New Continent and New Job

Long Distance Neighbour has moved from the downtown Dar Es Salaam craziness to the new craziness of the English countryside! I thought I'd give a bit of context to where and what I'm up to.

My internship in Tanzania has officially come to an end and I've started my new position working with Africa Educational Trust (AET) in London. On top of the fact, its my first official "job"in international development (five years of volunteering and internships have paid off!!), I'm also really proud to be working and fundraising for them. As you might have guessed by their name, they provide education (both formal and informal) in Africa. But their focus is specifically on conflict-affected zones, communities that have been written off as too dangerous and too unstable to do development work. Areas like South Sudan, Somalia and Northern Uganda. But because of the level of local community involvement, AET is able to continue providing education despite how unstable the countries can be. No foreigners, no big camps, no big presence. Just local staff, in the communities, getting work done.  

I was able to land straight into my new job and I'm currently camped out with some friends just outside of London while I set up my new UK-based life. In amongst trying to navigate the bureaucracy of establishing myself as a real UK resident, I've also managed to squeeze in a good number of recreational events during my first week including going to an improve comedy night, bar-tending/go-go dancing at a village wedding and surviving a true English pub-night. It has been a whirl-wind of a time!

Moving countries is always a shock to the system. But in many ways moving to England is not so very different from moving to Tanzania, in any new place what you really need is good cultural tour guides. I had a great initial support system in Tanzania and here, I've been able to rely on some good friends and co-workers who are helping me navigate everything from British slang to the tube system to banking. I'm trusting them to more or less point me in the right direction as I go through this the whole "up feels like down" period of cultural adjustment. 

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