I lie on my local bed under a netted canopy that shields us from mosquitos. Every morning, a symphony of birds awakes me chanting outside the Abraham House, our home for the next month. It has been less than a week of our stay and yet, it has already been a whirlwind of events.
I say sincere words of asante-sana (thank you in Swahili) to the SAUT tourism students who warmly welcomed us at the airport, who have accompanied us to the city and helped us bargain with the local dadas to purchase our groceries (sisters in Swahili). The landscape and beautiful Lake Victoria that welcomed us as we entered the city for the first time, is majestic and unique. Mwanza is known as Rock City for the large rocks that emerge sporadically among the lush greenery, palm trees, and flowers. The landscape is far from the flat plains and desert-barren image that I had envisioned from my Internet and Instagram-fed limited interpretations of Africa. There is so much to learn and process.
The people are lively and passionate cheering on the local Tanzanian soccer team as they congregate in large groups in the tables beside ours as we eat our chips and eggs, a staple among Tanzanians. While they are passionate and proud of their local teams, they also hold an air of calmness and peacefulness and wisdom that I admire as they discuss how the single national language of Swahili unites them even as they are from different tribes and have different mother tongues.
Yesterday, Hunter and a couple of the other tourism students at SAUT took us to the city for some administrative tasks and complete some grocery shopping. We could not have done it without them. We arrived in town by local transport. The bus is interestingly enough a mini-van that picks up passengers as we enter town. As we wind around the lake and enter Mwanza city, we are welcomed again by the rolling hills landscape and diverse scents of the fish and local produce – the plantains, pineapples, mangos and avocados sold by the local dadas. The sourcing of our ingredients was quite the process but worthwhile because all the food that we purchased totaled to Tsh 8000. This converts to roughly $4 CAD. In Canada, considering the amount of food we purchased, this is unreal.
Asante-sana for healthy, organic, and affordable food. Asante-sana for a safe journey from Canada. Asante-sana for a great case learning experience for the students as we begin our teaching journey.