All that remains is the summary; an attempt to put a satisfactory full-stop on what I’ve written over the last six months about Tanzania by assessing whether my project fulfilled my aims or not. To do that, I need to spell out what my aims were in the first place.
Here goes. After 10 years of office life in the name of Scottish journalism, I fancied a break to explore my fascination with the continent of Africa. But not a holiday – I wanted to get my feet wet in international development.
A bit of Googling, a phonecall or two, 10 innoculations and before I knew it, I was in Tanzania as MondoChallenge’s newest volunteer recruit (and at the time, the only Scot to boot).
I can now count myself among a sizable cluster of my countrymen and women who, over many years as missionaries, doctors, teachers and other aid workers, have followed in the footsteps of David Livingstone. Like them, I came to Africa with the best of intentions; to explore and experience, but not exploit (sadly unlike the Colonial powers of a few hundred years ago).
My interest in Africa has been developed over many years. It started as a laddie at Stenhousemuir Primary School in the late 80s, sitting in front of the TV watching Billy Connolly surrounded by little black faces on Comic Relief. Fast forward a few years and in 2005, I sat in the Scottish Parliament main chamber listening to the visiting Sir Bob Geldof deliver another furious diatribe about the west’s broken promises to our African brothers and sisters.
That year, there was a lot of Africa about; the G8 was taking place here in Scotland, the Scottish Government had befriended Malawi, people were marching across the country to Make Poverty History and we had the Live 8 concerts.
I didn’t march, or go to the concerts, or buy a wristband, for various reasons. But thinking back, that was the year when something inside me began plotting a course for Africa. And my aim then, I guess, was to do something to help Africa come to terms with its lingering large-scale problems.
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That desire to get involved led me to MondoChallenge and through them, to the north of Tanzania, where I linked up with some small businesses to help them improve their practices and link them up with donors from charitable organisations. The bulk of my work was done with three different non-governmental organisations. The first was TAN-EDAPS, the second was RISE Africa and the last was DINKWA.
Auxiliary roles included taking lots of photographs for marketing purposes, a wee bit of teaching and offering advice to help these NGOs identify their long-term priorities. I viewed Tanzanian life through the prism of adults and children like this delightful young laddie, Johnson:
Cutting to the chase, I prepared several proposals, which are now being submitted online to organisations such as my local Rotary Club and international organisations. This is very much an ongoing process, as the process of asking for money from charitable organisations is a lengthy one which spans months or even years in some cases.
I’ve chatted to staff at MondoChallenge’s head office in Newbury since I got back, sharing the positives I experienced during my six months. There were also a few negatives, such as Mondo offering no internet access to market my proposals while in Arusha, leaving me to foot the bill for an expense which I’ve argued should have been included in my (fairly hefty) enrolment fee. There are wider issues too, that are too vast to talk about here, but overall, MondoChallenge offered a very good entry into development.
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So was going to Tanzania a good idea? Along with buying my first Fastball album at Sarasota Square Mall in 1998 and signing up to run the Alloa Half Marathon in 2001, it was a great idea, a monumentally great idea. The best idea I’ve ever had.
My aims? Fulfilled. I haven’t made a microbe of difference to the problems facing Africa but I understand them a lot better now and am better placed to do my bit in future. They are large-scale problems that can only be tackled by large-scale mobilisation.
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We’re onto “What Is Love For” by Justin Currie now.
I got home three weeks ago and mercifully, I’m not facing an extended tenure on skid row as I feared. Tomorrow I start a new job in Edinburgh; not much of a departure from what I was doing before. A new start, but by no means the end of my affinity for Africa.
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Now that I have written pretty much everything I set out to write, this blog, like the Monty Python parrot, is an ex-blog.
Two of my Mondo volunteer colleagues are still hard at it, however. The round-the-world ramblings of my pal Eleanor, who worked as a teacher in Longido for three months prior to heading to Oz, can be found at http://eleanor-round-the-world.blogspot.com, while Jimmy “The Tripod” Dallas, teaching guru and MondoChallenge film-maker, is blogging at http://jimmydallas.wordpress.com. Both well worth reading, especially Ele’s, which features not only some crafty writing but many fine pictures of her wearing a snazzy greengrocer’s trilby thing.
The best Africa book I read while I was away was “Blood River” by Tim Butcher (while the best non-Africa book I read while I was away was “A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil” by Christopher Brookmyre). I would also ask anyone seeking further reading about Tanzania to look up Julius Nyerere, the first President of the newly-independent Tanzania from 1961 to 1984, who unlike most African leaders seemed to be a very decent chap.
And if anyone is interested, MondoChallenge are at www.mondochallenge.co.uk. Over and out. Ross County for the Scottish Cup.
Ross
