This afternoon we finally got our intact suitcases, so now we have clean clothes for a week, but only one more day to wear it in. Almost makes us (or at least Helene) consider staying a bit longer….

Besides of our luck with the suitcases, we’ve had another couple of interesting meetings. We started the day out by meeting with the International Recue Committee (IRC). We learned how they’ve been operating in the country since 1993, while advocating on behalf of the most vulnerable groups of the refugee populations as well as assisting them in getting medical assistance and access to education amongst many other things. To put it shortly, they’re contributing tremendously to improving the lives of refugees here and we’ll be looking into opportunities on how we can cooperate at the local level in Tanzania.

Later in the afternoon, we were so lucky to get to speak with some of the finest researchers in the country and have their input on the current refugee situation. We met with the Centre for Studies of Forced Migration (CSFM) and discussed the current refugee sitation. They were – as the IRC – warm and welcoming and had some very good suggestions for us on how to progress from here. We’ll be staying in touch and looking into how we can jointly identify how many of the refugees in Tanzania that are looking for lost loved ones. From the meetings we’ve had so far, it’s been clear that nobody really has solid data on the scale of the problem here in Tanzania, as in most other parts of the world.

The sun has just set on the other side of the building, while we’ve been sitting here at the terrace of our guesthouse and finishing the reports of the day. It’s all dark now, and the mosquitos have started coming out. We’re just about to go downstairs to the restaurant and get some dinner while going over our experiences from today once again.

It’s incredible how the days have just been flying by. We’re both looking forward to the final meetings tomorrow with mixed feelings, and it’s hard to believe that we’ll already be going back Friday morning.

However, you can still look forward to one last and final update from us tomorrow afternoon. And of course we’ll be back shortly and let those of you who are interested know what will happen for here.

For now, it’s time to go get some grub …

Have a nice evening!

Mikkel and Helene