Best of Both Worlds

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we’re all having an incredible time doing this internship with APHFTA. The fact that I’m having such a good time is utterly laughable now because, as those of you who are close to me know, I spent an entire anxiety-ridden semester worrying about the internship—the lack of concrete details, living situations, project creation, etc. I’d been warned by past Sandbox interns that there was a severe lack of organization and details before arrival in Tanzania—and sometimes even for a while afterward—but that it would be an incredible, one-of-a-kind work experience that would be unforgettable.

For me, what makes this experience so unique is the way it so gracefully maneuvers the delicate balance between independence and supervision and work and travel. We spent our first few weeks under the tutelage of our “boss” a former Harvard student who graduated in 2010 and designed the program we’ve been teaching to the doctors, nurses, and receptionists. Since he is only a few years older than we are, it very much has the feel of a typical Harvard student-run organization—where we are expected to make a lot of decisions on our own and get the job done with little assistance from older, more experienced people such as professors or teaching fellows—but with the backing of an entire national organization to help us when we are in need.

Last week when we split off into our two teams (one to Mbulu and the other to Tanga), I was in the Tanga group under the supervision of an APHFTA coordinator who sort of became our Tanzanian mother, and to whom we also referred as Madam President. She was absolutely incredible. She always made sure we were safe and taken care of, and always did her best to make sure we got to do whatever we wanted. My teammates and I were convinced that her mobile phone doubled as a genie. As soon as we mentioned that we wanted to see something such as Amboni caves or go on a camel safari, within five minutes of whipping out her phone, she had procured us an incredible deal, usually less than half the price of the ones we found on our own. Staying with her gave us the confidence to be able to maneuver various Tanzanian cities and towns on our own, and—perhaps most importantly—she instilled in us the iron fist and stone face needed to be a good haggler. Time after time at the market in Tanga we'd run back to her thinking we'd gotten a good deal, only for her to go back with us and have them cut the price by another TZS 5000 and sometimes more.

Right now, however, we’re on our own. Our boss has gone to India for a two-week vacation, our supervisor has gone back to her hometown in Moshi, and we’re able to continue doing what we’re doing with complete competence. It’s fun to see each day pass as we get more and more familiar with the town we are in. We walk a lot more these days, now that we feel comfortable enough with the town to not need the safety of taxis. We try different restaurants (although Sweet Bite will always be our second home—after Hotel Flamingo). We have conversations with strangers using what Kiswahili we know and learning more in the process. We buy fruit on the streets and engage with school children passing by. I'd like to think that we are truly experiencing Tanzania.

Each night when we gather into one of our hotel rooms to hangout or watch a movie, the conversation usually touches on how lucky we are to be here, and what an experience we’re getting. We’re getting the best of a summer of travel as well as work experience. The combination of these two things is relatively hard to come by in an undergraduate summer experience. We have already spent quite a bit of time in 3 different cities, and have 4 left. Rather than staying in one town doing repetitive jobs as many of our friends are doing back home and even internationally, we get to see and experience so much of Tanzania as we work. I often wonder incredulously how I got lucky enough to be able to see such beautiful towns and cities while also teaching and learning so much.

We’re really getting to know places and people and I truly believe that this is a blessing. We’re growing in independence and street smarts and people skills and so many other things and yet this summer experience is such a gift to us.

And even with all of this we are given time to ourselves. By the time this posts I’ll be on a three-day safari to the Ngorongoro, Manyara, and Tarangire parks, and later in the summer we are taking a weekend trip to Zanzibar.

I’m wondering if it’s ever going to be possible to top this…