How Visiting Tanzania Helped Me Become a Better Human Being
Here’s what I learned in the heat of Africa that changed me at my inner core.
Inspired by Simba as he watched over his huge and beautiful land from the Pride Rock in the Lion King in the 90s I always wanted to visit Africa. Several years later in 2015, my dream came true for the first time. I went to the north of Tanzania with an NGO to build and maintain computer rooms in schools.
This experience changed me at my inner core. I learned that people may look different on the outside but are basically the same at their inner core. I learned that being grateful for what you have brings joy to your life. And I learned that “normal” is by no means what I thought it was.
My arrival at the unknown.
Before we first arrived in Tanzania in 2015 we had a team meeting in advance to prepare the newbies like me on what to expect from the east African land. They told me all the stuff like it will be hot, take your Malarone to prevent malaria, and how life is kinda more relaxed there.
I thought to myself “yeah no problem I’m fine with that”. Boy, I had no idea what was coming. Everything started with first leaving the plane when we arrived at 8 pm local time at Arusha International Airport. The cabin was about 20 degrees and very dry because of the air conditioning. When putting the first step onto the gangway the Tanzanian air hit me right in the face. 35°C at night and the humidity felt like 100%.
I felt like a sweaty alien that put its first step onto earth. I had no idea how I should behave nor how other people would behave towards me. Every step was shaped by uncertainty but curiosity kept me going.
It took me quite a while to get used to all the new and exciting stuff around me. Cars were driving on the “wrong” side, there were almost no sidewalks at all, and everything was very busy and loud in general.
Being “normal” is hard.
One of the first tasks I had to do together with the team was cleaning up our containers where we store all the spare parts for the computer rooms. While pulling out all the stuff that was inside these containers I noticed that there was a generator inside which is sometimes necessary to work with the computers. It looked well from the outside but unfortunately, we weren’t able to start it.
Since I had a lot more experience in repairing computers than I had in gasoline-fueled generators I was completely lost. The rest of the team was out to the schools and I somehow had to repair this generator.
So what do I do? Walking around town trying to figure out a solution felt very awkward to me at that point. People were looking at me because I was one of the only white guys around and I didn’t know anyone.
Later I realized that this was the exact moment I learned a huge lesson about how to treat people that look different from the current “normal”. Different countries have different cultures, different looking people, and therefore different “normals” or standards. Traveling in general sensitizes us for that fact.
Always be aware of different “normals” when visiting strangers, treat them with respect and an open mind
I got to discover gratefulness.
Well, walking around town I was so lucky to meet someone I got to know earlier. I told him about my problem with the generator and he immediately offered to help me out. I jumped on the back of his pikipiki (small motorcycle) and he drove me to some fundis (general term for craftsman of all kinds) that were specialized in cars.
They were immediately hooked and followed us to the containers where we started working on the generator. While we were busy repairing the thing something happened that will always stick in my mind.
The spark plug collected a lot of soot over time and we needed some kind of rag to clean it. Looking around the container I found a white T-shirt that was perfectly fine but no one really needed it.
So I just wanted to use it to clean the plug when suddenly my friend Yusuph ripped the shirt off of my hand. He almost yelled at me “What are you doing? This is a fine shirt!” I was baffled but somehow immediately realized that he was right and we found an old rag that better suited the purpose.
Over time in Tanzania, I ran into several similar situations where we had to be creative and use what was around us as efficiently as possible to get the job done. In Germany, there usually is a tool for every situation you can imagine. In Tanzania, that's not always the case.
These situations taught me to be grateful for the things I have and also made me more creative in how to solve problems with the means at hand.
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” — Anonymous
Life teaches the best lessons. We only have to listen.
In the end, the generator worked perfectly fine with the cleaned spark plug, Yusupuh had a new shirt and I learned some valuable lessons.
Even if things seem small and unimportant at first there is always something to learn from it. I’m so grateful for everything Tanzania taught me since first taking the courage and stepping out of this plane in 2015.
If you ever have the chance, and COVID finally lets us off the hook again, you should definitely take it and visit this beautiful country with its amazing people. It might change who you are at your inner core.
“It’s the Circle of Life and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ’til we find our place on the path unwinding.” — Rafiki
I hope you enjoyed the story and maybe also got some kind value off of it. It would mean the world to me if you could support our foundation (schulen-in-tansania.de). We are also present on Instagram and Facebook.
