November 9, 2015 - Election 2015 Results

While we were away in South Africa, Tanzania held elections for their 5th government/President.  By most accounts, voting day was peaceful and went well.  There were a few small security incidents, but nothing "significant".  And there was a bit of delay with the results, which made it very tense (from what we heard and read about online).  The bigger problem was on Zanzibar, as opposed to on mainland Tanzania.  The Zanzibar Election Commission annulled the election for Zanzibar's president (separate from the country's president) due to gross irregularities (like vote rigging, fighting between election officials, etc.).  But of course most people believe the real reason they annulled the election is because it appeared that the political opposition was going to win.  So now Zanzibar is in a bit of upheaval, with the international community "gravely alarmed" (US Secretary of State Kerry) after all international election observers declared that the election was "free and fair."  It's a mess, and there have been a few small bombs in Stone Town related to that.

But here on the mainland, the ruling party's candidate was declared the winner, even though there are some allegations from the citizens (not from the election observers) that the election was NOT "free and fair" and that there was vote rigging to prevent the opposition candidate from winning.  African politics are anything but boring.  If it is true that the votes were rigged, than that is a travesty for democracy, of course.  But we didn't see any of the violence that could have erupted and people seem pretty calm about it now, even if they feel their election was stolen.  Some people are saying, "that's how it always is" and so they didn't expect any different.  I think the real caveat here is that even though the ruling party won - and really it would have been great to get a different party in power - it does appear, although of course it is too early to tell really, that the right candidate won!  

President Magufuli (as of last Thursday when he was inaugurated) is already shaking things up!  For example, on Saturday he snuck in (on foot! Without telling anyone!) to the Ministry of Finance to take attendance of all the people who should be at work! And he found quite a lot of them missing!  And the next day he announced that all international travel for senior government officials was banned!  The cost of such travel is a lot of money, and his pledge has been to solve problems for regular Tanzanians at home.  He wants government ministers to be visiting the rural parts of Tanzania that are underdeveloped and under-served. He certainly needs all the money he can get to do that.  Good for him!

Off to a great start we think!  Although our staff reports that this is just a scam for the first few months (calculated by the political party) to make everyone think there will really be change.  But we hope our staff is wrong and that the new President will continue to be this strong (and ethical) in the future. We also hope there is a resolution to Zanzibar’s stalemate soon.  The people of Tanzania are desperate for and deserving of strong leaders who actually govern on their behalf.

LMW

October 21, 2015 - Happy (early) Halloween!

Life is good and busy in Dar these days.  The Tanzanian national election is on Sunday – there is a very high energy all around us!  We are getting out of dodge tomorrow morning for our family vacation to Cape Town.  To say we are a little bit excited would be the understatement of the year.

Grace had off of school last week and the first part of this week.  She was back just for today and now Noah's school is closing for their October break starting tomorrow.  Today he had a very big Halloween party at his school - it was CRAZY hot but super fun.  I was dressed as the Tooth Fairy (thrilled that I can still fit into my wedding rehearsal dinner dress after 8 years and 3 kids) and he was a pirate...we were a cute couple :) There was a parade and songs and jokes, and then 6 different stations of Halloween-themed games.  It was a great way to kick off our vacation.  

I would like to promise that I will blog a lot from South Africa - but clearly you would have no reason to believe me.  I will certainly try, or at least do a great recap when we are back.  We have many things planned...great food, shopping, wine, and fun!  Can't wait to share it all with you!  And I should have some Tanzanian election news to report as well.  We are hoping and praying for safe and free and fair polls, and that the honest results are announced with minimal civil unrest.  Time will tell.

Now I have to pack!

 LMW

August 26, 2015 - Don't forget the parents!

Trying to get back into blogging after a pretty decent absence, I think I've got you all caught up on the kids.  But what about Kristoffer and me?  With Aya starting to sleep better at night (except for last night of course), giving us one long stretch even if she wakes up waaaaayyyyy too early for the day, we are starting to come out of the fog of sleep deprivation.

Kristoffer is always quite busy at the World Bank; luckily his work is very interesting and he seems to enjoy (most of) it. It's only three weeks into the school year and I've already been substitute teaching a few days a week.  It's great for me to try to fit in some classes between playing with Aya and carpool drives to and from different schools.  We are still waiting to find out about a possible relocation to America in the near future.  After our long holiday away, life in Dar seems pretty sweet these days so we don't feel quite as desperate to leave Dar as we were feeling (again, when we sleep deprived) in the spring and in June.  It's amazing what some home leave can do for the expat spirit.  Having said that, we are quite sure that we don't want to live here indefinitely, and so we are patiently waiting to hear what the World Bank tells us and to figure out a plan from that point on. 

On our minds lately is the upcoming Tanzanian election, scheduled for the 25th of October.  Campaign season officially began on Sunday.  This election seems different than other recent Tanzanian elections because there have been politicians from the ruling political party who have controversially defected to other political parties.  Even though it is a multi-party system here with different parties forming coalitions, it seems very much that people are focused on the individual candidates.  Policy platforms or political ideologies do not really seem to be at play - there might not be so many differences between the candidates.  But the main guy who is running against the ruling party was actually a member of that party for DECADES and only defected when he was not chosen to be their presidential candidate.  And he took some other people with him to the other side and is now running against his former peer. 

So, while the election is expected to be free and fair and without unrest in its aftermath, our experience in Kenya seems to have left us with a bit of PTSD related to African elections.  We definitely seem to be feeling more nervous than everyone else around us.  We are considering taking a trip at the time of the election (although the school break happens two weeks BEFORE the election - so annoying!) or at least hunkering down at home for a few days when it happens.  When we moved to Kenya in 2007, we assured our family and friends that we were moving to one of the safest democracies in Africa! Less than 3 weeks later, we were in the midst of a very different story unfolding and it had a pretty big impact on us.  Of course we hope it will be different here and all will be calm, but we aren't counting the proverbial chickens before they hatch, if you know what I mean.

Kristoffer and I have made some new friends recently - or at least we've become better friends with people we've known here for awhile - and we're having a lot of fun hanging out with them. So that is also nice and refreshing change here, even in this season of us feeling like we're still waiting to figure out what happens next.

LMW