I cannot believe
that my fellowship for AIM-Health Programme is almost finished. I just thought
I have one more month and I am still in the middle of fellowship period. But
when I heard that Nicole in Kenya would leave for Ethiopia this Thursday, then
I realized for the first time that we fellows are almost in the very end of
completing our duties. In the WebEx meeting, we reviewed our works about
qualitative study report and LiST analysis report. Staffs from 5 AIM-Health
implemented African countries will gather in Uganda during the end of this
September and will evaluate this project. I hope that our fellows’ work would
contribute to the development of AIM-Health for the future.
Right after WebEX
meeting is done, Denice and I headed to Nam Hotel to attend the Central Zone
staff meeting. Staffs from Singida also joined this meeting. We did feedback
from last week’s National Retreat. Although the meeting was in progress with
Swahili, Mr. Kilimba explained to me in a whisper what topic we were
discussing. In brief, topics we discussed were that how to manage and develop
our ADPs and sponsorship strategy, and how to finish our budget well as planned
by reflecting what we learned from the National Retreat.
 |
| This man is going to be 품절남 soon! |
After discussion
for serious National Retreat feedback, a cluster leader Licky suddenly began
speaking in English and declared officially that Julius would marry this
December! Everyone celebrated him that he would be no longer available single man
anymore. :) We also sang a birthday song for Angelina. During the break, I had
to run back to the office to attend Public Health Informatics introduction
session in the evening. They may have been a farewell party for Johnson, who was
an ex-zonal manager. He has already promoted to a sponsorship manager and
relocated to national office in Arusha in May, but we had no chance to say
goodbye to this colleague. He will stay in Dodoma for 3 days and go back to Arusha.
I really like the culture in Tanzania that people love to welcome, greet and
farewell for each staff. Sometimes, I want to be in a really quiet place to concentrate
on my work, but friendly atmosphere in the office makes me somewhat slow. Even
when I make grimaces seriously and stare at the laptop monitor, people happily
accost me and say hello. We are sorry for only saying hello, so we shake hands
all around. Later, some other staff come to the office room and say hi and
offer me their hands, so I stand up again and greet them. I wish I could always
talk with them cheerfully, but I am afraid that my serious face might not
enough to make them welcome well. Joseph came and said, “Oh, you look so busy with working!” and left straightway without
saying other things. Actually, I just had a gloomy look on my face because I
had no idea where those so many biomedical informatics terminologies came from.
(Nicole, help me!)
We welcome, greet
and spend time together, but we know that the time we have to say good-bye
would certainly come, regardless of duration that we have been with. A month
later, Denice and I would leave the World Vision Tanzania, and we have to say a
farewell word to all staff. Probably, I would regret or feel sorry about what I
have not done well to people around me. However, before thinking what I should
have done better, I may have many things to do during this remaining month. At
least, I would not be confronted with the unexpected separation again what I
had to experience in Sierra Leone. Each person is invaluable for me to remember
even after leaving Tanzania, and I hope that I would keep communicating with
them to ask about their health and safety.
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