the job search and fever dreams

Here I find myself two and a half weeks in to my Arusha return. In this short amount of time I am now on my second bout of flu/cold. (Apparently the three day process of my journey itself has weakened my immune system a tad, and my respiratory system finds the conditions of increased pollution, the European cheek kissing greeting style, dust swirled air conditioning systems, and cigarette and garbage-burning smoke a little difficult to deal with in this weakened state. Lame.) That said, bear with me if my writing is a little loopy :0)

Despite my obnoxious symptoms, however, I have also found a couple productive things to fill my time with. I am continuing research on piracy in East Africa (focus on Somalia of course) and writing a proposal for a future conference on this issue. Roland, our former professor at the university in Arusha, last week gave me the title "researcher" for the Nyerere Center for Peace Research. Though the title might be rather arbitrary, I can't tell you how nice it is to have an easy answer when someone asks, "what is your job?" You have to start somewhere, right? For the moment I feel so happy to be doing research on a topic that I love, and to some possible end even.

Besides this I am taking french classes at Alliance Francais. I tried two different beginning level classes, it seems the programs have lapsed a bit to cater to slower students, point being that there is a very large gap between the first level and the second level and not a clear spot for me. Both of my classes were made up of entirely Tanzanian students, and therefore taught in equal parts English, Kiswahili and French. Of course there are some cultural differences in learning languages that had to be addressed. It was kind of humorous when we spent twenty minutes on the issue of a last/family name. "No it is not the first name of your father or grandfather, but of your tribe or region". In the moment it was actually kind of embarrassing that I had no problem with this concept. So much for solidarity with my fellow classmates.

Last week I participated in a two-day conference put on by Arcadia University, on the rule of law within the UN. Not only was it at the Arusha Hotel, the only "5" star hotel in Arusha, it was an entirely fascinating group of people who gathered. We met with two judges of the year-old UN Dispute Tribunal in Nairobi. The registrar of this establishment, Jean-Pele Fomete, was also in attendance. It was a wonderful exchange of ideas, as we considered the aspirations and setbacks of this new tribunal, designed as an independent jury to ensure that staff of the UN have an avenue to seek justice for issues with their management. This is necessary because since the UN is not governed by any higher body, no court system is above it. And while the organization as a whole moves to promote an increase in rule of law, the same ideals must be upheld within the organization itself.

In sum, though I'm still technically "unemployed", I am definitely not lacking in opportunities. Last week at a big dinner with a random assortment of Arusha folk, a table discussion ensued about the current predicament of a man in attendance. The gist of his story is that his combination of ethnicity and passport often puts him on terrorist watch by countries like the UK and US. He is a doctor, and came to work for a hospital in Tanzania. However, the story goes that he ended up receiving way less than half of his pay from the Republic of Tanzania. He is looking for alternatives, but his passport is about to expire and he can't go home (others in his situation are often held and arrested in his home country upon returning- simply for being his ethnicity.) Hearing the details of his story I was completely amazed. I thought it was hard for ME to find a job. I'm grateful for that humble reminder.