My first few weeks back to the office have been filled with report submissions (the groan from all development workers is audible at this statement). So I was initially at a loss as to what sort of story I could write this week about work with women traders.

Then I realized that this gives me a chance to update you on all my previous stories. In development you often hear about initial activities and impact but any subsequent progress (or lack thereof) gets lost. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to let you know how things are going...

The market has had up and down success with keeping their environment clean. Women have had to repeatedly talk to the municipality about garbage collection, but the market traders themselves decided to take direct action and have declared Saturdays to be “Market Cleaning Day”.

Kigogo Fresh is still under construction but some women have started trading. Other markets are getting on the band-wagon for improving market infrastructure - Mchikichini Market is currently negotiating with the Municipality to rebuild the market and include new stalls for women traders.


Tabata Muslim women traders are looking to revise their Market Constitution. A committee is collecting input for the new constitution. Issues on the table include: gender-based violence, women's representation in leadership and women's ownership of stalls.

Ferry Market has agreed to have 5 special seats for women on the market committee. Elections have happened in each zone but they are still waiting to hold the general market committee elections.

Women's saving and loan groups are still going strong. Most women's major concern is that now that they have the capital to expand into more profitable businesses, they need practical skills to be able to create high-value products like soap or batik.

A few women formed a committee to lead women traders' engagement in Constitutional Reform. So far, they've held a press conference and one planning meeting. A major focus will be ensuring that market women are registered to vote in the referendum and are included in the special parliament to be held on Constitutional Reform.

Led by Gezaulole, several markets are looking to revise rules so that customers will pay for their food before being served. It's a small step, but it puts female food vendors in a much better place for receiving payment rather than harassment.





We are working to help the paralegals get involved with staff in legal awareness sessions to share more general legal knowledge with women traders as well as handle individual cases.
I got pretty lucky with my living situation for the next three months. Its right around the corner from where I used to live and I've got two great, new room-mates.

The apartment is on the top floor, which is pretty high up and key because we don't have any air-conditioning. But we do have a great breeze in the evening and you can sit on our balcony and watch the city below.

The apartment is a work in-progress at the moment. Everyone just moved in so furnishing the place is an ongoing effort. If you look at the photos of my old apartment you'll see that a lot of the furniture at the moment are pieces from my old place.

However, unlike my old place, I do have my own room. Though I got quite used to sharing a room; quoting my old room-mate, "I now define privacy as everyone sitting together and not talking". It's not a bad thing to have your own space. I'm enjoying not needing headphones to watch movies and listen to music.

Funny enough, I already have some things that I never got around to buying in my last 6 months (such as curtains). Tonight, I'm venturing out to get a full-length mirror, another item that was much discussed in my last apartment but never actually purchased.

And if I miss my old home, all I have to do is look across the way and there it is!

The original idea was to have this go like the 12 days of Christmas. However, I then realized that I am a) not that musically talented and b) it was hard enough thinking up 12 things without trying to make it all rhyme. So lets just say its in the spirit of the 12 days of Christmas.

1 debrief in London with all the interns

2 new dresses sewn (down to the wire but finished them exactly 1 hour before I had to leave for my flight)

3 matching pairs of stockings for Christmas day

4 packs of tea to see me through my next 3 months (check out Tealish)


5 times shoveled snow off my parent's drive way (P.S. no clue how blogger added the snow but its corny cool!)

6 batches of cookies and bars made for Christmas treats


7- estimated number of times we tried to put the Christmas tree up straight before wiring it to the wall


8 hours time difference between Dar es Salaam and Toronto means major jet-lag (like falling asleep at concerts)

9 dishes cooked between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day

10 shopping excursions (maybe more if we count online)

11 magenta highlights added to my hair


12 gifts from Tanzania wrapped up
Our last week in Dar felt a bit like an attempt to test the limits of time and space. Saying good-bye to everyone and visiting all of our favourite places was going to be busy enough. And then for I needed to make arrangement for my return in January. We crammed it all in right up to the final hours, where we celebrating with my Executive Director at her kitchen party.

What's a kitchen party? Its a bridal-shower like you've never seen it before. No games and a few presents in someone's living-room, this is an event almost as big as the wedding itself, involving all of the women in the bride's life. I went to a couple kitchen parties in Zambia but this was my first Tanzanian occasion and it was a lot fancier than I've previously seen. Everyone who attends contributes to support the expenses of the party and to buy the bride gifts.


The entire party was hosted by a matron who lead the party in welcoming the bride to the world of marriage and gave her advice on how to be a good wife. This, of course, was mixed in with a lot of dancing!

In the chaos of organizing ourselves to go home, it was a really special way to spend our last night in Tanzania. Its hard to believe that this six months is coming to an end. Even though I'm coming back, it will be different. I'll miss the great group that we had. Nikupenda sana!
I have been struggling about how to write the post for the end of my stay in Dar es Salaam. But it looks like I've managed to escape this task because I'M COMING BACK IN JANUARY!
Last minute, I've managed to pull together more work for another 3 months, so I will be swinging through London and Canada before heading back to Tanzania in January.

The next few months going to be a bit different because I will be coming back on my own but I'm really excited to be able to continue to working with Equality for Growth. Its going to be an busy three months as we work to get the new strategic plan under way.

So I now have a weekend of “see you later,” instead of “good-bye” though I will still be saying tearful good-byes (and this is a literal prediction) to my fellow interns. Next posting will be from the Northern Hemisphere!
There is a quote on the bulletin board in our office which says “In the absence of good structures, even good people behave badly.” This quote rings very true in a lot of the work that we do, but there is another piece to this equation that has also become very clear to me- Good structures are only helpful when people are aware of them and know how to navigate them.
This is exactly the challenge women market trader's face in their lives. Bureaucracy is confusing to most of us, but with low levels of education, no access to information and no one to guide you through the process, its a nightmare. Imagine if you had no idea how to get a piece of ID, why you needed a marriage certificate or what a contract was, and nobody else around you had any clue either. This lack of legal knowledge leaves women vulnerable to everything from fake marriages and abuse to property grabbing and business scams.

Which is why Equality for Growth is launching a legal aid program for market women. The project official launched this fall at a big opening ceremony. Over the next year, 25 women and men who work in and around the markets will attend training sessions to become paralegals. These paralegals will be able to help women with basic legal advice, mediate disputes and guide them through the legal system.
What is incredible is that these women and men are all volunteers. There is no funding to pay paralegals for their work and they offer their services for free. Most of them will be juggling their own business at the same time. For most people who work a full-time job, volunteering one afternoon a week can be a struggle. These people will likely see 3-5 clients a week. Its an impressive commitment.

At the first training session, the paralegals to-be biggest worry was that they wouldn't be able to understand enough of law and legal practice to offer advice. This has rapidly changed. The second training session ended just last week and the groups was confident enough to tell the trainers they wanted the last few hours of the training so they could plan as a group to set up their work in the markets. In the course of a couple months they've gone from hesitant to full-throttle.

Its a neat aspect of the project, that as much as the women will benefit from the legal aid, those trained also really benefit from the sense of confidence and community they get from being part of the paralegal team. I think it will be exciting to see, not just the help the new paralegals will provide but also how this experience will also ripple through their own lives and what else it might empower them to do.
Why is it always at the end of the of the trip you discover the best places to eat or go? My room-mates discovered this great place serving various Indian street foods on their way to the gym last month and its turned out to be a gem.


The place is quite literally a side-walk cafe. Sidewalks in Dar Es Salaam are frequently occupied by street vendors selling everything under the sun as well as the occasionally motorbike or bicycle that finds the road a bit to jammed for their liking. This place is camped outside a small grocery store which is perfect if you want to buy drinks or desert to go with your meal.


The food is all vegetarian, cooked right there before your eyes. There is a banner with a menu but you get what is up for offer that day. The main feature is pani puri and sev puri served up in canteen style metal plates or packed up for take out. Other treats include grilled paneer and onion bhaji.


All in all your meal will probably run you $5 tops and you'll be stuffed full. (Of course we went afterwards for for ice-cream and waffles but that is entirely a personal choice).