Script and Service: Field notes from a travelling pharmacist on global aid, work, and adventures

We chose the only day of the week to continue our safari where there was no direct transport to the next destination. So at 6am we were on a bus to Bwanga hoping to intercept a cross-country bus. Bwanga is a dusty settlement in the middle of nowhere with a cluster of dilapidated buildings that seem to exist purely due to the presence of the road junction. Skirting the children selling honey in gin bottles, I handed over more money for the second bus ticket of the day. No-one knew for sure when the buses from Mwanza would pass by so I was surprised when after only 90 minutes of villager-watching the Adveture Connection (sic) bus bounced over a hill into view. The inside of the bus was covered in a film of orange dust and there were many empty seats which was unexpected and foreboding. The few passengers on-board looked to be in a state of mild shock. Fifty metres out of Bwanga the paved road ended. For 11 more hours we bounced along a dusty red road on a bone-jarring 555km ride p...

After 10 months in Tanzania and having rarely left the south-eastern corner it was time for a trip, or as the Tanzanian's would say, a safari , to visit some far off places. A 9 hour bus trip from Nyangao to Dar Es Salaam started the adventure which after a bad egg the day before turned into a challenge in itself. Next stop Mwanza on the southern shore of Lake Victoria in the north-west of Tanzania.                      For £6 Salum a piki-piki driver, took me on a 2-hour tour of the city. Because I was clinging to Salum's back wearing an over-sized helmet with restricted vision whilst carrying a rucksack there was no opportunity for photos so you will have to take my word for it that Mwanza seemed like a nice place. It is Tanzania's second-largest metropolis, one of Africa's fastest-growing cities and the country's busiest inland port, handling most of Tanzania's trade with Uganda. That said, 70-80% of its' inhabit...