Last Day in Dodoma (for now)

Written on July 6, 2008 from Dodoma, Tanzania
By Philip Arscott

Today is my last day in Dodoma before I head out to meet up with the Vision Trip (VT). The VT is a group of people from the U.S. who are interested in seeing how VEF works in Tanzania, and is like a vacation plus some. So we will be going on safari in the Serengeti and then visiting the Ngorogoro Crater before circling back to Dodoma for a couple of days when the Tanzanian staff, David, Jake and I will take them around to villages to visit VEF beneficiaries. I am really excited to see another region of Tanzania but also wish there was more time so that I would get some more work done here. The whole trip has been a learning process when it comes to filming businesses, asking the right questions and then editing, and in the last two weeks I feel as though I have really begun to understand it all and would love to continue, if there was more time. Today David and I worked on a couple of videos with me commentating them, which worked out pretty well and maybe when we get back to the states I will help him put together some more final videos.

So on my last day here, I woke up late, had a nice breakfast and lunch and did some editing with David in between. When the afternoon rolled around I went on my last hike in the hills behind Richard’s house which I have really grown attached to. Although I have not done a lot of hiking back home, the fact that I can walk for five minutes and be in unsettled terrain makes it so nice. I hiked up to this one hill that has huge boulders that overlook Dodoma and valley that surrounds it, and sat up there for a while to reminisce on my time here. Tanzania is an amazing place and after taking college courses and reading books on development, there is nothing that can compare to what you learn on the ground, especially when it comes to the kindness and generosity of the people. I obviously have spent a relatively short time here, but nonetheless I feel like when I start thinking about what development is, I have a different perspective than before and one that conflicts with many things that I have learned. I think most importantly, it is too easy to judge one region of the world based on the context of where you are from and how things have been in your life. I was raised far from the arid, isolated villages that I visited, where meat is usually eaten in celebration of a holiday or festival and water is scarce and unpurified, with no crates of 20 oz bottles from Price club in site which I am so used to. But there is one thing that I find here just as I do back home, and that is the importance of family and relationships with those around you, and how a smile or a handshake is part of the universal language that binds us all. I don’t want to sound preachy or philosophical, but it makes a difference, especially when you don’t speak the same language as someone you are interacting with.

I have really loved my time here and I am sure that the next week of traveling with the Vision Trip will be really different than the last month but a continuation of my Tanznian journey. But I have learned a lot and hopefully my return to the U.S. in a few weeks will allow me to use what I’ve acquired or at least point me in the right direction.