Week 2 in Tanzania
Welcome to my online diary where I recap each week while I am in Tanzania for 3 months this summer. Asante sana!
Week 2 in the books! This week I feel much more settled and able to regulate my nervous system. Rightfully so, the first week I felt very on guard, being alone in a new place thousands of miles from everything I previously knew about the world. But, week 2, I felt less of a sense to figure out how to pass the time and rather reframed it to acknowledge I have this predetermined timeline and get to fill it how I please (of course with getting my research done). I look at my time left here and I am excited to fill it with bucket list items, rather than trying to rush through it just to get back to familiarity. There are still random pings of panic throughout my days where I find myself overwhelmed with the choices of how I should fill my time and fearing how much longer I have to go, but this second week proved to me I get to fill it with LOVE. Love of hobbies, love of new friends, love of moving my body, love of food, love of learning, & love of empowering discussions.
I poured myself into my research and was met with equal excitement and guidance by my preceptor and coordinator, whom I am most thankful for. Their direction and motivation to craft my proposal for ethics review only makes me want to do better, for them. I submit to the ethics review committee on Friday and have much to do before then. But, like I say, PRESSURE IS PRIVILEGE. And I am so lucky to be able to fill my 9-5 with a topic I am passionate about and a population whom I am grateful to serve (mothers and babies!). I am continuing my path in pediatric HIV, studying the facilitators and barriers to infant and child HIV testing here in Dar es Salaam.
On that note, I had the privilege of going to the EGPAF/Tanzania office (my most recent company) and meeting the team there, which filled my cup in ways I wasn’t prepared for. After that visit, my Tuesday evening was spent with the Technical Director, Roland (pictured below), and his wife Anna with drinks and dinner. It was a meal where time seemed to not to exist. Both Roland and Anna have careers in a medicine and healthcare systems. Our conversations covered the dismantling of USAID and the impacts it is having on REAL people here in Tanzania to how they met in high school and first decided to move to the African continent. It was a conversation I won’t forget and one that only sparks more interest in my career pursuits.
Other ways I have spent my time this week include, yoga, the National Museum of Tanzania, ice cream, books, and sunsets. HOW LUCKY AM I TO WRITE THAT SENTENCE AND LIVE THIS LIFE?!
Before signing off I want to acknowledge that this weeks news cycle has been heavy and I am praying for our hurting world. And with that I am doing a big gut and privilege check. I am reflecting on ways that I can take care of myself and my people even thousands of miles away. I am taking stock of everything that I am grateful for. I hope you all are taking care of yourselves and others. And in case you need the reminder, love on the people who do not look, speak, love, or practice religion like you. This world needs humanity and empathy of the highest degree.
