Flight Booked

I now have an official departure date- September 19th.  Today I booked my ticket to Dar es Salaam.  Reality is setting in as I had an extremely productive day and also made my appointments with the Tanzanian Consulate here in the Netherlands for my visa and have my appointment to get any and all vaccinations I might need.  Apparently yellow fever vaccinations are only good for ten years and mine was just over ten years ago.  Although Tanzania does not require the vaccination unless you are travelling from an area that has a history of yellow fever, given its proximity to Kenya and the chance that I might visit there too, it is a good idea to have the vaccine or they won't let you back in to Tanzania. 

I also just wanted to take a minute to give acknowledgement to all the people so far who have given me tips on what to bring and how to prepare a little- so here's to you- Nicholas, Olaf, Steph and Lauren- thank you so much!

I have now also made contact with some of the people I will be working with at Children's Dignity Forum and have learned that this week they are in the northern part of the country working on some of their programs there.  I hope that I will have an opportunity to see these programs in action as part of my job.

That's all for now.  I will be back later in the week to inform everyone of my experience with the Consulate and the health department.  So far both have been very professional but I must give credit to the Consulate staff who were exceptionally helpful when I called with questions.

Introduction

Dear Friends and Family,

Welcome to my blog. As many of you may have heard, I will be leaving in September for a three month trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for a volunteer placement as a lawyer with Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF), a non-profit organization that focuses on promotion and strengthening of children’s rights in Tanzania. The CDF’s mission is to put children’s rights on the Tanzanian public agenda by addressing the relationship between the culture and dynamics of the Tanzanian family and children’s rights and by creating a working forum to empower children, their families and society at large. 

I would love your support of my volunteering in Tanzania. I will be keeping a blog of my experience - http://quirinesadventure.blogspot.com/ -where I'll be regularly posting photos and snippets of my daily Tanzanian life (be forewarned, it’ll probably be mostly photos and short updates but I will try very hard to keep it interesting). If you have any contacts in Tanzania who you think I'd enjoy meeting, I'd love to receive an 'e-introduction'. And, if I may be so bold, I would also like to ask you for your financial support. There is a fixed placement fee  per volunteer which goes directly to the overseas organization and Challenges Worldwide. This fee ensures that it is cost neutral for overseas organizations to host and work with Challenges Worldwide volunteers as Challenges Worldwide believes that locally raised funds should be spent on local jobs and programs. In addition to this fee, I am paying for my own flights, accommodation and other living expenses while in Tanzania. If you would like to sponsor my work with CDF, please click on the "Donate" button at the top of this page (and yes, it's a cliché, but every little bit does count!). Many thanks in advance - I really appreciate this. Please email me if you have any questions or would like further information.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to sharing this exciting experience with you through my blog.

Quirine