Alissa Orlando's Page

And here it was.  At times I had counted the days left.  Even calculated percentages.  EVEN cried to my parents that I wanted to come home.  And now, it seems like none of that had happened.  It seems like my time in Dar was far, far too short.

I needed a way to thank the staff for everything that they had done for me.  So naturally, I turned to food.  Because Shoprite had been closed by the time that I arrived home, I stopped off early in the morning at Fairy Delights in Shopper’s…

So after a request from parents and friends, I decided to start taking more pictures.  I always felt awkward doing so.  It was difficult and awkward to ask permission to take a photo.  But on the flip side, if you didn’t ask to take a photo, it looked like you were oogling at the way people lived: like in was a museum exhibit instead of an actual way of life.  And some people actually demanded money to be featured in tourist photos.  However, I thought that if there was an acceptable reason…

So today, I was invited to visit the Kibaha branch. Since the start of my internship, I have been asking to visit other branches, specifically in rural areas.  One of the best parts of working on the ground is that you get to meet the very people who you are trying to help.  I loved working in business strategy at HQ, but I had only met clients through events such as Saba Saba or the IT training course.  Both of these interactions have been incredibly memorable and rewarding, so I sought the…

Ah my last weekend in Dar.  Again came the question…what to do with my time? Dar is not exactly a tourist hot spot.  It is usually a place for businessmen to come to close deals or travelers to rest for an evening or two beyond catching a flight to somewhere else in East or Southern Africa.  So I had already checked off all the tourist “must-sees.” 

My body woke up at 6 am (I am looking forward to getting out of this mid-life professional sleep cycle soon).  So I decided to go to one…