Saying Goodbye

So I haven’t had a ton of entries about my regular work schedule and activities. But I had to get something in here about how thankful I have been over the past six months for an awesome team of colleagues to work with for 40 or so hours per week. I can most assuredly state that I was never bored or twiddling my thumbs, since there was always quite a bit going on. In the midst of the hectic pace, I looked forward each day to getting to spend time with some of the sharpest minds on agriculture development and food security (and nutrition!) in Tanzania. They were very generous and sent me off with some great momentos from Tanzania and many fun memories. These are a few pictures of some of my excellent coworkers to whom I have had to say goodbye (kwaheri), but they also have warmly said you are most welcome again (karibu tena). And with that I close out this time in Tanzania. It has been a good, full, enjoyable time and I am so grateful for the memories and the experiences I have had in this beautiful country.

And the Rainy Season Begins...

Given that I’m working on agricultural issues, I know it’s good to be grateful and not complain when the rains come, since they are much needed for the farmers. It’s just not always what you’d like to include on a weekend to the beach in Zanzibar. Thankfully, though, the downpours didn’t last too long each day and made for some pretty dramatic shots. All four of these pictures were taken within a 30 minute stretch of time when we were walking out on the coast during low tide. I’ll just say we got a bit wet, trying to run away from the encroaching high tide coming in and the thunderstorm blowing towards the ocean.

Smile U R in Zanzibar

On my last weekend in Tanzania, my parents managed to come up from South Africa to see my life here and enjoy a bit of time together before I leave the continent. We decided to spend the weekend in Zanzibar, where at the airport we were greeted by this shrubbery message – “Smile UR in Zanzibar”, which Mom insisted I needed to capture for posterity (there you go, Mom!). We smiled as we went to our hotel for the weekend, overlooking the sea, with towering palm trees lining the beach. We smiled as we ate the delicious buffet dinner and watched the evening entertainment – a team of 6 acrobats that did incredible stunts and flips (the grown up version of what I saw boys doing on the beach back in February. We smiled as we drank delicious tropical delights like passion fruit juice. We smiled as we swam in the very warm water. We smiled as we lounged and read through part of Cutting for Stone (a book about a hospital in Ethiopia, which brought back great memories – I highly recommend). We smiled as we walked through the narrow alleyways of historic Stone Town. Given all these fantastic times, it’s only appropriate that the SWAHILI PHRASE OF THE DAY is tulitabasamu, which means we smiled.

The Epic Journey - Part 3

We sat in Saidi's childhood home (pictured here) and talked with his family for awhile, and tried probably 7 different phone numbers to get in touch with him. Finally we get to talk to him and confirm that he is in fact in Morogoro. This city is in central Tanzania, and we were in Kwamsisi in northern Tanzania, but fortunately my driver is from Morogoro and figured we could make the trip if we left immediately. After lunch and 3 or so more hours, we arrived on the outskirts of Morogoro. We call to his sister'snumber when we're in his neighborhood, and hear he's on the way to meet us. Indeed he is, he's running down the road, so fast that his flipflop falls off. I really wish I would have had the camera out for the moment, for it was a truly a priceless image. He makes it to the car, we do introductions andhe looks at the picture and confirms, yep, it's him. So this is him at his extended family's house in Morogoro city. And here you go - Saidi Mnemba - the picture and the person reunited, and a photo of the two of us to prove that yes, I made the whole journey. It was 4:30 by this point and another few hours to drive back to Dar, but totally worth the journey. Not exactly the ending I was expecting, but an epic journey nonetheless. I’m still shaking my head, amazed that with just a picture and a name of a village, we reunited this mystery person with the photo.

The Epic Journey - Part 2

So the teacher arrives, recognizes herself in the picture (“I’m second from the right looking through the window”) and provides a very important clue to the mystery. The children did indeed love to dance. And she even seemed to remember when they danced for these visitors. But one point is very important. The girls wore the kanga around their hips. The boys wore them draped over their shoulder. Suddenly we learn that we aren't to be searching for a young woman my age, but instead a young man. Luckily the teacher has a great memory and quickly identifies, That's Saidi. He lives in Morogoro now.

I had brought two kangas to give to the young woman I was to meet. Upon learning that it's a young man, I decided on an alternate course of action. One of the kangas would go to this wise teacher. I gave her a kanga with a picture of Barack Obama (which says in Swahili, Congratulations Barack Obama!) and a map of Africa, for her to be able to hang on the classroom wall.

The teacher then took us to the house (mud brick with thatch roof) where Saidi's family lives. Saidi's mother died when he was in elementary school and his father remarried, and was then caredfor by a step mother. She was home and recognized Saidi. The grandmother came in and looked at the picture and recognized him. It was actually the grandmother's kanga that Saidi was wearing, so I decided to gift the other kanga to her.

The final group photo has the village chairman, stepmother, grandmother, me, and the teacher.

The Epic Journey - Part 1

At 5:30 in the morning on Saturday, I set out with my friend Iris to go meet the driver for the day on the outskirts of town, and by 6am, we are on our way. By a little after 10, we are in Korogwe, the nearest town to Kwamsisi. We are met by Lydia from the District Commissioner’s office who joins our car and directs us down winding dirt roads to Kwamsisi.

As soon as we arrive in Kwamsisi, we ask the first villagers we see if they know the mystery person, who I tell them should be a young woman around my age by now. They don't recognize who it is, so send us to the village chairman. The village chairman (in green), and another villager(both called Juma) examine the picture, and recognize that it is indeed the village kindergarten, but don't recognize the person. They recommend we ask the teacher (who is out planting in her field, sothe driver goes to find her).

Meanwhile, Juma takes me to the kindergarten and shows me that this building is indeed the same one in the photograph. I walk inside the door, and recognize it, the window, even the net ball post and tree in the background. And I find there in the classroom - incredibly - the drum that the kids had used in the dance some 20 years ago.

The Epic Journey - A Prologue

Once upon a time, way back in the 1960s and 70s, Tanzania’s first president Julius Nyerere - a teacher (mwalimu) by profession, so also known as Mwalimu Nyerere - implemented a number of innovative reforms in some pilot villages using his educational theories.

Fast forward to 1990, when Lene Buchert came to Tanzania to do doctoral research on the role of education in the development of Tanzania. Lene returned to one of these pilot villages (Kwamsisi) as one of her case studies. She was accompanied by Herb Kells who wrote of the visit:

“The children treated me as an honored guest. They fetched their kangas (brightly patterned fabric pieces) and instruments – sticks and bells and a small drum. They danced for me, mostly in a line headed by a boy who moved slowly. A lovely girl who was playing the drum announced that the boy was not a good leader. She gave him the drum and leaped to lead the dance line. As she came toward the door, smiling broadly I took a picture which still stands today as one of the finest I have ever taken. It became the cover photo on Lene’s highly regarded book on Tanzanian education and a constant part of my dreams and fond memories. I often wonder if that wonderful young woman is alive and still leading today. In my dreams I sometimes search for her.”

Fast forward to 2010, when my friend Herb hears that I’m about to go to Tanzania and excitedly shares the tales of his time in Tanzania, including this episode captured by the picture gracing the cover of the book. He mentioned that it would be great if I could find this young woman and find out what’s happened in the mean time.

[Slight interruption at this point to let you know that I absolutely love challenges, and especially when they come in the form of a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt. So this potential assignment sounds like the coolest thing ever for me to do, my personal version of searching out the grown-up version of the iconic National Geographic Afghan woman.]

Fast-forward again to the end of my time at Tanzania. I’ve thought about embarking on the adventure for quite some time, but only have 3 weekends left. So on Saturday I head down to the central public library to try to find a copy of the book to record a few more pertinent details (I only had a photocopy of the cover, not the book itself with me). At the library I found the card for the book in the card catalog (amazing, those things still exist!). Unfortunately, the book was located in a part of the library only open during regular work days, and there’s no way I can swing that and need to get something planned out so I can try to do something by the following weekend. I grab a phone directory and scribble down the PO Boxes for the secondary school for girls, the teacher’s training college, and district commissioner’s office in Korogwe, the closest town to the village. By Thursday I heard from one person who was willing to help, so I decided to go for it that weekend.

Urban Gardeners

Immediately down the street from my work, there are several small gardens carved out of a couple of acres lining the street. About 15 people tend these plots that have been an inspiration as I’m working on food security and agriculture issues here in Tanzania. These urban gardeners in the midst of the bustle of the city water, weed, fertilize (with chicken manure) and tend their mchicha (amaranthus), matembele (sweet potato leaves), and maboga (pumpkin leaves), with regular rotations to ensure a consistent harvest and steady source of income, as they sell these highly nutritious greens along the major thoroughfare. I’ve been avidly watching this group of farmers (mostly women), and picking up a few ideas for when I return to my house in the States and start my spring garden.

A Ride Down Kimweri

I wanted to provide a few shots of what my ride to work looks like and the normal scenes along the main street. I took these out of the back of a bajaji, which is a kind of motorcycle/rickshaw/mini-taxi.

1 – The women entrepreneurs who sell food along the side of the street. Depending on the time of day, you can purchase chapatti, maandazi donuts, rice flour donuts, cassava, rice, beans, and a whole host of other culinary delights.

2 – Building materials – you can purchase eucalyptus wood (featured here) for framing your house or creating scaffolding. Also available are woven palm fronds, sand, stones, cement blocks, etc. If you need a fix-it person (fundi), you can also find specialists along the road [fundi umeme = electrician, fundi bomba = plumber, fundi bisikeli = bicycle repairman, fundi simu = cell phone repair]

3 – This photo captures another side-of-the-street business – furniture making. Comfy armchairs, wicker furniture, whatever you need. On the left side is the primary waste management method – make a pile of trash and then burn it. Actually that’s the secondary method – the first is to repurpose “trash”. For instance, cement bags from a construction site make wonderful planters for small plants at the street side nursery.

4 – This is one building that has intrigued me in its story of destruction. The first couple of months I was here it was getting set up as a solar power store. Then one day, it’s this pile of rubble. Never got the full story of why (building permit issues?). But there’s a great spray painted message in block letters – DO THE RIGHT THING.

So those are a few of the sights along the road that was my usual route to work.

Reading in Bondeni

I got to join my friend Iris for what she’s recently incorporated into her weekly routine: going down to Bondeni (the valley) to read to the kids (SWAHILI PHRASE OF THE DAY: kusomea watoto = to read to kids). A couple of the kids who live at the orphanage center are from this area, which I just learned is extremely prone to flooding during the rainy season, exacerbated by the fact that some of the houses are within the tidal flood plain.

Having libraries, bookstores, and my own personal stash of books is something that I generally take for granted. Having visited the Central Library in Dar es Salaam the weekend before (stay tuned for more on that story), I can attest to the fact that the reading materials in the country are limited on the national scale, not to mention in poor neighborhoods such as this.

The afternoon of reading the Swahili-English bilingual version of “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” was extremely fulfilling, as kids around the circle took turns putting their reading skills to the test. The initial group of ten kids kept growing as the story went on, since word got around that this tutorial session (“tuishen” in Swahili) was actually tuition free. After reading the classic tale together, the older kids eagerly chose books to read on their own for the remainder of the time, while the younger ones practiced writing out their alphabet.

I am so proud of my friend Iris for making this idea into a reality, and for her steadfast belief in the potential of these kids who blossom with encouragement and someone who believes in them.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, when Christians all over the world begin the observance of Lent, a period of repentance in preparation for Easter. There's something so beautiful about joining in this service that is so similar all over the world, kneeling to be marked with ashes in the sign of the cross, a symbol of mourning. Although in different languages, people all over the world are reminded "from dust you came, and to dust you will return" "kwa maana u mavumbi wewe, nawe mavumbi utarudi".
The reminder of the fragile nature of life has been far too present in the lives of my colleagues these past two days - our secretary lost her mother yesterday, and a coworker lost his wife today. My prayers are with their families.

A Lesson in Electricity

Yesterday I switched on the TV and it happened to be on the channel for the Tanzanian national channel, TBC. And there I found the most unusual music video. There were 4 women dressed in formal dresses singing and swaying to music about how to conserve electricity (by switching off lights, rationing A/C use, etc). The backdrops for this music video were a lake with a hydro-electric dam, a power plant, and a power station (see pictures on left), not exactly your typical music video sets.

It was very interesting to watch this, as power and electricity (umeme, the SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY), have very much been the hot topics of the day. There's been huge controversy about the government electrical company succumbing to paying Dowans 94 billion Tanzanian shillings. The political outcry has been huge, and it's been an interesting case to follow (google it for the latest). Meanwhile, the electrical situation in the country seems to get worse by the day. The rains haven't been great, and rainy season hasn't fully started yet, meaning that the hydroelectric dams aren't supplying much. The government has been rationing electricity, so that sometimes it's on during the day, sometimes there's some at night (still haven't been able to really figure out the schedule). But it seems like these days, about half the time there is no electricity.

Since I work and live in places that have generators, I haven't felt the burden that most in the country are facing. I can sit here and write this email, spend all day in an airconditioned office, with the lights and computer running all the time. Meanwhile, many industries in Tanzania are suffering greatly and operating at well below capacity, which often has implications being able to pay the staff.

And in the midst of all of this spotty provision of electricity, the price per unit of electricity has gone up, so people are actually paying more to get less electricity. It's ridiculous.

So somehow this little music video by the government's electric company seems more than a bit ironic.

Interestingly, I had spoken earlier in the day with a colleague who had actually worked for a government entity here and had developed plans a few years ago to efficiently improve the power situation in the country, and had divided the country into areas with high potential for hydro-power, wind power, solar power, or a combination of two or more. He had detailed quick wins like purchasing turbines for certain facilities or doing simple rehabilitations. But somehow all of this thorough analysis remained in a nice little report that didn't get used. I could hear the exasperation in his voice as he talked about the current energy crisis and how much of this could have been averted.

But instead, the country is in uproar about the cost and scarcity of electricity, and those who turn on their TVs to watch the national channel get a public service announcement/music video telling them to conserve energy (psst - one way to do so is to turn off your TV).