Things that make me go hmmm

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While there are things that remind me of the past, those memories only loosely compare to the present. Things have changed a huge amount in 15 years, I know I know, not terribly surprising given how much things have changed in Canada in 15 years. It’s just striking to see the way things have stretched out between those at the top and those at the bottom. In Mbeya there are a lot of people with very little, but there are also at least two computer stores that I have seen. If a cheap desktop computer in Canada costs about $1000, that would make it at least a million shillings here. Now at Enterprise Works wages run from 100 000 tsh (part time) to 500 000 for the most senior (other than the country director), and they are getting better pay than most people. So the question is, who is buying these computers? It’s just something that has been kicking around in my head. Some people are clearly doing much better than most, which is quite similar to Canada, I just think the range is a little more extreme here than it is back home.

Another thing that has really made me think lately, and is also related to wages, is how much I am making in comparison to my co-workers. At home, I know a number of recent grads (cough Kim cough) who are making as much in twenty minutes as I get in a day, $10. So it sounds like I am making very little. Now if I compare my “living allowance” to what people get as a wages here, things are a bit different. In a 30 day month I get about 270 000 shillings. But most people I work with get paid between 200 000 and 300 000, and most of them are closer to 250 000. This puts me completely at the high end of the pay scale, and I have very few practical skills and almost no relevant experience. I think there are only three people who actually get paid more than me (other than the director who gets paid in USD). Now if you combine what I get paid per day, with what it cost to fly me here, put me up in a Toronto for three weeks, and cover my insurance and medical costs. I cost a shit load more than anyone in the office, except the country director. Now the real question is, is it possible for me to do enough while I’m here, to make that investment worthwhile?

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Comments

[Todd]

Ride the Prairie Bull
I think you can make the investment worthwhile, you have many other skills such as poetry writing, campus corn flake running and bow hunting.

[Andy Hertel]

Worth it
To me Eli... what you are doing well worth the investment to you personally as well as to the people who you will touch for years after you leave Tanzania. Just my 2 cents.... (or 75,000 shillings)