Footprints in Tanzania

This is a quick message from Arusha in Tanzania. It would seem a fairly drastic approach to try and reduce one’s footprint by moving to Tanzania for a month (of course one needs to overlook the big footprint air travel has!) but I can confidently say, air travel aside, one’s footprint does reduce considerably.  Electricity and water are both in short supply and so eaked out sparingly, food is basic and generally very fresh.  While the main purpose for my being here is a volunteer to Women in Action Tanzania (WIA) it has shown me that making changes to behaviour, while at first challenging just become part of normal life and barely given a second thought, as I get up in the morning and warm some water for a sponge bath …. no showers here, it actually seems the natural thing to do and playing cards by candlelight is a nice change from watching TV at night.

I have no illusions as to the fact I will fall back into my old ways when back in Adelaide, but I hope the experience has taught me a few things, it has certainly illustrated that reducing a footprint is not always as hard as one thinks … little by little.

Cheers Debbie Saegenschnitter