Unafanya nini? (You're doing what?)

Given the fact that I’ve now spent almost 4 months in Dar es Salaam, it would be reasonable to ask, as several of you have, “But I thought you said you were working in Lindi and Mtwara?” Yes, those 100+ interviews with rural women still loom large on my radar screen, but before I can start my research, there are a lot of hoops to jump through, and that means navigating two very complicated bureaucracies (those of Tanzania and Johns Hopkins). I’m glad there are no windows to jump through, because I might have seized that opportunity on a couple of choice occasions in the last few months. There are two main classes of hoops: 1) getting a residence permit to clear me to do research in two specific regions of the country, and 2) getting ethical approvals from a number of different committees in the US and Tanzania. Even after waiting 4 months, I haven’t yet received my residence permit OR full ethical approval, and so can’t get started on the interviews.

Emerging unscathed from one’s struggles with the system seems very much a function of luck, and I’ve had more than my share of bahati mbaya (bad luck). A wayward letter of support got lost on someone’s desk in a government office 10 weeks ago, delaying my research permit by 2 months and, because a research permit is a prerequisite for a residence permit, delaying that too. Cross your fingers that I will get it before my visa expires next weekend! On top of that, the coordinator of the ethical committee here at my organization was brand new, and her learning the ropes delayed my proposal by a month. To add insult to injury, the ethical committee at Johns Hopkins just transitioned to a new online system this fall and the automatic classification system initially misclassified my proposal, delaying the review on the US side by more than a month. Bahati mbaya!

Facing known delays and wanting to do more with my time than just learning Swahili, I’ve gotten involved in a lot of the other newborn health programs, policies, and research that are ramping up here in my organization and at the national level, which includes key stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, and Save the Children. This has been my first exposure to the national policy and planning environment and a great learning experience. Working with a couple of other staff here, we got a 3-month mini-grant from Save the Children to analyze existing interviews that contain information about pregnancy and birth from several different regions in the country. The project has been a great introduction to the culture and reproductive histories of women in Tanzania, particularly in the area where I will be working. The mini-grant supports an assistant and a consultant to help go through and analyze the interview transcripts, which has meant that I needed to be in the office every day to train and supervise them.

Needing to be at the office meant that spending 3-5 hours commuting every day no longer made sense. Josh and Bre were very generous to house this wayfaring stranger for three months, but it made sense to move closer to the office. So for the month of February, I have moved in with one of my Tanzanian co-workers, her sister, and her nephew in a small 2-bedroom cottage in a shared compound 10 minutes’ walk from my office. No more daladalas or 40 minute slogs through mud on rainy days! They have been incredibly hospitable to me, giving me my own room (I suspect that I am sleeping in one of their beds but they are too polite to tell me whose) and sharing meals. I have also learned a lot firsthand about how relationships work in Muslim families and the richness of Swahili culture that I had only read about before. Living with them is something of a cultural exchange: I made tacos for my adoptive family last night and my co-worker’s sister, Zoela, remarked that she has never even tried mzungu food before.

I’m heading home to the US in a few weeks for a two-week visit before jumping into the fieldwork component of my research here, so my days left in Dar are numbered. It’s a much-needed visit to see Matt, my family, my dog, and my friends; to take a few warm showers; to take in a lot of cheese, chocolate, and wine; and to gear up for the next 6 months. Before I head home, I’m trying to line up a couple of research assistants for my fieldwork, as well as the specific logistics for how I get to and how long I will stay in each village, how I will charge laptops with no electricity, how to approach interviewees, how to manage my project budget, and what kinds of training I need to do before launching headlong into data collection. Overwhelming, especially as I am anything but a natural manager of other people (and Matt can tell you that planning ahead is not my cup of tea). But I’m spurred on by the hope of finishing everything by my anniversary in August…

So that’s my long-winded update – I’d love to hear what all of my friends are up to!