Nakupenda Mwanza, Kwaheri.

On August 16, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

Habari yako!

In case I don’t see ya.

Habari asubuhi,

Habari mchana,

and Habari Jioni!

This is probably going to be my last blog for my internship. It’s a little sad to think that my chances of speaking Swahili will become fewer and fewer from now on. To think that on May 13, when I arrived in Tanzania for the first time, I could only manage a brief greeting, and yet now, at the airport, when someone was surprised that I speak Swahili, I can respond with the simple phrase “kidogo (a little bit)”. It’s an amazing feeling that I’m not so different from the person I was three months ago, and yet every little bit of change or progress is noticeable. My Swahili has improved significantly over the past three months in part as a result of the interview videos’ editing. My understanding of Swahili has improved during the production process to the point that I can gradually grasp key phrases and understand the overall meaning of simple sentences. Of course, I couldn’t do it without everyone’s help. Everyone is a teacher to me, and I can always learn something new from them, not just Swahili but also their brand new ideas, which frequently enables me to see things from different perspectives.

EBLI

In the past two weeks, I was lucky enough to be in charge of the work on a new interview video. This film will be presented to TDHS, EBLI’s main donor from Switzerland.

I always enjoy conducting video interviews because I get to hear a variety of different stories, learn about other people’s lives, discover new ideas, generate new perspectives and develop my language abilities. Over the course of these two weeks, I had the chance to interact with four EBLI alumni, ranging from young mothers to vulnerable male students who chose to continue their studies at EBLI rather than pay for public school tuition. Each of the interviewees appeared to me to be successful, lively, and with a promising future ahead of them. With the aid of EBLI, Elias started his fruit business in addition to his basket business; Lina, who opened a salon right after graduating; Salome, who started a fruit stall selling bananas; and Irene, who already owns a beverage store all developed into self-sufficient adults; some of them even helped their siblings at home to become financially independent by teaching them skills and techniques they acquired from EBLI. Some of them have become financially independent while also helping their siblings at home, some of them work every day while carrying their children in order to take care of them, and some of them have been able to rely on themselves to pay for their living expenses. I saw so much strength and bravery in them, each of them has a strong and unyielding spirit, full of confidence and an optimistic attitude towards life.

In addition, I spent these two weeks creating the textbook content video for the EBLI Entrepreneurship course. In addition to Reproductive Health and GBV, which we have learnt about over the previous two and a half months, “Kijana Chagua Maisha”, the educational program developed by EBLI itself also incorporates the Entrepreneurship part, which we are now working on. In these two weeks, we are focusing on teaching Young Mothers how to produce goods that they may offer for sale, such as soaps, bread, etc. We will also cover other contents later, such as how we assess costs to improve profits, etc. Diana and I visited many schools to formulate the “Kijana Chagua Maisha” curriculum and to share our knowledge with other educators. From there, I made tutorial recordings for future use to Young Mothers of how to make soap and various bakeries. It was quite intriguing to watch the manufacturing process in action, and I was able to pick up abilities that I never imagined I’d be able to.

Students using the soap to clean their hands.

Along with the work mentioned above, I also saw a slight improvement in the social media operation. I’ve noticed that since I added extra pictures to the content post, more and more people are viewing, liking, and commenting on it. Additionally, TikTok’s educational video is progressing well, and I’ve reached over an amazing 67k users, which is incredible. I don’t think I would have thought of this achievement two months ago.

I also got to see something new during the work — the Nane Nane Festival in Mwanza, which is celebrated on August 8th and lasts for a week. In the last two days, I went to visit the Chabri Factory Exhibition to record the MC’s Speech on introducing Chabri to the public audience, it was amazing to tell that Chabri Factory won this exhibition! I also enjoyed spending time with Sarah on the next day in Nane Nane and purchased a lot of amazing Tanzanian items.

After Work

The previous two weekends have been quite hectic, and as the workweek comes to a finish, I have to be prepared for the final wrap-up. In addition to packing, I’ve also been working on final reports for the past two weeks. If you’re reading this blog and are about to start your internship or are interested in my internship at EBLI, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’ll do my best to help you navigate your way through EBLI.

I’m typing these words as I fly through the sky, having just landed in China to publish my final blog after leaving Tanzania.

Blogging seems to have become a part of my life, and I’ve come to appreciate how vibrant and exciting my life was and how nice and lovely the people around me are. 90 days may seem like a long time, but once I arrived in this land of charms, the journey seemed a lot shorter than it actually was, and time was gone in a flash.

I am going to miss the view from our hotel.

Holding back the emotions upon departure was actually the toughest thing I have ever had to do in Tanzania because there are so many nice memories and sincere, kind people here. My connection to Tanzania will never be broken. Thank you Tanzania; thank you WHE for providing me with such an amazing opportunity; and thank you to everyone at EBLI, as you have all contributed to the value of my internship experience.

Recommendations

Here are some recommendations before coming to Mwanza, Tanzania:

Learn Swahili. Not everyone here speaks fluent English, so it is a great idea to know some simple daily words for communication.
Bring cash. Credit card is not widely acceptable here, most of the time I would use cash to pay all my bills. So cash is important, cash is king not only in accounting but also in Tanzania lol.
Get more data (bundle). Most of the places do not have Wi-Fi, so if you wish to get online, video call your family and friends or watch Netflix, prepare more data than you would usually use. We usually use Vodacom here, the rate is really fare, 50,000 tsh for almost 25 GB.
The culture here is different. People here like to make physical interactions, and sometimes I find it not as comfortable as they would think. It is okay to so no and let them know if you are uncomfortable with that, they will understand and will stop. But I also sometimes find it cute to have some physical touch, I really feel the love they are giving.
Go see the travel clinic well in advance. Make sure you have all the vaccinations and pills prepared before going, and keep every tip in mind. Try not to drink tap water at all costs, drink bottled water only. And if you can, take Malaria pills daily to prevent any potential sickness.
Using Bolt for transportation. Bolt is the transportation app we use in Tanzania. Pretty much like Uber, but Bolt has more options like BodaBoda and Bajaji. But BodaBoda is not safe to take, so try to avoid taking that, instead, Bajaji — the tricycle, or Bolt — the car, is safe to use as transportation.

Some recommended places to hang out:

Malaika Beach Resort: Our favourite place to hang out literally every weekend! They have the nicest pool and yummy burgers! They also have a buffet every Sunday.
Isamilo Hills: I love it! Decent Chinese food to help me reduce my homesickness. The owner is super nice and they have really yummy food, but sometimes it can be a bit spicy if you are not really a spicy eater!
VPaji: A really cute craft store. It is owned by a really sweet lady, her business also helped so many locals find a job here. The store has many cute beads, earrings, stuffed toys, kitchen sets and so on!
Rock City Mall: The biggest mall in Mwanza, NoNo — the superstore here, has mostly everything you may need in Mwanza. It also has a nice cinema on its top floor.
U-turn supermarket: Another supermarket we love to visit. Things here are usually cheaper than NoNo, and it has more domestic products.
Royal Oven: Our favourite place for Wi-Fi, it also has super yummy vanilla milkshakes and hot samosas, definitely worth a try!
Isamilo Lodge: Another nice hotel with a great pool. It also has really good food!
Sananne National Park: Definitely worth a visit! It is a small safari trip and more affordable compared to the big Serengeti Safari. You will also get to see many cool animals there!
Tilapia Hotel: Their food is super delicious! I love the milkshake they are serving. Also has a nice view and a great pool. You can sit right beside Victoria Lake for food!
Diners: One of my favourite Indian restaurants.
Shahensha: Another restaurant that has amazing Indian food at a cheaper price.
Yacht Club: Next to Tilapia, would sometimes hold fun activities for people to socialize. It is a great way to make new friends!

My favourite combo at Royal Oven: Vinilla Milkshare, Hot Samosas and Makange Chicken!

Ackowledgement

I would like to thank the following people for all their help and support during my internship.

Bernard, EBLI’s supervisor, our EBLI coordinator Diana, and Lillian, Nuru, Andrew, Furah and Salome, EBLI’s staff. These amazing people helped me through my work at EBLI, providing as many as resources they can, always being supportive of my work, and giving tons of encouragement and appreciation for all the work I have done.

I would also like to thank Maria, our Coordinator of WHE and Global Development, and Bob, our Director of International Internships and Development. Their support allowed me to have a smooth transition to Canada and helped me to prepare for coming to Tanzania well in advance.

Finally, I would also like to thank Ali, my co-worker, Julia, and Syed our remote intern, and all the other onsite interns in Mwanza. Their collaborative work and their company during my internship made my experience even greater.

Thank you so much, everyone! Asante Sana!

Nakupenda Mwanza.

Kwaheri.

A Brand-New ME

On August 1, 2023August 1, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

I had no idea how much this one choice would influence and reshape various aspects of my life when I submitted my application to Western Heads East earlier this year.

I used to be a somewhat introverted person. When I first came to Canada as an international student, starting a conversation was always a challenge for me. Looking back, this challenge has long since become a thing of the past. I am looking forward to engaging in new conversations, making new friends, and developing more connections with people due to the warmth of the EBLI community, the friendliness of the interns who are taking part in other programs at Mwanza, and the supportive coordinators Maria and Bob, who are far away in Canada. Through my internship at Mwanza, I’ve developed greater self-assurance, boldness, and positivity.

Like every other week here, the last two weeks have been tremendously amazing and gratifying.

I have been able to see meaningful improvements in my work, and I have gone from being nervous when encountering a challenge to being able to tackle it and figure out how to deal with it; I believe that every challenge I have faced had a purpose, and this is definitely an opportunity for me to challenge myself for growth.

I have always treasured every aspect of Tanzania in my life. I’ve been eating my favourite stinky noodles (螺蛳粉), going to the neighbourhood market with my friends to get fresh fruits and vegetables, soaking up every light of sunshine in Malaika with my friends, and having the chance to visit the Serengeti National Park on the weekends to take in the country’s natural masterpiece and track the animals.

Let me go into further detail if that sparks your interest!

EBLI NEWS

Over the past two weeks, my work at EBLI has advanced considerably. I’m going to break down what’s coming up into three subsections: what’s going well, what’s challenging, and sustainability.

I’ll start with the advancements from the last two weeks. I’ve been keeping to posting Daily Reminders on Instagram for the past two weeks. More and more users are responding to EBLI’s IG Story; sometimes by giving our reminders a simple “like,” other times by responding with an emoji, or at times by leaving some eloquent comments on one of the reminders I’ve posted.

Meanwhile, in addition to the Instagram Story, I also update the EBLI Post with photos of EBLI’s recent events, including young mothers’ presentations on drug abuse, or photos of them learning how to make soap. These images frequently attract the most comments and users’ attention, keeping them tuned in to what we’re up to.

Young mothers’ posters about the presentation they did.

Young Mothers learning about soap making process.

Remember the challenge I faced two weeks ago? Well, aside from keeping EBLI’s Instagram account engaged, I’ve also been maintaining our TikTok account consistently for the past two weeks. I’m excited to be able to say that I managed to overcome that challenge! And I’m even more thrilled to notice that our account has gained more than 600 subscribers and that figure is still continuously rising. 600 subscribers is a milestone for me since it denotes an account with a consistent subscriber base and enables me to start sharing educational videos in addition to entertaining ones. For the previous challenge, I chose the diversion strategy by updating more entertaining videos in an effort to attract our viewers to follow us, and I decided on a new strategy for posting educational videos.

EBLI TikTok’s first educational video features young mothers discussing drug abuse to raise awareness and raise their understanding of the necessity of self-defence. I think that having people who are the same age as our subscribers spread this educational message will be more effective than having a teacher talk about it so that young girls will be more likely to keep watching it to learn something new and empower them to protect themselves.

During the back donor’s visit, we also got to know a few EBLI graduates from a few years back. It was adorable to witness how the EBLI staff reacted to see them when they returned with a whole new personality full of confidence. The majority of them are currently operating their own businesses. The way they started their business and developed it into a legitimate business enterprise was truly amazing. I had the opportunity to learn about the products they are selling as well as how they normally run their business.

Graduate young mother’s clothing business.

Super cool baskets! And some wig at the bottom of this picture!

Back donor with EBLI’s current young mothers.

Back donor with EBLI’s graduates.
EBLI used to accept young fathers too!

Moving on to the challenge I have been facing during the past two weeks, which has allowed me to develop my problem-solving abilities.

Selfie with two of the EBLI staff members ^.^

My initial plan to increase the exposure of EBLI’s Instagram account was to find local NGOs in Mwanza that also work on women’s education and collaborate with them on IG posts. Fortunately, there are many local NGOs connected with EBLI that also focus on women’s education, including but not limited to GBV, sexual and reproductive health, etc. At first, everything went quite smoothly. I was able to get in touch with a GBV-focused NGO and speak with the organization’s leader, and it only took me two days to go from confirming the topic direction of the post to creating the corresponding posts.

But after that, I ran into a tricky difficulty: because of their business management system, we had to go through several stages of auditing in order to publish a collaboration post, which frequently took a lot of time. To this day, I am still waiting for a response from their auditing department. As a result, I turned down the idea of working on a collaboration post with them right away. However, I didn’t want to give up the progress I had made, so I thought, “Since I have a good collaborator with a confirmed post, why don’t I just publish and tag them in the collaboration post?” After discussing with the EBLI staff, we decided to publish the post on our own while also tagging their Instagram account in the posts, which will help our post gain some additional exposure. I’m glad that I was able to effectively resolve the matter at hand, but I’m not fully confident if this will be the best course of action in the long run, I’ll take into account the data collected in the following week to determine whether additional action is required. Please stay tuned!

Posting the post and tagging the collaboration partners.

In regards to EBLI’s sustainability, I’ve additionally spent the last two weeks preparing the sources they might need in the future. I’ve prepared the Instagram Daily Reminder until 9.28 in order to make it smooth for the EBLI team to keep posting after I finish my internship. To make it sustainable, I’ve also made a Daily Reminder instruction video just like the Animation Video tutorial I have made in the past. In the upcoming week, I’ll also be putting up a tutorial on how to create a content post so that the EBLI staff can post any content they want to publish in the long run.

Amazing Tanzania

Outside of work, I’ve had the opportunity to explore the magnificent land of Tanzania in more depth.

I bought fruit at the neighbourhood food market over the weekend with Sarah, Willa, and another student who is doing an internship at a different organization. Every fruit we got was very fresh and full of flesh, the food here really is amazingly outstanding.

I also stopped by my favourite Chinese restaurant here to get some yummy stinky noodles (螺蛳粉), YES, it smells super stinky but tastes super yummy! Here I also have a cute story I would love to share: By chance, I got in touch with the owner of the restaurant through WeChat (a Chinese communication APP), and one late night I posted my thought that I was missing stinky noodle so bad. To my surprise, the owner commented below my post and asked me to come over, saying that they had a few packs left and would save them for me. I was so surprised and spoiled LOL, so the next day after work, I dashed over to their place and had an amazing meal!

Along with exploring the Mwanza land, I also got the chance to learn more about Serengeti National Park’s wonders. I’m sure you’ve all somehow noticed my love for photography if you have read my past blogs, and I completely agree that this is the ideal haven, a paradise for a photography fanatic! I had a really satisfying two-day and one-night trip there, and I am sure it’s going to be a highlight in my life!

I love seeing how mother baboom carrying her baby!

Our tour guide said we are so lucky to see giraffe sitting.

He was lost but let’s hope he will find the way.

I’m so thankful that you read it to the end; as much as I don’t want to say it, this will likely be my second last blog. Thank you so much to everyone who reads my blog; I sincerely hope that your interest in Tanzania has been aroused by my experience here.

By this time in two weeks, I may have set foot in China, and I believe I’ll never forget how much I love Tanzania.

I’ll see you in two weeks.

Kwaheri!

Sometimes sun and moon can be on the “same” side of the sky.

Hakuna Matata!

On July 18, 2023July 28, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

Habari yako!

We’re already counting down to the one-month mark, and the good times always go by quickly.

I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to meet new people, travel, and get to know some interesting individuals during the past two weeks.

At work, I feel more and more that everyone at EBLI has become part of my family, and we always can have a fun talk every day after work.

Nuru, one of our EBLI staff members, graduated from a university in Dar es Salaam and came to work with EBLI two months ago; we always had conversations about life after work and shared our lives in the past. She promised to invite me to her wedding when she got married, and I assured her that I would do everything I could to be there for her wedding. Diana, our coordinator, has been assisting us in adapting to the surrounding environment by introducing us to the local way of life and teaching us how to use the local transportation during our first week in Mwanza. In her free time, Diana loves hearing about life in Canada and China from me, discussing the most popular skincare products, and braiding and tying up my hair into a cute wheat shape. Lillian, another employee at EBLI; when young mothers are treated badly because of an unhealthy relationship, Lillian would discuss with me to come out with a solution about how to help young mothers get out of this partnership, like a sister like a friend. When we go and try a Chinese restaurant, she insisted on using chopsticks to eat particularly fragile tofu because she wanted to know more about my culture and myself. Furaha, EBLI’s assistant, prepares our yummy brunch and lunch every day. She was the first person who introduced me to Tanzanian cuisine. Salome, the computer skills instructor at EBLI, greets me and offers to chat with me in Swahili every morning about how was yesterday. Lucy and Andrew, the financial managers of EBLI, are usually very busy and sometimes work outside of EBLI’s office; but in the mornings when they do show up in the office, they always compliment me for my slowly progressed Swahili. And of course, Bernard, the supervisor of our EBLI internship, who often enjoys sharing his creative ideas and innovations with us. I am always impressed by his thirst for knowledge and his enthusiasm for every job he works.

Nuru, the lady in blue dress, was giving lecture on EBLI’s parents training.

Diana, our coordinator of EBLI internship.

Lillian, who showed us EBLI’s partnered after-school club.

Not only the staff of EBLI but also the young mothers and their parents gave me the warmth of a family. During a parents’ training day, young mothers’ parents decided to give me a new name, Bhoke, which is defined as a “freedom-loving and free-spirited individual.” The name’s meaning attracts me extremely significantly. I feel more welcomed in the group given that I now have a Swahili name, and it also enhanced my connections with individuals. Here, I’d like to share this funny story: since I speak some Japanese, when I first heard Bhoke, I almost mistook it for the Japanese term “ボケ” (pronounced Bo Ke, meaning Silly), but fortunately I soon realized that I was in Mwanza, so that’s where the short anecdote came from.

Young Mother’s parent who loves calling me “Bhoke”.

Furthermore, there is William, the Bajaji driver who picked us up every day. He enjoyed asking me different sentences in Chinese while also teaching me Swahili. He taught me how to call a taxi, describe where I was, and guide the driver to the appropriate route in Swahili. Every day as I got off his Bajaji, he would say “Have a nice day (祝你一天愉快)” in Chinese to me, and I would respond with “siku njema.” This pleasant interaction made me look forward to going to work every day.

William stopped the Bajaji on my way to EBLI so I can take a good shooting of these Marabou Stork.

At the same time, Sarah and Willa, two interns working at SAUT, and I had the opportunity to travel to other parts of Tanzania outside Mwanza. Over the weekend, we explored Zanzibar, where we experienced the interesting ferry and came up with a lot of interesting and unique stories during our journey.

I also got to meet many of the other interns working at Mwanza through various events that happened during weekends, some of them are from the US and some from Australia and Vietnam. Coincidentally, we bumped into two of the interns during our weekend in Zanzibar.

Travelling with two new friends who are also interns in Mwanza coming from different countries.

Let’s dig into this week!

EBLI Update

I’ve kept posting the Daily Reminder Stories on Instagram as usual, and it’s wonderful to see an ongoing flow of story viewers on our EBLI account. In certain instances, I can even receive their responses to the stories via private messages on give their thoughts on the reminders. It’s been wonderful to watch the number of interactions increase, and these reactions have been a confirmation of my efforts, reaffirming my conviction that we’re moving on the right path. I’m also thrilled to see that more and more users are willing to participate in our interactions.

I also attempted to be a little more creative during these two weeks. I decided to use the “Collage Post” method to post new content in order to make it more appealing to our audiences while encouraging them to stay on our IG page longer. This time, I attempted to apply this technique to the recently published Factory Interview video, which received favourable reviews and was displayed prominently on EBLI’s IG profile page.

I’m also glad to share that our supervisor, Bernard, enjoyed watching the Factory Interview video I produced. It features an introduction to the Chabri Factory, some of Bernard’s advice for young mothers, and a sneak peek at what the young mother wants to say about her job at Chabri. The film also demonstrates the fulfillment that a young mother is with her job and how it has benefited her life. Visit the EBLI Instagram page to see the video if you’re curious to learn more!

Applying “Collage Post” method on EBLI’s IG profile page.

In addition to the job’s smooth progression, I’ve also had a few minor challenges.

While working on one of the EBLI TikTok videos, the EBLI staff and I chose to conduct interviews with young mothers who are now attending EBLI to hear their thoughts on using condoms.

We wanted to use TikTok to promote the concept that proper condom usage protects both partners because most people in Tanzania and many other African nations view condom use as unhealthy behaviour, and this concept is what led to the increases in pregnancy rate among young females. What we didn’t realize was that TikTok’s huge user base component would make our TikTok reach more users, and as a result, some users would choose to make critical comments under our videos. So when I opened TikTok the next day to check the views traffic and comments, some strong unkind comments caught my eye. Some of them argued that we were educating students badly by bringing up sex with adolescents. Some of them believe that what we are doing is extremely unwise and shouldn’t be shared online. Those words I saw after I read through the translation were still concerning, so I am well aware that they may have been significantly more insulting in their original sentence.

After discussing with the EBLI staff, we decided to archive all the sexual-related videos until a more modest solution could be found, and this is what the EBLI staff told me:
“Many individuals in the community need to be taught about sex. Teenagers need to be taught that sex is not shameful. It’s not humiliating, but a lot of people still believe that teenagers should be able to figure these things out on their own, so there is no need to bring it up, much less as a parent who needs to teach their kids about any of this. And it is precisely the situation that EBLI seeks to change nowadays. We know it’s going to be a tough path to travel, but we’re absolutely going to take it. Sex is not anything to be embarrassed about, and everyone should have the right to learn about it.”

I’ve therefore spent the next few hours discussing with EBLI staff how we may gently use social media to inform audiences on the other side of the screen about sex. Our current idea is to film a skit in which we provide questions about sex and let the audience decide how to respond. We believe that this approach will be more effective than receiving straight-up information because it tends to leave a deeper imprint on the audiences who are been questioned.

I’ll be providing real-time updates on our progress, and I strongly believe that EBLI can make progress toward our common goal.

Apart from the social media running, I also had the chance to take part in the Parents Training, which was held by EBLI during these weeks. This training was a two-day event for the parents of the young mothers. The purpose of the training is to equip the parents with the right mindset to help and guide their children and to be their children’s strongest support and backing when young mothers are facing troubles.

I really like this picture, in which the little green person in the middle represents the young mothers, surrounded by their parents represented in blue circles.

The EBLI staff wanted to let me know that she hoped this picture would help the young mothers’ parents realize that they are the ones who protect them and that they ought to help them when they are hurt. Parents should safeguard, encourage, and assist young mothers when they are injured. No matter how severe their errors are, the parents should be the correct mentors and strong support for the young mothers rather than gathering together and criticizing them.

Parents forming into different groups for brainstroming.

Parents sharing their thoughts and ideas to learn from each other.

Parents doing activities to better understand the concepts which EBLI trying to deliver.

We also had the chance to visit an after-school club at EBLI’s partner institution Mkuyuni Secondary School. This club makes use of Kijana Chagua Maisha materials obtained from EBLI. During this club activity, I was able to experience what it means to be inclusive and understanding. Each student shared their views and opinions on puberty, listened attentively to their peers, engaged in positive discussions, and confidently stepped forward to voice their opinions. By chance, I was given the opportunity to talk briefly about puberty in front of the students. This was the first time I had ever spoken Swahili in front of so many people including introducing myself and greeting by saying “Kijana” and “Chagua Maisha”. This small step up to the podium was a significant milestone for me, and I believe that many years from now I’ll still be highlighting my first time speaking Swahili in front of so many people. I was also told later that the teacher at the partnered school was pleased with me for having the guts to approach the stage and speak with my thoughts, to engage in a little chat with the students, and to admire my willingness to learn Swahili in order to interact with the community. I was overjoyed to hear about this and am anxious to study Swahili further.

Students at Mkuyuni Secondary School’s after club.
The lady at the very left is our EBLI staff member Lillian.

Students sharing ideas to their classmates.

Students listened attentively and took down notes.

Explore Tanzania

I enjoyed going to activities that were invited by other interns in Mwanza. We went to the community ICare, a care center that helps cure children with cancer. Together with Willa and Sarah to help cook meals and play loads of activities with the kids there.

Activities we had with kids at the care centre.

Through one of the other interns, I also had an occasion to attend a nearby Paint and Sip event and capture priceless moments using paint.

Try to find two fishermen and one dog in this painting!

In the meanwhile, Sarah, Willa and I took a little journey to Zanzibar this past weekend. We met so many kind people during our journey who were willing to help us and care for us. We also had so much fun during this trip and now Jambo Bwana has become our favourite song.

Please enjoy the fascinating view in Zanzibar!

The Rock Restaurant, and the Masai person.

Cute doggies we met when we were watching sunrise by Paje beach!

Our shell collections and our obsession with beads.

We also kept learning through our journey, even though in a bit embarrassing way. While transferring from Zanzibar to Dar er Salaam, I learned about a local regulation that I had never known before: the Tanzanian flag is lowered at 6:00 pm and we have to stop and wait quietly for the flag to be put away as a sign of respect. Although this rule applies not just to Dar but also to Mwanza and other cities, we were only made aware of it after spending two months in Tanzania. Since we didn’t stop in time when it was hitting 6:00 pm, which made our process of learning about this rule a little humiliating and awkward, however, the local employees accepted our sincere apologies and let us know about this regulation gently. We were grateful for their kindness toward us tourists and the opportunity to let us learn about this regulation.

Even though our vacation to Zanzibar was quick, it deepened our love for all of Tanzania.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end. Words can’t be stopped once the thoughts come, but maybe my stories from these two weeks in Tanzania have been helpful or kept you entertained.

I’ll see you in two weeks!

Kwaheri.

It is always good to know the meaning of words before buying haha!

I have made a life-long friend in Zanzibar!
I also included him into my painting 😉

Sativa Cafe — one of our favourite restaurant in Zanzibar, has lots of interesting signs I would love to share with you!

Kids here always love singing Jambo Bwana.
“Jambo!
Jambo bwana.
Habari gani?
Mzuri sana.
Hakuna matata!”

Half Way Through

On July 3, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

I still recall that during the first week of my stay in Tanzania, the challenge of being totally new to a country led me to start counting down the days numerous times. However, once I began to truly fall in love with Mwanza, I just realized that I had already completed half of the internship without realizing it.

Now at this moment of time, I am reminded of a question I once encountered: “If you were in the desert and you realized you had half of the water left, would you say “There is still half of the water left, great” or “only half of the water is left, what should I do”?” I think this question could not be more suitable to the time in which I currently find myself, and I believe I now have the answer: “I enjoy how I have used up the first half of the water, allowing me to continue walking on my desert journey; and at the same time, I cherish the remaining half of the water so that every drop will not be wasted and I will fully enjoy them.” Yes, I believe I will miss all I have already encountered here, but I am also excited to learn what fresh and fascinating stories I will unfold over the remaining part of the journey.

I can hardly believe that I’m already in July after these two weeks have flown by so quickly. Days that once seemed unreachable are suddenly edging closer to me.

The term “connection” has been on my mind the most for the past two weeks. This appears in both works as well as life.

I have gotten to know the Young Mothers at EBLI much better through the work on shooting TikTok videos and conducting Situational Question interviews together with them, and now, whenever they walk into the EBLI office, we always have a great time talking, where the language barrier does not seem to matter at this moment.

The weekend following work, two EBLI coworkers and I took a day’s adventure to Saanane National Park, the smallest national park in Tanzania which is located in Mwanza. I was able to learn more about the natural world of Mwanza thanks to my small safari excursion.

Other than that, I had a fun time doing window shopping in the local market with these two EBLI staff. They helped me in picking my outfit and were excited to see me getting changed, at that moment I thought, “These people are going to be my lifelong best friends!”

At the same time, I developed a stronger connection with the Rock Beach Garden Hotel staff. Since I like to have tea with milk every morning, she gradually got to know my breakfast preferences and would bring me new tea bags from the kitchen when they ran out. She witnessed me improve from having little knowledge of Swahili to being able to start a short conversation. We also had a tacit understanding of how to greet one another in the morning. She was delighted about each tiny progress I made, just like a friend or family member would be.

I got to know the lady who runs the sewing shop and the guy who owns a popsicle stall close to our hotel apartment. Sometimes, when it was hot, I’d go to his fridge to get an ice cream to cool off. I’d also go to the sewing shop and find a custom-made blue dress from the lady as I adore the amazing local dress fabric. Additionally, there is a brand-new craft shop just opened next to our hotel. Every time I pass by, I urge myself to visit when I have the chance since every single item there is like a work of art that I cannot take my eyes off it.

During these two weeks, through Sarah and Willa, two Western Heads East interns working at SAUT, I get to make some new friends who are working in different organizations coming from other countries. I also get to know the owner of the Chinese restaurant here since I am becoming a frequent customer.

It has been an unbelievably full two weeks, with endless energy waiting to be expended every day!

Work at EBLI

There have been a lot of exciting improvements over the past two weeks.

In order to boost the volume of viewers for our Instagram Story, we decided to start IG daily reminder, where I will keep sharing fun facts and knowledge reminders on our IG Story daily including weekends and holidays, so that our audience will be aware that EBLI will update something new every day and is less likely to miss out on our story polls or Q&As. At the same time, I hope that a brief, well-informed reminder each day will assist Young Mothers in making better decisions and navigating daily life. We also believe that a short daily knowledge refresher can aid Young Mothers in making better judgments in the future.

Considering that the demographic we want to reach the most is between 16 and 22 years old, and the majority of them who have access to the internet will choose to use TikTok due to it being an extremely trending app these days. Thus, we decided to open a TikTok account. We believe that more TikTok-targeted videos will help us attract our target audience and that we may additionally utilize big data to help us increase exposure. We’ve had a great start to TikTok. In less than two weeks, we have surpassed 300 followers, which isn’t many but is a perfect start for me. I would also like to share some exciting news in the interim! The 33k+ views and 700+ likes on one of the TikTok videos are reason enough for my extreme excitement! Things also went well for our audiences. Analytically speaking, 71% of our followers are between the ages of 18 and 24, 96% are from Tanzania, and 63% of them are female. These figures indicate that we are able to target the audiences we want via our account, which will make it simpler and more effective for us to publish and update our content in the future.

In terms of TikTok content, we have a combination of dance videos and interview videos. I really enjoyed the entire production process for the videos, especially our interview videos. We made it feasible for Young Mothers to interview other Young Mothers so they wouldn’t be uncomfortable in front of the camera, we made it possible for other Young Mothers to support as the MC hosts to boost their confidence and develop fascinating new hands-on hosting experience and abilities.

Additionally, when we look back at the operations of our Instagram account over the past thirty days, we were able to reach over 2.9k accounts, increase the number of accounts reached by 564%, raise the number of accounts engaged by 54.5%, and grow the number of followers by 3.2%. We’ll be even more eager to see what new developments we will attain over the next month and a half.

In addition to the social media running, I went to Chabri Factory on Friday with one of our EBLI staff members Lillian to help with the entrepreneur visits shooting, which included recording videos and images, while filming their speech. Bernard went to the factory with a group of local entrepreneurs to demonstrate to them the operation of the machinery and how it benefits the community’s economy and ecology. As they claim, KuniSMART by Chabri Factory is more productive and helps us protect the environment which bricks are made from wasted charcoal. Additionally, there is no smoke or pollution produced during the burning of the bricks, and the burning device employs solar energy to conserve energy. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go to the Factory with them and observe the entire procedure! Even though I couldn’t fully understand all of the Swahili that the business entrepreneurs were speaking about, I could already feel how much they devoted to their industry from the passion they had.

Young Mothers (in red clothes) Working at Chabri Factory

On the trip back from the factory, I also unlocked a new transportation experience that I had never had before: sitting outside the rear of the truck. I cautiously gripped the door frame to prevent myself from falling backwards, but as I grew used to it, I started enjoying that brand-new feeling. I find it interesting because on my first visit to the factory, that was the first time I tried riding the local motorcycle BodaBoda, and on my second journey back from the factory, was my first time trying the rear of the truck. Isn’t it amusing when you think of this to be fate?

Work with Remote Interns

We also scheduled a weekly meeting with Bernard along with the remote interns so that we could update each other on our progress and feel more productive at work.

Take a Photo!

With two EBLI staff members, I visited Saanane, the smallest National Park in Tanzania on Saturday. Despite it being a small island, the scenery is nonetheless spectacular.

Zoe would like to share some photos. Accept.

I enjoyed my time at Mwanza, and over a month and a half, I gradually got over my sensitivity to bugs and came to cope with sharing a home with the small lizard. These little advancements signalled a new stage of my development for me.

Bros live around our hotel and always hang out together.

We will keep working hard at EBLI for the next month and a half, collaborating towards a common objective while discovering new entertaining things to do in Mwanza.

So stay tuned! I will see you soon!

Baadaye!

Keep Exploring!

On June 17, 2023July 28, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

It was another very fulfilling two weeks. Mwanza is really a fascinating city and every week I discover new places and try new experiences. Furthermore, I’m continually becoming more proficient in my work, and I’m thrilled about the improvements we’re making as an outcome of the statistical data we’re receiving! The Instagram account we manage has seen a rise of 3,072% in accounts reached as well as an increase in account engagement of 1,880% over the past month. These statistics gave me the confidence desired to keep pursuing what I’m doing.

Besides work, I spent time on a number of fun things during the past couple of lovely weeks.

EBLI Updates

Several amazing updates! Our first young mothers interview video has been posted on EBLI’s Instagram! Since we do not have access to stable Wi-Fi, the upload was constantly sluggish and problematic, but we were finally able to post it on time last Friday and received lots of views, thanks to the support of our buddies!

This week, we also had EBLI’s donors visit here. To show them how EBLI supports young mothers, I created a short film that illustrates young mothers in four different phases: when they first enrolled at EBLI, when they graduated from EBLI, when they begin their first job, and when they are successful with their own business and have a stable life.

You can check out both videos on Instagram via @ebli_tanzania if you’re interested!

The three ladies at the very right are the donors.

The donor interview went so well that they agreed on a contract for the following year along with stopped by the Buzuruga area’s health center, including an HIV testing station; alongside the local educational institution that EBLI collaborates with. EBLI makes frequent visits to these places in order to pick up fresh information and skills so that they can pass them on to EBLI’s young mothers.

We have also been in effective communication with the remote interns to progress Bernard’s plan for the Website, and as of today, we have the initial stages of some examples and a clearer idea of how we should proceed.

At the same time, we have started the second section of the project – content posts, and Instagram story Q&A and polls, which we believe will enable more young mothers to gain insight into EBLI and learn new knowledge while interacting with us remotely. Our next step is to open a TikTok account so as to enable more young mothers to get to know EBLI better.

This Friday was International Day of the African Child, which was celebrated every June 16 since 1991. EBLI also participated and had a gentle protest as part of the celebration in Mwanza, this was definitely a very exciting and engaging experience for me. And I came to understand that there could potentially be an incredible amount of strength when every single individual comes working together.

Young Mothers from EBLI went on the protest.

Although I have little understanding of what to expect at work the next week, I am already anticipating it!

Keep Exploring Mwanza

Outside of work, I had the pleasure to discover many new things with other interns.

I tried a bunch of new places and got adorable accessories from a charming little shop down the street. Eating authentic Chinese food gave me the happiest and most contented feelings. We also tried out a different pool at Malaika. Every weekend is a reenergizing for my next weekdays, which always keeps me motivated and ready for the upcoming week.

I wonder what the next week will bring?

Stay tuned!

Siku njema! Baadaye!

Gradually Adapt to Work and Life

On June 3, 2023June 9, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

Without realizing it, I had already spent three weeks in Tanzania; these two weeks had been so full of activities that I hadn’t noticed how quickly the time had passed.

I’ve completed several tasks over the past two weeks that I never would have thought I can accomplish, and these productive two weeks also enabled me to progress my work immensely. I gradually gained confidence in my work throughout my internship at EBLI, going from being puzzled about the tasks at first to getting familiar with them now.

Along with discovering across a variety of cuisines I had never tried before; I also had the opportunity to go to various local restaurants and hotels in Mwanza with a few other interns I am staying with.

My Swahili has also gotten better, and due to William, our Bajaji driver, I am able to ask for a ride in Swahili. I’m also picking up a lot of new Swahili phrases every single day. I am becoming more adapted to my life in Mwanza as I learn new things daily, and I excitedly look forward to what I am going to discover the next day.

EBLI WORK

In terms of work, these past two weeks have been really productive. After completing all the introduction videos for each topic post, we were thrilled to notice an increase in our social media followers. I am so glad that the animated videos were loved by the EBLI staff and teachers; so I made a tutorial on how to edit animated videos for the EBLI staff, and I will be demonstrating the software and editing skills to them next week in a hands-on mode.

Topic Post 2 on Instagram @ebli_tanzania

Topic Post 3 on Instagram @ebli_tanzania

In the meanwhile, I recently finished the first long video for EBLI, titled “Interview with the New-Coming Young Mothers.” It was extremely challenging for me because this was my first time shooting, recording, translating, and editing an interview video from start to end. I had to check the lines of each interviewer and translate the subtitles against one another, it is hard particularly because I do not speak much Swahili. But with Diana’s support, our EBLI coordinator, I was able to finish the project and complete the translation to the best of my ability. If you’re interested, be sure to check back on Monday when the video will be posted. Please stay tuned! You can find the video on Instagram at @ebli_tanzania, and we’ll also upload it to YouTube in later days.

During these two weeks, we also visited the Chabli Company, a nearby factory operated by Bernard, our program supervisor. This company turns wasted charcoal into bricks (KuniSMART), which can be sold by young mothers. This factory helped to create jobs for local residents and solve their financial problems. We are impressed by Bernard’s creativity, as well as by his many innovative innovations, and we are inspired by his determination to succeed in this endeavour. The tour left such an impression on me, and luckily, we got the chance to interview Bernard as well as one young mother who is currently working here. This factory visit also connected us with other two remote interns Julia and Syed, who will be working on KuniSMART Grants Proposal.

From left to right: Furaha, Diana, Lucy, Andrew, Lillian, Ali, Bernard, Zoe (Me).

Western logo with all the EBLI staff members!

Trying Boda Boda (also known as PikiPiki) for the first time on our way to Chabli Company.

We also got the wonderful opportunity to attend this current semester’s Young Mothers graduation ceremony on last Friday. Undoubtedly, I grabbed my camera to record these precious moments. At this ceremony, we had the chance to speak with the graduating students and ask them things about how they feel about graduating and how EBLI has changed their lives over the last four months. Surprisingly, we also had the chance to speak with a 2014 EBLI alumni who is now an experienced MC host, on how EBLI helped her choose the right path and how the knowledge she gained from EBLI has been successfully implemented in her life and career. Stay tuned as I am now working on finishing editing this documentary on graduation interviews!

The lady on the very right with black floral dress is our EBLI coordinator, Diana.

OUTSIDE OF WORK

After work, I enjoyed eating out with the other interns at various hotels and restaurants in the town. There was a wide variety of unexpected food, but each dish had its own distinct flavour. We also tried watching a movie at the local Mwanza cinema for the first time, and we also went swimming at the neighbourhood Isamilo Hotel to cool off. I cannot wait to see what we are going to try next!

I am so excited to see what new experiences could happen in my field of work and my daily life. I must admit, I’m really starting to love my life here!

Tuonane wakati ujao!

Lots of cats live around our hotel, definitely the perfect place to stay for me as a cat person!

Habari Mwanza!

On May 19, 2023May 27, 2023 By Zoe(Xiaoou) XiaLeave a comment

The flight and layover that took nearly three days finally brought me to Mwanza late at night. Due to a flight delay, I arrived around one in the morning, so at first, I was concerned about getting to my accommodations. Fortunately, I was able to reach my accommodation place after getting support from Maria, our Western Heads East and Global Development coordinator, as well as our local coordinators Bernard and Maimuna.

Waiting for my delayed flight at Dar es Salaam.

Having slept well, I awoke early on May 15th to enjoy the local breakfast. They serve toast, butter, eggs, and milk for breakfast, much like we do in Canada. However, I thought it was interesting since they served meat broth for breakfast as well when I typically only ate it for lunch or dinner.

Considering the jet lag and the unfamiliarity with the city, we didn’t get work on our first day. So I walked around the hotel and discovered more about the area where I will be living for the next three months. Our local coordinator also helped Ali and me with our transitions by driving us to town in the afternoon to get SIM cards.

Local telephone operator VodaCom’s data rate.

I have to mention that the view from our hotel is stunning, especially as I can see Lake Victoria right from where I’m staying.

We began our work at EBLI the next day. Diana, who is in charge of assisting us with our work is a very friendly and kind coordinator. Besides work, she helped us to get on the Dala Dala — bus in Mwanza and helped us to try Bajaji — the local tuk-tuk. As well as the local market and Rock City Mall — which is the biggest shopping center in the city.

William, the Bajaji Driver who helped us with our first week’s daily commute.

Our work mostly involves assisting young mothers to learn different skills so they can find jobs in the future. EBLI (Education for Better Living) focuses on educating young mothers with three main topics: Reproductive Health, Sexual Violence, and Entrepreneurship. The main goal of our work is to help promote EBLI so that young mothers can get a second chance to be educated. While spreading EBLI’s teaching content online, so young mothers across the country get the chance to learn more even if they don’t have the opportunity to come to class. Furthermore, we will promote the idea in connection with the topic of climate action.

To be honest, I was surprised by the age of the young mothers. I had assumed that these young mothers would be about the same age as me before I started working, but to my surprise, most of them are still in their teenage years. They had been expelled from the local schools because of their pregnancies. This is mainly due to the lack of local sex education and parents who are not adequately educating their children about sexual violence. Therefore, EBLI became an opportunity for them to acquire new knowledge and skills, as well as regain their confidence. Each young mother studies at EBLI for four months, and this coming May, we will celebrate their graduation. I’ll be updating you on this upcoming event later, so stay tuned!

This week, we focused on adapting to the workplace, defining our goals for the following three months, completing our first Topic Post, as well as conducting interviews with new young mothers who are going to start their studies at EBLI in June. In addition, we held a Zoom meeting with organizations from other parts of Tanzania to go over the Anti-Corruption policy and PSEAH (protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment), making me realize that many people are working in the same direction to make this place become a more equal and stronger community.

Our first work of reel post!
It’s on instagram @ebli_tanzania

Interview with the new-coming young mothers.

I can get sunburned but my camera can’t lol.

If you are interested, you definitely don’t want to miss out on their Instagram @ebli_tanzania.

It was a very productive week, and I have to confess that I reduced my phone screen time by seven to eight hours per day. My days in Mwanza, Tanzania, were truly highlighted by catching sunsets by the water almost every day and trying out numerous local cuisines.

Stay tuned if you’re interested in finding out more about my internship at WHE-EBLI!

Asante sana!

Kwaheri!