25 days

I went to our ning site where our team shares all our info, and there is a countdown counter for our departure. 25 days. I still have to detail a packing list, but I am confident that amongst the piles of stuff I have been tossing in the bedroom designated as the Tanzania staging area - that everything I need is in there. The trick is going to be to choose which bits to bring! I think I better get started on this now, so that when I realize I'm missing something critical, I have time to go out and buy it.

The only catch now, is getting ready for the business side of the trip. I've got the statement of work - and am trying to wrap my head around it all. It is exciting - but new.

I will be partnered with a nice guy from Bangalore named Sandip, as well as a team from the university, and together we are going to be working defining computer systems to be built for small and medium enterprises in Tanzania and beyond. Many of these businesses only use manual methods to run their business, so don't have easy access to the analytics to help them succeed and grow . Enabling these companies to grow is one of the keys to the growth of the country.

We had our first call this morning on the project with the Dean of the College at the University. I used a conference phone number, but the combination of the conference call, and connecting the Dean in Africa through a 3 way patch from Banglore, was too much, and the connection was very poor. I did learn though that we'll have the opportunity to work with local businesses in Dodoma as well as surrounding areas as we define the requirements for the system. We'll learn more during the week.

More to come as we count down to Africa!