Saying Goodbye to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Africa For Now, and Some Other Ramblings

Hapana! (No) I don’t wanna go!🥲

I’ve had so much fun here in Dar es Salaam once again, that I am already planning a 3rd trip!

It’s been a while!

If you are new to my blog, or haven’t read my about me page, I grew up in Northern California, (Fremont) and had the pleasure of going to grade school, and high school with a lot of foreign students-from Mexico, to Saudia Arabia, Hawaii, Guam, Costa Rica, India, Puerto Rico, China, Germany, Vietnam, Philippines, and so much more. If you look at my high school yearbook, it is mostly filled with students from all around the world!

I believe that my traveling spirit stems from a combination of having the pleasure of studying and being friends with kids and their families from different countries, and my military grandfather, uncles, and cousins on my mother's side of the family.

Rewind

When I moved to Texas in my 20's, I was devastated to see that there was not as much diversity! I didn’t think that I would be able to live without all of the cultural diversity that I had gotten so used to in California.

But what I didn’t know was that the Universe had something better in store for me!

AFRICANS!

Entering the medical field in Houston, Texas I was surrounded around a lot of Africans from Nigeria. Though at first we bumped heads, I was attracted to their ambition, their work status, and discipline. But mostly, how they all helped, supported, and encouraged one another. Soon, as I showed interest, and asked questions, they were teaching me about their culture, and supporting and encouraging me as if I was their own. I began my own research about the continent of Africa, and grew even closer to my new co-workers and friends from Nigeria, Kenya, and Cameroon. Around this time, I was rejected by some of the African Americans that I was around including my own family who refused to believe (because of ignorance and brainwashing) that our ancestors come from the African continent. Some telling me that I act as if my new African friends were better-Noooo, I just feel more comfortable around Africans who have not lost their language and culture. I truly feel at home and have a deeper connection with them because they know who they are as the African race-and who they are, is who we are supposed to be, and where they are, is where we are originally supposed to be.

After spending so much time within the Nigerian community, I began to have a gut feeling that somehow I was Nigerian. After I took my DNA test in 2020, I cried tears of joy when it was revealed that I am 44% Nigerian-my maternal (my mother's mother) results. While waiting on my results, I had a Nigerian Uber driver tell me that he can almost guarantee that I am not Nigerian because I do not have Nigerian features-He says, No, you have Eritrean Ethiopian features. Although he was not rude, and I have heard this before by some of the Nigerians that I used to work with, I really felt like someone punched me in the stomach when he said that! (I began explaining to him that my features resemble my Spanish great great grandparents which make up my mother’s Paternal genes-my mother’s father….and that my grandmother, my mother’s mother, has more African features.)

FAST FORWARD⏩️To Tanzania!

I thought that Nigeria was going to be the first African country that I would be exploring, but for some reason, the Universe has lead me to Tanzania, which is in East Africa. My assumption of why I feel a strong connection here is that it’s in my DNA too-I tested 11% Bantu. Maybe I have more East African genes on my father’s side or perhaps on my mother’s father’s side? That’s my own assumption. All I know is that I now feel one with Tanzanians just as much as I do with Nigerians.

As I say baadaye (later in Swahili) for now, after being in Tanzania for one month, I already know that my life is about to undergo a drastic change.

Watch My Love Affair with Africa Intro Video:

My Website

I want to start promoting my Poshmark store over affiliate marketing. I love being an online merchant on Poshmark, and would like to promote items in my stores as well as fellow Poshmark sellers over affiliates. This only makes sense. I am a seller, and so I will still promote other brands, but primarily through Yazing.

Have you heard of Yazing?

Yazing is an affiliate marketers platform, somewhat similar to Rakuten. Like most marketing platforms, as an affiliate marketer, you get a certain percentage, or dollar amount for every buyer who uses your special link to make a purchase. The difference with Yazing is that I am more like a third party so therefore, there is no pressure to market, and no quota. This works out better for me because I already have my own store.

Yazing is legit, and has many top brands and stores that they help promote. When I use a Yazing link in my blog posts to promote, and you click on it, it will look like this. Press on the red reward button, and it will say that I may earn cash or rewards on your transactions. I earn cash or rewards for referring you to specific brands. Underneath the brand it will have one or several savings buttons for you to click on

If the item that I have referred you to is not specified below the brand, you can press on any shop now button and then search at the top of page for the item or hotel name that I have referred you to.

I also want to write more about different tribes, culture, and genealogy, relocating and moving abroad, work and travel, location independence, traveling tips, and hone in more on the continent of Africa and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

My Stores

I have added some trendy boutique items to my Poshmark store! As mentioned in previous Whats up with Tiffany Tene’ blog posts, I am also working with local East African Artists, so that I can start selling more African goods-this was another reason for my recent trip. I already have some Tanzanian items up for sale in my Poshmark store! Eventually, I will be more active on Etsy, and start selling directly on Pinterest and on my website. Yay! But I am so so late on doing this!

Where you can find me

I am an e-commerce seller and active in the Poshmark community, so you can find me on Poshmark. I also have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest. (Check out my Tanzanian pictures, videos, and story pins-Don’t forget to repin!).

If you have been trying to contact me, or have contacted me before in the past, please do so again at my new e-mail address which is tenetta4@gmail.com. You can also contact me here if you would like to be a guest writer, for collaborations, to connect with me in regards to your own African Journey, or for any questions that you may have.

Well, every year, I take a little summer break from my blog, so I will be back to blog writing shortly. I know, I’m behind on all of this, but will soon catch up!