The Last Two Contestants

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Last week, we hit the road to interview the last of the contestants from the first season of Ruka Juu.On Wednesday, we traveled to the town of Kibaha (Kee-baa-haa) where the winner of last season, Idrissa (Ee-dree-sah) works as a barber. His shop is small but effective. The shell of his shop is a cargo container. He has two chairs and he is doing quite well. He won five million Tanzanian Shillings (approx. $3,200 CAD)... not a lot of money to us, but a huge amount to the contestants. In addition to his barbershop, Idrissa emcees at various clubs in the area. Like so many people here, he has his hands in more than one business.

On Thursday, we jumped in the truck and headed south to the Rufiji (Roo-Fee-jee) Region. The town is called Ikwiriri (Eek-wee-rear-ree). Rufuji is a coastal region, so the temperatures were similar to Dar... hot & humid. It was a three hour drive but the scenery was beautiful. We did the interview with Miriam. She runs a restaurant in the village and she is quite the character. Lots of laughter when we were there.

We did the interview in 45 minutes and started back to Dar. It was a full day on the road, but so much nicer than being in the office.

After the interview was completed, we drove 5km to look at "the bridge" at crosses the Rufiji River. When we got there, our driver was so impressed with the bridge. In fact, he said it was the nicest bridge he has ever seen because it is so modern. Police also patrol this bridge to deter the locals from stealing the pipes along the railings.

With those two interviews complete, we are ready to start putting the first episode of the new season together.

I am back in the office this week, trying to get things organized before I go on vacation to Europe on August 3rd.

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Photos

Idrissa At The Barbershop
Idrissa is on the right in the grey shirt

The Rufiji River
From the bridge.

The Bridge
Basic but impressive to some.

Walking Home From School
I took this picture at 50 miles an hour on a bumpy road. Not great, I know but it shows you the school uniforms. If you look closely, I think some of the girls are shoeless.