Kiva Stories from the Field

First Impressions

18 October 2008 at 09:21 tmchang 2 comments

8 days and 4 continents later I find myself in Tanzania as Kiva’s newest fellow in the field.  Previously I was doing a 3.5 month work rotation in Australia, followed by a 1 week long whirlwind trip home to North America prior to disembarking to Africa via Europe.

I am here in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to be one of the fellows working at SELFINA (Sero Lease and Finance Ltd.) which was founded by Dr. Victoria Kisyombe in 2002 with the goal of providing Tanzanian women, many of whom are excluded from land and asset ownership due to local customs and traditions, with access to micro-credit.

After a 24 hour journey from San Francisco to Heathrow to Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam, I am greeted by an unfamiliar humidity, but more importantly the also unfamliar but friendly face of Daudi, SELFINA’s driver.  I am actually pleasantly surprised to be met by a neatly dressed man wearing a collared polo and a warm smile with a computer printed sign with my name on it who greets me and guides me to a nice 4wd vehicle.  In all honesty if Freddy Kreuger was waiting for me with a scribbled sign and a broken down car I would have more than happily jumped in after such a long journey.  But I discovered later that the “Freddy greeting” was how it used to be just 2 months ago (minus Daudi looking anything like Freddy Kreuger!).  It is with the help of another volunteer, Claude, that SELFINA is going through some change management to make SELFINA a more welcoming place for customers and visitors.  This is just one of the many changes that SELFINA is working on and I am hoping to learn more about these changes/goals and help in any way I can.

After my bags were placed in the car, we drove through what is to be my new home for the next few months.  Dust, dirt, and dilapitation are prevalent but more surprisingly are the people.  People are everywhere!!  From men seeking refuge under the shade of the trees to brightly dressed women carrying baskets of bananas on their heads alongside the road to children patiently waiting by the corregated metal bus stops to women sweeping the dust on the road with no more protection than the bright orange vests they wear to boys selling everything from water to newspaper to machetes at every intersection to seeing daladalas (mini buses) shoved to the brim with people.  Like I said…people everywhere!

During the “drive,” which really seemed to be a dodging game of sorts from potholes to the crazy daladalas that cut every which way in traffic, I kept mostly quiet as I was transfixed with my new surroundings.  Daudi would interrupt the silence every so often to point and teach me a new word in Swahili.  Our communication was a bit limited as he knows only a little bit of English and I basically only know hello, thank you, and goodbye.  But my favorite interuption was when he asked me if I liked music.  After I replied yes, he more eagerly asked if I liked Ken Rodgers.  After I replied sure, he excitedly popped in a Kenny Rodgers cd and started to sing along to it.  I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to Kenny Rodgers and Daudi as I gathered my first glances of Tanzania, my new home.

Entry filed under: KF6 (Kiva Fellows 6th Class), Sero Lease and Finance Ltd. (SELFINA), Tanzania. Tags: .