Growing in another country

I came where the sun meets the golden plain,
Where baobabs whisper in sweet refrain.
Tanzania, wild and tender and free,
Wrapped its warm arms around a soul like me.

When my plane landed on Tanzanian soil for the first time on May 20, 2022, I had a feeling I couldn’t quite explain. It wasn’t exactly fear, nor pure excitement… It felt as though this wasn’t just a journey, it was a transformation. My first stop was in Tabora. Quiet, warm, humble… but also quite challenging.

It wasn’t the lack of electricity or water that tested me, it was hearing the voice of my own heart so loudly and clearly for the first time. I was a stranger. I didn’t know the language, I didn’t know the people. At times, I didn’t even know myself. In Tabora, I came face-to-face with silence, with solitude, with myself. At night, I would gaze at the stars and wonder: “Who am I? What am I doing here?”

They were hard days. But I grew. I was tired, but I never gave up on learning. Every new morning was a challenge. Every person I met was a teacher. Every mistake was a stepping stone to who I was becoming. Tanzania gave me not just professional growth, but spiritual lessons. It taught me patience. It taught me how to listen to the quiet. And above all, it taught me how to love.

In January 2024, I moved to Dar es Salaam. It felt like stepping into another country. After the dusty roads of Tabora, the bustling streets, lively markets, and ocean-touched skies of Dar es Salaam felt like a dream. This city showed me another side of Tanzania. Not just the geography changed, I changed too.

The drums of the dusk, the scent of the rain,
The stars above singing her silent name,
She smiled like sunrise over Kilimanjaro,
A flame in my heart, soft and sorrowed.

I met people…
Oh, what beautiful people I met. Genuine, warm-hearted, helpful, people whose smiles glowed from their eyes. Tanzania’s greatest treasure is its people. I will never forget the ones who greeted me on the streets, asked about my well-being even when they didn’t know me, shared stories, and embraced mine. Our cultures might be different, but our hearts spoke the same language: Love.

We danced where the moon kissed Zanzibar's tide,
With secrets the ocean could never hide.
Her laugh, like a bird in a morning tree,
Awoke a world that once slept in me.

Speaking of love…
In my writings, I always spoke about love. About passion. About its power to transform, to heal, even to save. Because I truly believe nothing is complete without love. A loveless person is an unfinished story. An incomplete melody. A prayer without an ending. I recommend love. Because love is the strongest medicine that heals us. A heart that’s closed to love is a soul that is always missing something. So I wrote, I spoke, I told others: Love. Love yourself, love others, love life. Because I believe salvation lies in something that passes through love.

But time, like a wind, has a road to bend,
And love, even true, may not always end
With hands still clasped or lips that remain,
Yet the memory lingers, gentle as rain.

Tanzania helped me grow.
And now, it’s time to return. My home is calling me back. This is a farewell letter. But not an ordinary one. Because I’m not just leaving Tanzania with suitcases. I’m leaving with half my heart still here. Maybe when I walk down the streets of Masaki, maybe when I get lost in the crowd of Mwenge, or maybe as the sun sets in Slipway, my eyes will quietly fill with tears. Because this country was never just a temporary address, it became a home.

Will I be the same person when I return?
No… I won’t. The Burak who boarded the plane that day is not the same man writing these words now. I’m someone else entirely. Stronger. Softer. More understanding. Simpler. And most importantly: more full of love. Because this country taught me how to love again. I understood how dry, incomplete, and dull life is without love. Tanzania gave me my emotions back.

What did I gain in these years?
Myself.
What did I lose?
My arrogance, my impatience, my unnecessary pride, my restlessness…
And everything I gained is far more valuable than what I lost.

Now I am going back. But something in me will remain missing. I may wake up to car horns instead of Swahili greetings. I may not find strangers smiling back at me on the street. But I know this: the love I carry from Tanzania will always protect me. Somewhere deep in my soul, there will always be those warm smiles, those kind eyes, that earthy scent, and that blue ocean.

I can never go back to who I used to be.
And that’s a beautiful thing.
Because true transformation begins the moment you realise you’ve changed.
And I have changed.

At the end of this letter, I want to say this:
If you ever feel lost, if you can’t hear the rhythm of your heart, if nothing excites you anymore… knock on love’s door. Love, without fear, without shame, without masks. Because love is the strongest feeling that makes us who we are. And sometimes, in a foreign land, among strangers, you can be reborn through a single smile.

Oh Tanzania, land of rhythm and light,
You gave me her soul for a single night.
And though I now walk a lonelier shore,
Her memory lives here, forevermore.

And if I may share one final truth,
Amidst this journey of growth, learning, and rediscovery, I was also gifted with a love so gentle, so rare, it quietly shaped the way I saw the world. In a place far from everything I once called home, I found someone who made even the ordinary moments shimmer. Someone who reminded me that love doesn’t need grand declarations, it lives in small glances, in shared silences, in the feeling of peace when words are no longer necessary.

I won’t name her. I don’t need to. Because real love doesn’t beg to be seen, it just is. It exists within me, just like Tanzania now does. And just as this country will forever be etched into my soul, so will that quiet, unspoken love that made me feel seen, understood, and whole.

I was reborn in Tanzania.
And now, I say goodbye, leaving half of my heart behind.

Asante sana, Tanzania and Tanzanite People
Utaishi moyoni mwangu daima.

Burak Anaturk

Burak Anaturk is a professional civil engineer. He focuses on sharing lessons from his life experiences, exploring diverse perspectives, and discussing personal development topics.
Email:[email protected]