Volunteering Experience in Tanzanya

Week 1

After almost three weeks at the Assalam Community Foundation, I am very happy with my experience here. The atmosphere is like a family and not too formal, which I really like. This is not my first time volunteering in Tanzania or visiting Zanzibar, so it was very easy for me to settle in.Speaking Swahili is a huge help. It has helped me earn the trust of the local workers and build great relationships with them, both as colleagues and friends. It’s nice when they jokingly call me 'half-white,' meaning that even though I am white, I am well integrated into the Tanzanian culture.

I am very satisfied with the activities so far. I enjoyed supporting the local staff during the school camps. I have also started learning 3D modeling and printing; I designed several objects to show the students how useful this technology can be. At the same time, I’m happy to use my photography and video skills for the foundation. I have already made a video about the workshops, and I am currently working on promotional videos for Assalam.

The school camps have just finished, and the school will open in a few days. I am ready to move on to the next phase and start helping with the classroom activities. My goal for the next few weeks is to stay productive, improve my technical skills even more, and give as much practical support as possible to the foundation's projects.

Week 2

Another week here at Assalam has passed. The Tanzanian Young Leaders who managed the school camps, and whom I had become friends with, have left now that the camps have ended. I really enjoyed supporting them in their various activities and spending time with the children.

This week, therefore, I focused on what I do best: editing the videos I filmed the previous week. I spent practically every day editing footage of different activities that will eventually be posted on Assalam's social media channels. I enjoy video editing very much, but I must admit it was a bit stressful being in front of the computer for so many hours every day. It exhausted me; in fact, almost every day after work, I went to the village near Assalam to relax a bit and practice speaking Swahili with the local people.

Living at Assalam is very nice, but living where you work every day can become a bit monotonous over time. There isn’t much to do in the surrounding area because it is a tourist zone full of resorts, and most of the local activities are mainly for tourists.

Next week the school will open, and I have already had the chance to meet some of the local teachers. Knowing that the school is opening gives me a sense of relief; alternating filming and editing with supporting school activities will prevent me from getting too tired by doing only one sedentary task. I hope to have the opportunity to assist the teachers with their duties, as I love teaching and have previously taught a class of Tanzanian students at a vocational training center.

Week 3

Time here at Assalam passes quickly, partly because there is no shortage of activities to do. This past week was dedicated to planning, together with the social media department team, the various contents that will be filmed and then published on Assalam's social pages. Particular attention was given to Ramadan. Together with the social media team, I looked for ideas to create content regarding Ramadan that would be useful for those who do not know what it is or how it works from beginning to end.

In the past few days, I had the chance to view the video footage for the creation of the promotional trailer for the Assalam Sufi band. During my first days here at Assalam, I had created a storyboard for this video to ensure professional filming. I would have liked to film the videos personally, but due to time and cost constraints, it wasn't possible, and that’s okay.

In the middle of the week, I had the opportunity to go to Stone Town to create photographic and videographic material to promote the activities of the 'Spice Route Museum,' a museum dedicated to the various spices that made Zanzibar famous. At the end of the week, however, I created a video promoting volunteering here at Assalam. The video is entirely dedicated to my role and my activities here; I must say it wasn't easy to create because I have very few videos of myself, as I am generally always behind the camera.

In my previous weekly blog, I wrote about my interest in school activities. Lately, I have only attended one lesson because I was quite busy with my filmmaking tasks. From what I understand, I unfortunately cannot intervene in teaching during regular lessons, but I have the opportunity to teach extracurricular activities after school, such as basketball, chess, and more.

Week 4

February has recently begun, and the activities here at Assalam have been quite demanding lately. The preparation for a festival concerning Sufism, its music, and its dances has kept all the staff and volunteers busy. It is the first time that Assalam has undertaken such an enterprise, inviting musicians from all over the world to give those who participated a truly unique and suggestive experience. My task during this preparation period was to create, together with the social media department team, video content for the promotion of the festival on social media. It was not easy as we had to create many different and eye-catching videos to attract the largest number of people to the festival. I was even the protagonist of some videos.

The festival was held on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and I must say it went beyond everyone's expectations. Many people participated, bringing joy and cultural diversity and truly appreciating all the work that went into organizing the festival. Although the festival was not of a similar scale, even in terms of attendance, to other festivals such as the much more famous "Sauti za Busara" held in Zanzibar, there was still a good general response. The goal of this first festival was to lay the foundations for future festivals that will take place here at Assalam Community Foundation. Now everyone knows what to improve to realize a larger-scale festival in the future. Working hard these days has been tiring, but at the same time, I am proud of what we all managed to create together in such a short time.

In addition to the festival, there has been a new development in this last period: I held my first photography lesson here at the Assalam international school. It was very nice to teach something I like. I saw many of the kids interested in what I was teaching, although I must admit that holding everyone's attention is very difficult. Not bad for a first start, but I still need to improve.

Week 5

We are now at the end of February, and the beginning of Ramadan has brought an air of change to Assalam. I must admit that I had never experienced firsthand what living through Ramadan truly means. I have always been aware of it, but my only knowledge was related to the fact that Muslims had to fast for many hours. I thought the fasting would be more apparent in terms of the fatigue shown by the workers here in Assalam, but that hasn't been the case.

Despite the numerous humanitarian aid activities during this period—such as distributing school stationery, fabrics, clothes, and food in the villages—the willpower to complete these tasks to the best of their ability has not faltered. Many have suggested I try fasting because it purifies the body; however, although I would like to try, I prefer to avoid it as my physical constitution does not allow it. I have always been very thin, and fasting for many hours over many days could lead to weight loss, which I honestly want to avoid. Fortunately, Assalam provides food for those who are not fasting.

The activities I am carrying out during this period involve, as always, creating social media content regarding Ramadan. The social media team and I are working hard to create content that can show a wider audience what Ramadan is and what it means to experience it firsthand. As for my photography lessons here in Assalam, they have been paused for a while because several events were held at the school that prevented me from teaching on the agreed days, but I will be teaching again soon.

Week 6

March has started, and the Ramadan activities are coming to an end. These days, I have been very busy distributing food during Iftar in a village near Assalam called Kanga Village. The name comes from the decorations made by volunteers on the walls and doors in the "Kanga" style, which is the typical fabric used by Tanzanian women. My main job is creating video and photo content for social media, but I also help prepare the Iftar in the village.

One of these days, I had to fast, not by choice, but because of specific circumstances and I must admit it was not easy. I did not follow the Ramadan fast perfectly because I drank some water, but it was still difficult for me not to eat for many hours. Now I better understand how everyone feels when I see them tired and without strength. After eating, however, I felt a pleasant sense of well-being and satisfaction that I had never felt before after a meal. These are clearly the famous effects of fasting. Many times during Ramadan, I had to explain to those who fast that for Christians, fasting is linked to the period of Lent, and it depends on the will of each individual. Often I felt strange and different for not fasting, but it is a normal feeling when living in a culture different from my own.

Finally, the whole social media department is happy because Assalam bought a drone to improve our content. I have never flown a drone before, so learning how to do it is a great opportunity for me.

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