Well, I am really in Africa now.  I arrived in Mwanza on Sunday, and now can't even keep track of the days. It's such a beautiful place. I still can't help but feel like I am on vacation....maybe that will wear off eventually, but it's hard to tell.  The people here are so friendly.  Since I arrived with two other women working on the orange-fleshed sweet potato endline study, we have been staying in a really nice hotel with wonderful staff.  It has been great getting to know Margaret and Sonii, and I'm glad we get to work together for a little while on the design and implementation of this study.  Last night I stayed in a catholic hostel.  Unfortunately this morning I was unaware of morning prayer with the sisters, until it was too late.  Hopefully I'll be able to join them sometime in the future.  Tonight I'll be staying at the hotel with Margaret and Sonii again.

Last night I ate my first real lake fish, which was sure the be the first of many.  It's the staple protein here, being right on Lake Victoria.  I was taken out to dinner by Benjamin Kamala and a friend of his who is a medical student here in Mwanza.  Benjamin is a friend of Johanna Andrews, who is my friend from the Friedman School.  She put us in touch through Facebook.  It is so nice to have contacts.  He was really kind, and was even a consultant recently on another HKI food fortification project.  Everywhere I've gone, nice people have welcomed me to Tanzania. Everyone seems to really make time for others here, which I deeply appreciate.

Today I was picked up by Victor, the coordinator for the primary project I'm helping with, and he has been so helpful with trying to find a place to stay.  We came to the HKI office here in Mwanza for the first time.  We have a bird's eye view of the city.  There is so much to see.  I'll upload pictures later today.  It's nice to start settling in.  Yesterday I started chatting with the hostess of the hotel and she offered to give me a tour of the fruit and vegetable market in town.  How did she know that was exactly what I wanted to do?!  I was dying to get outside the gates of the hotel.  It was great to have company for my first foray into the city, and have a really nice guide.  Everyone seemed to know her at the market, and we walked through a sea of greetings.  I heard a few mzungu (their word for a white person) comments from passersby, but I'll just get used to it.  Once my Swahili improves, hopefully I'll be able to respond.  The market was quite an experience...I'll save that for another post.

Tomorrow I will be heading out to the field with Margaret until Saturday.  We will be hosting the group discussions of villagers so we can determine the impact of the orange-fleshed sweet potato project.  One component of the project, called Morando Bora (quality vines) was to disseminate improved quality sweet potato vines that are resistant to disease and pests.  The second component was to educate people about the new orange-fleshed sweet potatoes that are rich in vitamin A, and much more nutritious than the traditional white-fleshed sweet potatoes commonly grown here.  It will be really interesting to see how the process works in the villages, and my contribution will be to help summarize the findings at the end of the day.  The discussions will all be in Swahili, so I obviously won't understand much of what is happening during the day, but when we summarize for the report we will work in English.  Thankfully this is the case, since my tiny bit of Swahili wouldn't get us too far.  :)  We will be out in the field until Saturday, but I will have my internet connection with me, so I'll probably be able to be connected.  We'll see.  In any case, I'll be in good hands.

Until next time,
Katrina