March 24th, 2008 — , Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
1. You are constantly told to eat more ugali so you won’t be so skinny.
2. Cell phone towers are more common than traffic lights.
3. You see signs like this:
3.5. And this:
4. The most common phrase you hear is “Hey mzungu! Taxi?”
(“mzungu” is Swahili for [...]
Online Stores Continue reading → You know you are in Tanzania when… (Vol. II)
March 21st, 2008 — , Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Hopefully, this is just volume 1 of “You know you are in Tanzania when…” blogs. I am banking on contributions from Dana and Johannah, the other TZ fellows for the next volumes…
1. Coworkers frequently walk by and casually mention that they have malaria.
2. The most common question you are asked is: [...]
Continue reading → You know you are in Tanzania when…
March 18th, 2008 — , Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Loan officers are an integral part of the microfinance process. Without the hard work of loan officers, reaching the poor with financial services would not be possible. However, loan officers typically do not get very much attention With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting for you to meet a friend [...]
Continue reading → Meet a Loan Officer
February 20th, 2008 — Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
This past weekend was very exciting for Tanzania. As a part of President Bush’s tour of Africa, he visited Dar es Salaam. It was the first visit by an American President, since Clinton’s visit in 1998.
With typical Tanzanian hospitality, Dar was ready for the occasion, and I couldn’t help smiling… Banners were strung up that [...]
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February 20th, 2008 — Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
Literally. Last Tuesday was the first day it rained since I have been in Dar. There was no warning drizzle or gradual acceleration. Rather, the sky opened with a clap of thunder, and rain came down that sounded more like gravel than water as it pounded the thin tin roof over my head.
The [...]
Continue reading → When it rains, it pours.
February 5th, 2008 — Alec Lovett, Tanzania, Youth Self Employment Foundation from alecintanzania @ Kiva Blogs from the Field
It is difficult to adequately describe the contrast between the frozen homogeneity of suburban Minneapolis which I left, and the noisy and chaotic vibrancy of Dar es Salaam. I traveled through five airports over the course of three days, and touched down in Dar es Salaam on Sunday in a jet-lag induced daze. [...]
Continue reading → Week 1