Returning to Tanzania

As we’ve mentioned previously, I (Matt) am currently working on my masters’ dissertation. (Read more about what I’m doing, and why it’s important, here.) Although my title is still to be decided, the theme of the research is to explore what people doing literacy work think about working in a cluster project, i.e. working across multiple languages at one time. There are many potential positives and challenges for working with a number of different languages at one time. I am hoping that by documenting people’s experiences in the Mbeya-Iringa Cluster Project we will be able to make the most of these positives and minimize any potential challenges, both in this project and in future work around the world.

To enable me to write my paper I will be spending four weeks back in Tanzania speaking to people about their experiences. To try to get the most accurate picture of people’s different experiences I will be visiting as many people as possible in their home environments, hopefully allowing them the opportunity to show me, as well as just tell me about, their experiences! This will, of course, involve a fair amount of travelling, visiting the different language areas and offices across the cluster.

I thought it might be interesting for people to be able to see where my trip will take me and what I hope to be doing. To help visualize my trip I have created a map, with pictures and information showing my planned itinerary (expect changes to my actual activities!). I’ve also included a ‘Challenge(s) of the day’ for each day to give you an idea of something to remember during that day.

I hope it’s a helpful tool. If nothing else it’s hopefully a fun way for you to explore a part of the world without needing to leave your chair! To access it just click on the image below and then click through the list on the left-hand side of the page. As with any Google map you can change the view to show a map, terrain or satellite image, and zoom in and out to see more detail. Do leave a comment on this blog letting us know what you think, or any questions you have about what you see.

I will also try to keep our twitter account and this blog updated with my progress during the trip, although of course this will be internet and electricity permitting!

Finally, all this travelling will be expensive. We don’t receive a salary for the work we do with Wycliffe, instead our income is dependent on the gifts of family, friends and churches around the world. If you would like to support the work of Bible translation and literacy with a one-off gift toward the costs of this trip please contact us through the email address on the left. <----------