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On ‘Will you have running water?’

For Australians, a common image of Tanzania (or pretty much any African nation) is little mud huts, women cooking over charcoal and children carrying water on their heads. Many times as we were preparing to leave Australia, people asked us, ‘Will you have running water and electricity in Tanzania?’ We reminded […]

Cooking with Tamie: intro

I love to cook. Many expats employ a cook for a number of reasons, but I don’t because cooking is a significant de-stresser for me. Tanzanian meals tend to be high in fat and carbs, but they don’t really do baking or desserts. You can buy them in towns but […]

More on cross-cultural parenting

When I get told off for dressing my son inappropriately, sometimes I try to give reasons to explain why. For example, I might talk about the weather or his level of activity. However, I commonly receive the same baffling reply, ‘Well, you’re in Tanzania now!’ When this happens, I think […]

Rethinking my concept of friendship

I’ve been thinking about friendship recently. Almost eight months in, our Australian friends are starting to ask us if we’ve got local friends in Dodoma. Our September supporters’ letter says, ‘We certainly have people we know and talk to on a daily basis — but that’s not necessarily the same as friendship!’