Home Again

August 7th 2007
Greetings from Dodoma! It is great to be home. Last Sunday morning I arrived into Dar es Salaam, the large and busy city on the Indian Ocean. After getting some Tanzanian shillings from the ATM I realized it was time to put my Swahili back to use. I quickly found a taxi driver who would give me a reasonable fair to the bus station. They taxi drivers have formed a union and will no longer bargain on prices with passengers leaving the airport. During our fifteen minute ride across town I was testing myself to see how Swahili I could remember. I told him that I had just returned from America and that I enjoy his country. When I told him I live in Dodoma, he was not impressed. Dar people don’t think much of Dodoma.
I paid him 20, 000 Tsh, (just under 20 dollars) for the safe ride and pleasant chat. There was a small cafeteria at the bus station. The passion juice sounded good, but I wasn’t sure how fresh it would be in such a small place: Scandanavia Express. Most guidebooks say they are the safest and most efficient company. I think that ever since they got the good reputation they stopped spending money on buses, (so they break down all the time) and also succeeded the express part of their title. In a car the drive from Dar to Dodoma will take just under six hours. On a bus it will often take over eight.

But the views from the bus are beautiful. Once outside the city the countryside is nothing but green. Along both sides of the road you can always see people. People are everywhere. People with their goats or cows, others with huge plastic buckets full of water on their head, or bundles of sticks or bicycles loaded with hay or eggs. As the bus moves farther and farther inland, once past the beautiful halfway town of Morogoro, the vegetation gets drier and the trees become more scarce.
After a long, hot and rather tiring drive I finally arrived to the dusty, comparatively quiet town. Actually Dodoma is the official administrative capital of Tanzania. The late President Nyrere, the Father of the Nation, chose to move the capital from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma in 1973 due to its central location. He united the country in other ways by making Swahili, (along with English) the official language. He also made high school students go to school in different parts of the country so they would get to know a new area and become friends with kids in other tribes.
The current President, Kikwete, has a house here in Dodoma. The Prime Minister can be seen around occasionally. We know that Parliament is in session when large numbers of huge white SUV’s pull into town, driving along the only (6) paved roads in Dodoma to reach their various mansions or the one nice hotel in town.

All the tourist guide books on Tanzania express the same sentiment about Dodoma, “there is nothing to do and nothing to see.” And in some ways they are right. This is no town for sightseeing. There is nothing spectacular or exciting going on in Dodoma.
But for someone who lives and works here, it makes a great home. The town of just over 300, 000 makes a small enough community to get to know the people around you. It is easy to learn the common greetings, and everyone is always ready to smile, (or laugh!) at you. It is also big enough to find important grocery items like peanut butter, (American or Tanzanian), olive oil, soy sauce, pasta, plus various cheeses from Ireland or New Zealand, (which both fall entirely out of my price range!). Not that I am complaining. There are always fresh fruits and vegetables which are quite delicious.

As soon as I get a decent internet connection I will upload some photos, plus a map of Tanzania.