First days - part II

We've been in Tanzania for only two weeks, but somehow it feels much longer. It's been a very intense experience till now.

Our days are calm. There is really not much to do in Ifakara. I work at the office in the mornings, have lunch with my family at the hospital canteen and play with Clara in the afternoons. Sometimes we visit other families in the compound, sometimes we just go for a swim in the pool. I have started to teach Clara how to swim. I know it’s a bit early but she enjoys it very much.

The weather in Ifakara is quite pleasant, during the day it's around 28-30ºC and in the evenings 20-17ºC. Soon it will start raining; the beginning of the short rainy season is in mid Sept. I think that’s going to be good because there is allot of dust everywhere. The farmers complain that the crops are very poor this year and there is a fear that some people might soon not have enough to eat. This is heartbreaking. Nevertheless everyone has a smile on their faces.

Last week Clara played with some girls from a village close to the compound. They painted pictures with crayons on white sheets of paper. The small Tanzanians were dazzled with the crayons! They had probably never done anything like that before. We painted with the younger ones and gave the older ones some times-tables, additions and subtractions to practice. They were actually very good at math and proudly showed us the results. It’s a bliss to see them smiling.