One day. One day and it will be over. Credits will roll and my job is done. Tomorrow morning I will be on the bus to Dar Es Salaam and my time with Projects Abroad as a volunteer will be over. Well, I will be in Arusha for four more days in June and will probably attempt some work in that time but, for the most part, I am done.
I will look over my work in another post but, for now, I will focus on what became an integral part of my stay: the volunteers. Before I left the UK, I assumed that I would be working most of the time, seeing volunteers once a week at the Projects Abroad organised socials. Indeed, in my first few weeks, that was the case. I worked 7:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. everyday and then went home. Occasionally, I would head into Arusha to go shopping but I had everything I needed at home. Food, my bed, internet access for my laptop were all available to me. It was an easy, sedentary life. Not particularly exciting but I was not spending much money either, which pleased my parents.
Then, in late March, we went on the day trip to the hot springs, which kick started my Tanzanian social life. Fast forward through two months of amazing times and we get to the point where I am having to say goodbye to all of my friends. Coincidentally, as it was the start of my social life, it was the end as well for yesterday we took another trip, my third, to the hot springs and it was just as amazing as the first. But that is also another story.
It began in April when I began working more and more in the office. Every day around two in the afternoon, three volunteers would drop by the office and they'd check their e-mail and Facebook, then we would head to a cafe called Stiggbucks, which did amazing salads and guacamole. We would sit, eat, chat for hours until it was time to head home, usually around 6:30 p.m. if you wanted to make it home before dark. That was my life for two months. Seeing the same people every single day. It was like being at university, in halls, living with the same people for an entire year. I knew that most of the people I would meet in Tanzania would have similar personalities to my own. Most volunteers do what they do to help make a difference in a developing country; they all want to experience a different culture and they are all outgoing people. I knew that before I came and, in fact, it was a big deciding factor in my decision to volunteer abroad but, like I mentioned earlier, I still thought I would only see them once a week at the Projects Abroad organised socials. As it turns out, I became so close with the other volunteers that it feels like I have known them for years not months. We constantly arranged our own dinners out, lunch gatherings, drinks on a warm evening. We go on nights out every Thursday night to Via Via and Saturday night to Empire and dance until 4 a.m. I now count some of the volunteers among some of my most valued friends, not only because we have a great time together but also because we have the same principles.
It makes a huge difference to your entire experience when you do something like this. You never experience anything like it when backpacking or while on holiday. You don't get the same in-depth experience that all of the volunteers share at some point. In Tanzania, we have all experienced beign the centre of attention, being called mzungu in the street. We all have our own opinions on ugali and nyama choma. When you volunteer, you join a community of people and it is especially noticable when your volunteering period coincides with other volunteers. You go through the same good days, the same bad ones. You all get the same sense of realisation that you are actually living in Africa at the same time. You all get horrible dawning that your time is at an end at the same time.
The social life I have had in Arusha has been better than anything I have had at home. The knowledge that your time is limited and the fact that you might never see some of the other volunteers again means that you fully appreciate the time you have together. It is strange that, in reality, most of the European volunteers live fairly close together. Most of the volunteers come from Holland (£37 on Easyjet) or Denmark (£32 on Easyjet), places that are not expensive to get to from the UK. In fact, I've already made plans to travel to Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen in November with some volunteers. It is a comforting notion, knowing that I will see my friends again but for the ones who live further afield, Canada, USA, Australia, it is devastating that I may not ever see them again.
That said, I think that the group of friends I have made are dedicated to staying in touch, especially as we have already got plans for a Eurotrip in the summer of 2013. At least, I hope so. Lots of things can happen in a year and who knows what circumstances life might throw at us but, hopefully, we will all make it for reunions in 2013 and beyond. At this time, and probably to anybody outside our group, it might seem ambitious to be hoping for a Eurotrip next year when all of us have already spent so much on volunteering this year, as well as having our studies next year, but I really want it to work. The volunteers have played such a massive part in making these last three months the best months of my life.
Saying goodbye is hard. Both when it comes to the people you know you might not see again and to the people that you know you will. While volunteering abroad, you build such intense relationships that you feel like you've known each other for years when, in actual fact, you know very little about them, what their favourite song or colour is for example. However, you get to know their personalities. I know that, out of my three friends I mentioned earlier, one is a really happy-go-lucky kind of guy who is up for anything, another is a kind, caring, non-confrontational girl who just wants to enjoy herself, and the third is a feisty character who will give as good as she gets when someone wrongs her or her friends.
I wish we all lived in the same city or country but such is life. Some people say that saying goodbye becomes easier as time goes on. For the staff here, they have such a huge turnover in volunteers that they are saying goodbye to someone every week. I hope it never becomes easy for me to say goodbye. When it's difficult, that's when you know you've had an amazing time. Life is short, make the most of it. You realise that when you do something like this. Three months has passed in a flash.
I think all that's left for me to say is a huge THANK YOU to the volunteers in Arusha, you've given me the best three months and enriched my life. Stay in touch and you've always got a place to stay in London.
EmE, CK, MB, JO, EJM, EK, EL, JGr, TL, ElE, ASVGN, PH, JN, AB, RS, CD, JGl, CM, FS, MJ, YE, AA, AL, SU, QN, JV, VB, JB, SB, PF, LS, HP, AS, ES, IH
You know who you are. If I've missed anyone, I apologise, let me know and I'll edit the list.
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