I have 44 days left in Africa. I don’t know if I should feel happy or sad. I can’t believe that my time here is coming to an end. I have had the best 11 months here and time has gone by so fast. Of course there were times when I wished some things from home, but honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better year.

What am I leaving behind? The people whom I have met over the year are probably the only thing which I will miss. There is no way of describing how different people are here. I have travelled a lot around the world and met many wonderful people. But there is no way to compare them to these. The kindness and attitude which they have to others, no matter who they are, what they look like or where they come from is something that is so hard to understand to someone who comes from a culture where the education, the background and the way you look means a everything.

Another thing which I hope that I have learned is how to value the family. And this doesn’t mean your parents and siblings. African extended family might include everyone you know. It doesn’t stop to people you live with. This family always comes first.

There is no hurry in Africa. This phrase describes a lot of African life. I think I have adopted it quite well by now. When ever I have a meeting with someone I know the time it is just an estimate. It took me a long time not to be angry or even disappointed if the other person comes few hours late. Nowadays even I go late everywhere. I might face some problems when I return to Finland.

Having a houseboy has been a learning experience to me. I know myself that I can never have a servant in my house. I don’t know how to be a boss and still eat at the same table with them. Our houseboy is older than me. He is supposed to do the laundry, cook and clean the house for us. At first it felt nice not to have to do anything. Nowadays I do my laundry due to two reasons. It is a nice way of relaxing plus it is a guarantee that at least the remaining bras will stay in shape.

The other things which we share are cooking and cleaning. I cook once or twice a week to give a rest day for our houseboy, and to have a change in our daily menu. I am in charge of the toilet cleaning also, since I have not succeeded to teach him how to clean an European toilet, and living with two guys makes me do it more often that they feel it is necessary.

The weather in Mwanza has been great. I will return to Finland during the darkest and coldest period. I will have a cultural shock for sure. It is now a raining season in Tanzania. This means that it can rain for days or we can have daily showers. In any case it is a nice change for the normal hot weather.

In general I have enjoyed the weather here, especially here in Mwanza where I live. The days are hot but nights the temperature comes down to give you a good night sleep. Totally opposite from the coastal weather where the nights and days are humid and there is no way to sleep at all without air-conditioning which is a rare sight there.

Being in the sunny Africa would make you think that I am totally tanned and can’t burn my skin anymore. It might be funny but I burn my nose constantly still. I am tanned or at least tanner than I was when I left Finland. But the disadvantage of being a white person is that the skin is not meant for the sun. It will still get burn every now and then. The biggest difference is the attitude toward the sun. In Finland I use to go out always when ever the sun was out. Sitting in the shadow was against all my principals. Here it is different. When ever I see a shadow I go there. I have adopted even the African walking style, always nearly in the ditch under the trees. Even a second in the shadow will be worth of changing the side on the street.

Things that I won’t miss

The mosquitoes. I have had two malarias here. The first was over in two days but the second took more time. First medicine didn’t work so they gave injections. After that didn’t cure it I had to go for another medicine. It took three weeks to cure it but I got it out of the system.

Another thing with mosquitoes is the sleeping under the net. It might seem a small thing for you but tucking your net under the mattress night after night when you are tired and wish just to crash to bed makes you miss your own bed where you can just jump when ever you feel like it.

Not to give you a wrong idea about the mosquitoes. There aren’t really that many of them. I think we have more mosquitoes in Finland than here. The problem is me getting the reaction from them. It doesn’t matter if it is a mosquito, tsetse fly, spider or any other insect; I seem to get reactions which nobody else gets. And I can’t leave them alone. I scratch them until my skin bleeds and that is the end of my modelling career.

I have to admit that I won’t miss the local standing style toilets. They are usually cleaner and quite convenient but still when ever there is a sitting toilet it makes happy.

Food is something I probably will not miss at all. The traditional dishes – all five of them -  are tasteless. Having a meal is very rarely an enjoyment. So those days when I decide to cook, it might be more expensive, but at least I can say that I liked what I ate. Honestly our houseboy is a good cook. But eating the same fish day after day will make you hate the fish eventually.

What have I learned?

I think of my self quite clean person. I like to keep my room clean and I appreciate if people around me do the same. In our house here we have a plain concrete floor. The windows are just nets keeping the mosquitoes out. We keep our front door wide open which invites lot of crawling things to visit us daily. Due to these reasons I have learned that the house can never be as clean as one would hope. I have stopped worrying about it.

My attitude towards every little thing that moves has changed a lot. We have lot of geckoes in the house. They are ok; they just leave lot of mess behind. Spiders and other crawling greazers don’t make me jump anymore. Even the cockroach can be removed by a foot sweep.

My patience has increased a lot. I have learned to realise that complaining doesn’t take you anywhere. Of course I sill complain but hopefully less. Waiting for your food for an hour is normal in the restaurant, and if you didn’t get what you ordered you can ask them to change it, but it might not be possible or it will take twice the time.

Being treated wrongly or seeing some unfairness around is everyday thing. What I have learned, which I am not proud of, is that you can’t do anything about it. If teachers use a stick, or parents hit their kids, or men harass women, it is just better to leave the scene and forget it. You can’t do anything about it so better to leave.

There is a lot more that I have learned during my visit. I am glad that I came. Will I ever come back to Africa? For sure I will. When, that is the only question!

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