spend the next fortnight with VSOTz’s July intake of vols. I need to introduce them to you as you will hear a lot about them.

Michelle is Australian and we will work together in Bukoba. We did our initial training in Melbourne together so know each other quite well. Michelle’s partner and their 8 year old son are with her. She and I are the only vols in this group with accompanying partners.

Louisa and Marike are also in the education sector. Louisa is an English primary school teacher, she goes to Kiteto in the Dodoma region, to train primary teachers especially in teaching english language. Marike, a young Canadian, goes to a brand new secondary school, built by the President’s wife, specifically for vulnerable girls, to teach science.

Zoe, another English lass, will go to Linde region in SE Tanzania to manage a medical laboratory in a Catholic mission hospital. Cynthia, from the Philippines, will work in HIV-AIDS in Kagera region an hour south of Bukoba. Nareema, another Canadian, is on Zanzibar working as a teacher in a tourism college – the locals get little from the influx of foreigners into Zanzibar as all profits go back overseas to Italian and Arab resort owners. Katrien, a Belgian, will be in Dar at VSOs office working in secure livelihoods development.

Over the past week we have come to know each other and become friends. The presentations and workshops we have participated in have given us a lot to think about and discuss but we have also had a lot of fun together.

Yesterday all the incoming vols except Nareena came from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro for the next part of our training. Benjamin, our KiSwahili teacher, travelled with us. This journey was truly an adventure!

The traffic in Dar es Salaam was horrendous. Benjamin said Saturday was always bad for traffic as all the population is either trying to get in or out of Dar with shopping. The road to the bus station was bumper to bumper with daladalas (minibuses), trucks, taxis and 4WDs. Motorbikes wove in and out of the traffic. Motor bikes and taxis were also driving on the footpath dodging the pedestrians, cyclists and icecream vendors. To enter the traffic flow or cross it from side streets a driver just indicates his intention with a gesture and a honk of the horn and nudges in. There are millimetres or less between the vehicles. The traffic is travelling very slowly and in fits and starts. Touts selling food and water, pillows and traffic hazard triangles walk between the lines of vehicles banging on the sides of dalas where they see Mzungu as they feel sure a mournful look will ensure a sale. Our trip from the hostel to the bus station was in a privately hired dala dala – I don’t know how we would have managed it with all our luggage (Louisa goes straight on to Kiteto so has all 70 kg of resources with her!) if we’d had to catch a public one from Posta.

We unloaded all our luggage onto the correct platform at the bus station – there were about 30 platforms each with people, luggage, boxes and furniture and building materials all waiting to leave or just arrived. Then there are people selling food and drink to sustain the passengers and those either seeing them off or greeting their arrival. Those meeting arrived passengers just drive their vehicles through the bus station – motorbikes, 4WDs and tuk-tuks. You can apparently drive wherever you like provided you’ve indicated your intentions with a honk of the horn!

We watched several buses arriving and leaving while we waited for our bus. The quantity and variety of goods stashed into the luggage hold was astounding – no livestock though!

Our bus arrived, we stowed our luggage, found our assigned seats and headed back out into traffic that hadn’t abated in the hour or so that we’d been at the bus station.

Travel on a Tanzanian highway is not for the faint-hearted! There was one official lane of traffic in each direction and several unofficial. There was lots of honking and gesticulation to show intention. There must have been layers of paint scraped, as not a square centimetre of roadway was unoccupied.

Gradually the traffic thinned and the bus increased its speed as we passed through agricultural land and scrub, and through small and larger villages where poverty seemed to range from dire to absolute. As in Botswana and Zambia the houses are built mainly from cement blocks or mud bricks, though a few are timber and brush. The rooves are either corrugated iron or palm thatch. Substantial buildings have barred windows; the unsubstantial just have gaps in the wall to allow in light (and mosquitoes!). There were many unfinished buildings but it is hard to know if they are part built or part demolished – either way many were occupied. The rural holdings had chooks and goats and children; the larger villages had ads for all the local mobile phone companies – Vodacom, Zantel & Zain. The petrol stations were mostly large and modern, the shops were small and grouped together by what they sell – a section for shoes, a section for car parts, a section for furniture and coffins.

The traffic had thinned out from Dar es Salaam so once on the open road the driver needed to make up time. This means overtaking slow vehicles if there is a remote chance to do it safely. The driver was a fine judge of this! I thought it best just not to look. At regular intervals we stopped at rest stops so we could be sold food (packets of cashews, marie biscuits and bread) and drink (water and soda). The vendors walk along outside the bus banging on the window; one or two favoured vendors were allowed onto the bus to keep selling while it was moving and were dropped off at the next stop.

It was dark by the time we reached Morogoro bus stand. Benjamin negotiated with the bus driver that we could stay on the bus and he would bring us to our hostel – we were so pleased not to have to fight for a dala dala! We were so happy to arrive here safely with all our luggage present and correct. It is such a peaceful place after Dar!

When I began to write this the nuns who run this hostel where we are staying were having their morning devotions. It was mostly sung and so peaceful and calming. This place is certainly a haven of peace – truly a ‘dar es salaam’ unlike the one so named! We have just had lunch – chicken, rice, potatoes, peas and greens – and been entertained by the nuns dancing and singing in a style similar to Bantu their happiness at having some visiting nuns to stay with them. We have been for a walk to the closest villages to say hello – our efforts still being met with mirth – and will this afternoon hopefully get into town so I can post this on my blog.

Keep the comments coming, and more soon, love Jenny

 This is where we are staying in Morogoro.

 View from a nice bar we had dinner out in Dar & us (Vols)