Updated Arrival Guide and Twaweza Library

The Intern Arrival Guide has just been updated (Twaweza Guide International 290710) with some information about daladalas, a map of Dar es Salaam, and flight layovers. Thanks to Jacqui and Johannes for the feedback and help. The updated file is now available on the Google Group. Also, we can look forward to a Kenyan version of the Arrival Guide, thanks to Uri in the Nairobi office.

Also, a new website has been created for Twaweza Library: http://twawezalibrary.wordpress.com

It is a resource for literature (academic papers, books, reports, etc.) relevant to Twaweza's work, with summaries and links to the original documents. Hard copies are available in the office and copies of the literature on the server. Unfortunately, due to copyright issues on the literature, the website with the posted documents cannot be made public and is for internal Twaweza reference use only. An email has been sent to the listserv with the username and password, but you can email me if you still need access. If you would like to contribute to the library, a guide/template for posting to the website has been uploaded to the Google group also (Protocol for Uploading to Twaweza Library).

My Internship at Twaweza

Internship at Twaweza is a serious thing! There are procedures tofollow, interviews to be done, and prepare some writings beforeintern admission. I have been interning with Twaweza as InternAdministrator from November 2009 to June 2010. I have been working inadministration and finance departments. During my stay,I assisted theAdministrator and Accountant in the following: daily recording ofoffice utilities and reporting, updating assets register, and fillingvarious office documents. I also organized paid receipts to Twaweza'spartners, arranged for interns' work permits, managed preparations forstaff meetings, ordered publications for Twaweza library. I alsohelped to organise office repairs and maintenance, as well as preparingdifferent administrative reports. Twaweza is a good place for anyperson who wants to gain experience. Every intern is assignedspecific tasks to perform and report monthly on thework that he/she was performing.My personal experience was really nice! I met people from differentcultures and we were able to exchange cultural experiences, make visits to each other, cookcultural foods, exchange ideas, and practice some Swahili wordstogether etc. I had an opportunity to learn new things about otherpeoples’ cultures,hear about what other people do and think aboutsocial life, and to eat delicious foods cooked by my fellow interns.So, through Twaweza I was able to meet new friends who taught me a lotof things about their cultures and their personal experiences. I realy likethe way people live at Twaweza, working together as a team; also Ienjoyed learning sessions where we were able to learn new things likeprevailing media issues in Tanzania and how to make movies through window moviemaker. I also liked Monday staff meetings where we met and everyperson gave report of what s/he did the previous week and what they will bedoing in that week . Monday staff meeting gave me a clear picture of staffseriousness in their assigned duties.