This is not to say this trip has been easy on me physically and mentally. The first few days after I arriving I caught an upper respiratory infection that left me voiceless and feeling pretty crappy up until now. In addition, the upper 90's scalding hot temperatures of Dar caused an unpleasant heat rash that just made me look more awkward (white with red splotches) during our interviews. Combine those two physical maladies with working 12-14 hour days, because apparently the work never stops in Seattle, and you have got someone who will really be ready for vacation on March the 3rd! Eyes on the prize...
Week 1 of the trip was spend in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania.
A couple of fun facts and first impressions of Dar:
- Dar es Salaam, Arabic for "harbour of peace", is a lively, vibrant East African city located right on the Indian Ocean with an urban population of over 2 million, ~60% living in slums...and thus our work begins.
- As previously mentioned it is hot as hell in Dar. Part of our assessment is measuring the ambient temperatures outside which were all over 95 degrees each day I measured. To further complicate matters it is dry and dusty before the rains start in March.
- My other point of reference for large East African cities is Nairobi and I would consider Dar much like Nairobi but hotter, more muslin, and less dangerous. The latter two observations might not be entirely unrelated with less alcohol availability and less carousing.
- Tanzanians are super friendly and welcoming. Greetings are a really big thing here. When someone passes you on the street you greet each other. I read somewhere that this is part of Tanzanian culture in order to "keep up good relations." This is really cool to me and a far cry of the introverted attitude of Seattlites with strangers. Brings me right back to my Texas roots.
Most of my previous research was focused around quantitative research. Quantitative research is designed to quantify "who is doing what" in a population. In contrast, qualitative research, the research we are doing in this study, is designed to answer "why" people are doing whatever are the behaviors of interest. In our current research project we are looking to understand why people have the behaviors they do with water and sanitation practices. PATH puts quite a bit of value on qualitative research which I am gaining a new-found appreciation for in my current position.
Our study consists of semi-structured, in -depth interviews of households and stakeholders. The interviews rely heavily on open-ended questions and observations from the households. There is a large media component to the data we are collecting including still photography, videography, and audio recordings. After we spent two days in training, we hit the field in Dar. The first part of our study took placer in Buguruni Ward, a slum on the outskirts of Dar. Buguruni is densely populated and sadly reminiscent of the slums I have working in in Nairobi. It was super hot, dry, dusty and dirty.
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| Buguruni Market |
We conducted 7 household and 3 stakeholder interviews in Buguruni. During these interviews, Anna conducted the interview in Kiswahili and I managed all the media equipment while answering the occasional clarification question from Anna. This has been a really fun job for me, even while feeling like crap, because it has allowed me to tap that wanna-be photojournalist spirit inside of me while getting to quietly observe how people live in this community, what kinds of things they have in their houses, and what do for their water and sanitation needs. I am averaging about 200 still photos a day and video clips of women fetching water all while practicing two skills that do not at all come naturally to me, being patient and being quiet. ; )
Some general observations from Buguruni slum:
- Most households get their water from taps which can be sourced by properly dug government wells or private companies who do not take care in surveying their potential well sites to make sure they are not in danger of mixing with raw sewage.
- All households store their water in 5-Liter plastic buckets with lids and they stack 15 or so of these containers by the door.
- All household have pit latrines and they are often shared by 10-20 other people. There is no formal sanitation system and private companies empty the pits and dump it in an area of the slum close to houses and it regularly mixes with the water lines.
- People prefer more traditional looking designs of water filters than the ones PATH developed for SE Asia (no big surprises there!).
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| Household Interview |
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| Water tap and storage containers |
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| Product feedback on water filters |
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| Typical pit latrine |
After completing the interviews in Dar, Anna and I headed for Gieta. Gieta is in Mwanza province on Lake Victoria and it much cooler, not as dusty, and a small red dirt mining town. To get here we flew on a 1.5 hour flight, took a 2.5 hour drive, and a 30 ferry ride across Lake Victoria. We will be here for the next 5 nights.
Working in Buguruni was certainly interesting albeit a bit heartbreaking as always. The kids were adorable and willing subjects for my amateur photography. Am happy to report I am feeling much better physically heading into week too and am excited about the differences we will see in this community.
Much love,
Liz
