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Published: August 24th 2009
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Sunday, March 29, 2009 -
After traveling almost 24 hours from Houston via Amsterdam, Lennard, Dan and I arrived in Dar es Salaam the night of March 28th. Each of us had a good night's sleep and awoke ready for the adventure that lay before us.
The Southern Sun Hotel was our home base. It proved to be ideal—comfortable rooms, savory meals and a wonderful staff eager to help us. As we ate breakfast selected from a wide variety of food including fresh fruits like mangos and pineapples, plus eggs made to order and assorted pastries, Bill came in from his morning run. He had just reached Tanzania from Los Angeles shortly beforehand, yet had energy to burn. We all discussed plans for the day and prepared to meet our Tanzanian colleagues.
They arrived several hours later. It was good seeing our friend Hudson Nkotagu from last year's IYPE conference who was now a member of our team, along with the other men from the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism (MNRT) Technical Committee. Some of them—James Lugaganya, John Kaaya, Geofrey Meena and Martin Mrema—also became part of our task force and were with us throughout our stay
in the country.
We ex-pats set the stage, explaining benefits that would result: an enhanced interest in education, science, culture and business, while also increasing tourism. We discussed additional matters, then asked the other people for their thoughts. Starting slowly, everyone gradually got into the spirit of the brainstorming session and valuable ideas began to flow more rapidly.
Afterwards we went into the lobby. I had my little Asus notebook computer—loaded with Linux, a tiny mouse and a small 320 GB portable hard drive—that my husband Howard bought me. If you think I know what I'm talking about, you're mistaken; I'm familiar with some of the terms but am only semi-literate when it comes to technology. All I know is how to turn on the computer, do standard programs, and turn it off.
The computer was a huge hit with everyone, though. They gathered around, wanted see what it could do and asked where they could get one. The interest gradually died down. I pulled out a simple Swahili vocabulary I had printed at home and tried to use some of the words. On the plane to Africa, Lennard helped me with basic rules. When there are
two consonants together (i.e. “mb” or “ny”), you “slide” through the first and pronounce the second. He also told me the sound of vowels.
That night James took up the cause and had me practice with him. Other than
jambo (hello),
habari gani (how are you),
nzuri (fine),
kwa heri (goodbye) and the most important,
asante (thank you), I wanted to learn how to say “May I take your picture?” James wrote the words “
Naomba kupiga picha” in my notebook, separating the syllables then had me pronounce it until it was right.
Dan needed to pick up some items, so he went with Lennard when the others left. My friend Majuro Songo stopped by the hotel to welcome me. A hydrogeologist and consultant in water, geophysics, environment and minerals, Majuro was very helpful during the African launch of IYPE last year. He traveled with us on the four-day excursion before the conference began. He teaches at the University and is very eager to help the people of Bugwema, his home area near Lake Victoria.
We talked about activities of the past year and discussed his intelligent, thorough proposal for projects to alleviate poverty
in three of the villages in Bugwema. Access to clean drinking water is a particular problem. In some areas villagers use the same sources as their livestock, which adversely affects their health Children are especially vulnerable.
I was impressed that so many people I met who come from small villages, have received superb educations—often with scholarships to the finest universities abroad—, return to Tanzania and want to improve the lives of the citizens of their regions. Many have compelling stories and are persistent in their efforts to complete the projects. Majura, Hudson and Lennard personify those selfless individuals.
Later I converted some currency and was surprised to receive about 1300 Tanzanian Shillings for each American dollar. I ate a delicious fish dinner at the hotel restaurant, then went to catch up on sleep. There wouldn't be much time for rest with the full schedule that was planned.
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Len Chaikind
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Quick Note
I just happened onto this web site as I was googling "Tanzania." Since I know the photographer and writer, Ellen Goldberg, I was very interested in reading through the site. Bottom Line - I learned a great deal just from looking at the photos and reading the script and am looking forward to reading the other related pieces to it. Thanks Ellen, Len Chaikind