Hvassing.com

I just realized that I haven't really written anything about how it is to be living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It's not because there isn't anything to write about it -- quite the opposite -- there is so much one could say about this city, this country. Describing it in a blog post would hardly do it justice. And so, because I haven't written anything about this topic I get the odd e-mail asking me the rather general question: "What's it like to live in Africa?".

I'm not sure if people are aware of how big the continent of Africa really is. It's huge! It's bigger than Europe and China combined -- and then some. The following table will help illustrate exactly how big it is:

As a result I can't really write about how it is to be living in Africa as such, what I can write about is how it is to be living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Tanzania is a country of great diversity, both in terms of nature, people and challenges. As with most Sub-Saharan countries is Tanzania a developing country that's hihgly dependent on foreign aid and foreign investment. Some of this aid is used directly to help the budget deficit that Tanzania is facing, it simply can't run without foreign aid. During the 1970s and 80s Tanzania borrowed money from other countries, much of which was spent on its military forces. Over the years the interest has by far exceeded the original loan and Tanzania is classified as a hihgly indebted poor country and has qualified for debt relief from the World Bank.

Living in Tanzania is in many ways like being on a holiday all year -- especially for a Norwegian bloke from above the Arctic Circle. Almost every day is like the summer we never had, though considering that equator passes right through the neighbour country it's probably not very difficult to imagine what the climate is like. With temperatures that never reaches below 20°C, snow becomes a concept that one tend to forget all about, nevermind skiing.

However, it's not all good with a constant summer. There has been 18 hours of load sharing on the national power grid, meaning that each and every part of the country was without electricity for approximately 18 hours a day. To make matters worse there was some small rain, which resulted in the spread of viruses across most of Dar es Salaam. Meat and dairy products became scares and was in general considered unhealthy to consume on account of only the sporadic cooling. It is extremely difficult for a country that's already facing major challenges to develop when it all of a sudden loses it's main power supply due to the lack of water in the dams. Almost daily reports was printed in the papers, feeding the public with the latest update on the water level in the two main dams.

Despite all this, Tanzania is one countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that's facing a bright future and who is showing a steady growth in the economy as well as in the development of the country. One of the main reasons for this steady development is the political stability that Tanzania has. With all the aid money that's flowing into the country there are some strings attached, many of these attachments are how the government must run the economy. This is in particular true for the debt relief from the World Bank and IMF. In few years time, Tanzania will be one of the most developed countries in the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, an example for others to follow.

In short; living in Tanzania is a real treat and entirely different from living in the northern parts of Norway. Different, but intriguing and challenging at the same time.