Beth goes to Africa

New Blog

2009-05-31T21:24:00.003-04:00

Rumours

2009-05-21T07:52:00.006-04:00

Now that I have returned back to North Carolina, I have learned that there is some question as to whether we actually did any work when we were in Tanzania, or if we were out drinking and carousing and playing all the time. While it is absolutely true that we tried to maximize our time on the weekends to explore the country, and each evening we had dinner in town or in our hotel courtyard - during the days, we did work. Some would say we even worked hard! So let me share some things about work and play!

Work

I didn't share alot about our projects or our daily work because I didn't think it was necessarily interesting to all of you and I didn't feel right sharing details due to privacy concerns. While that will always be important, I can share more than I have to date. (some might be repetitive - but it should give some context).

We were working with the University of Dodoma, in Dodoma, Tanzania - the capital. UDOM opened in 2007 and intends to grow rapidly to have 40,000 students in just a few more years. Providing university level education is one of the key elements to growth for Tanzania and specifically for alleviating poverty. UDOM is also intended to be the Information and Computing Technology (ICT) Center of Excellence for Tanzania - and will provide ICT services outside the university.

Our teams were there to begin to enable UDOM to achieve their rapid growth and achieve their vision. We had four projects. Our projects were focused on cloud computing, online education, systems to support university functions, and systems to be deployed outside the university.

Most of the work we were doing was new for each of us. Our teams were new for each of us. We had to understand the projects, determine how we were going to approach the projects, build our project plan, and execute and provide final deliverables that could stand on their own for the continuation of the projects. For my teams, this was a new area for all of us - so we relied on our collective knowledge, our files/presentations/consulting guides we researched before we left - hoping they would help, the help of the masters students we were working with, and creativity. We did alot of interviewing - learning in detail the current state of their processes (which were very comprehensive and completely manual), documenting these processes, validating them with the people we interviewed, and defining requirements for the systems to be built in the next steps. We also tried to transfer our skills to the team to enable continued work and repeatable processes. We also had a prototype of one of the systems built. I include this photo as evidence of our working!

Drinking and Carousing

While it is true that there were many references to beer or wine in this blog - I will now add some context. Dinner - whether it was at a local place or at the hotel, took a long time. Our gathering place was in the courtyard of the hotel. Gathering 10 people, deciding what the plan is, and then getting everyone moving was no small feat. While our efficiency improved over time - there remained alot of opportunity to socialize in the courtyard prior to dinner. Many times, we had dinner in the courtyard. Ordering, waiting, and eating meals normally took around 2 hours. We do not know what logistical challenges caused this to be true no matter how simple the request - but it was simply how it was. It was terrific time to socialize and get to know one another - catch up on our projects, and make plans for the following weekend. You should note on the table that there is little drink - looks like a bottle of water, a bottle of beer, and some ketchup and chili sauce!. Certainly later, you might find a different configuration -...maybe! We all had to get up and work the next day, and it was all social and tame. As all the beer and wine was different from what we might normally see - Ndovu, Serengeti, Kiliminjaro, Safari for beer, and Dompo, and Dodoma Presidential for wine - it made for a little local commentary in the blog (little did I know that you might all interpret it as a nonstop drinkfest!).

We had a terrific team - our time together was great - and I will miss it very much. I enjoyed our working together - in person - something we rarely get to do anymore in this virtual world - and I enjoyed the time we had outside of work.

Greeting Shane

2009-05-19T12:05:00.002-04:00

enuf said!

Welcome Back!

2009-05-18T21:51:00.004-04:00

Apparently nobody notified the Internal Revenue Service that I was to be out of the country for a month and they shouldn't mail me urgent correspondence that required immediate responses. As a wonderful welcome home, I am being audited for the first time on my 2007 taxes - I don't think its a full audit - but they do want alot of information. Apparently somebody - who will not be named - did not put some sales of assets on their tax return - and the IRS feels that they should get their part of these sales. So - rather than focusing on other mail, laundry, and getting ready to get back to work - I spent a good chunk of the day on the phone with a few companies trying to expedite the delivery of financial information so that I could complete a full response to the IRS by Friday. Now - I don't know about you - but I do not think that is at all a kind welcome home. I think I should be able to expect a warmer welcome from this fine government - but that was not to be.

Another welcome home gift - that I'm hoping to avoid - is the full implantation of airplane germs - into my otherwise healthy self. I am all about banning anyone with the most minor sniffle from airplanes - until they can figure out how to properly filter the air (anyone vote for a bag over the head of anyone who sniffles - sealed at the neck). Guy across the aisle from me sniffled, coughed and sneezed his way from Amsterdam to Houston with not a kleenex tissue in sight or any form of covering of the mouth. Now - guess who has some sniffles. I'm going to choke down some airborne - and convince myself that it might work.

Other than that - I truly am very glad to be home. Shane gave me a hero's welcome - and one day I hope to recover from the paw marks on my shoulders! It was a beautiful day, we had a really nice walk with Jan and Rusty - we marked our territory on the paths in the park (well, he did, I just offered moral support) - sniffed a few dog bottoms (him only - again) - and started to make my way back into this real world.

By the way - I do my own taxes...go figure.

Houston, we have a problem

2009-05-18T03:58:00.004-04:00

Flight from Amsterdam left about an hour late. No worries - I had almost a 3 hour layover....2 hours....then 1 1/2 hours. Apparently there is no planning function in Houston, as what seemed like 6 planes arrived from international destinations at the same time. A football field full of people, and a short staffed immigration service, together with an inefficient queuing system, led to extremely long waits. Given that the only question I was asked at immigration was whether the tattoo on my hand was henna or not? (it is henna, for those that are interested), it was unclear why the lines moved so slowly. Of course..time was ticking away - 30 minutes before my flight was to leave for Raleigh and luggage retrieval and customs inspections awaited. By the time I got to the luggage carousel, both of my bags had arrived - phew! I then stood in a fairly long, but quick line through customs. I had a completed customs form with a random list of purchases I made and values I struggled to recall - so I only needed to get to the front of the line - and then give my luggage back to the staff to get on the Raleigh plane. After clearing customs (20 minutes til takeoff), I got to the transfer luggage carousel, where a bevy of luggage agents chatted amongst themselves - oblivious to frantic passengers all running late for their flights. Finally we got their attention - half went back to discussing their saturday nights and their manicures - a few scattered, and one guy took his time rechecking our luggage. Once stashed, we bolted for the tram in the airport (the longest 90 seconds wait ever) - and arrived at terminal B looking for gate 84M - naturally the most distant gate. Running through the airport - getting to the counter I was waived over - they were expecting me. They checked my boarding pass and I flew to the gate..ran to the tarmac and boarded the plane - 'sit anywhere, we took standby passengers'. I collapsed in my seat. Moments later 2 others did the same, and the doors shut and we flew to Raleigh. Thankfully I was able to sleep the entire way. Upon arriving in Raleigh - early if you can believe it - I came down the escalator - and looked across the nearly empty airport - to see the warm welcome of Jan - a wonderful site indeed. It is a wonderful indulgence to get picked up at the airport by a close friend - and I was thrilled to see her. We stared at the nearly empty baggage carousel hopeful the bags made it. One bag came through - so obviously they both should make it - they were both checked at the exact same time at the exact same place....but noooooooooooooo....no second bag to be seen. No worries - baggage agent confirmed it was on the next flight and it would be delivered within 6 hours of getting in if I sign the door tag and leave it outside the door. So sign I did, and hung it on my door. Waking at 8 am, I opened the front door expectantly - and...voila - on the front door remained the signed tag - no bag. Sigh!

Called Continental baggage to see where my bag was - knowing that every moment the bag wasn't in my possession increased the opportunity for my belongings to be in someone elses possession for good. They claimed the delivery service did not deliver late at night - was this the same service that explicity told me that it would probably come around 3 or 4 am?...yes it was.
Not understanding why I would be unhappy that I was given two completely different stories, and not getting anywhere in progressing the speed of delivery - i hung up exhausted from frustration. Ultimately the bag came at around 11 am - and the rest of the day was - laundry!

Dar - Zanzibar - Dar - Amsterdam

2009-05-17T02:33:00.002-04:00

I spent my last day in Africa in Zanzibar. It was a very full day. Up at 4:30 am pack and stash luggage, taxi at 5:30 am, ferry at 7, zanzibar around 9:30. I wasn't sure I was going to go - but I really wanted to spend more time with at least a subset of the group. We had a really nice time walking around Zanzibar. We had coffee/beer overlooking the sea, followed by a walk around stonetown, followed by lunch in Mercury's - on the sea..and more walks around Stonetown. It wasn't alot of time, as we had to catch a 4 pm ferry to get back to the hotel to get luggage and catch the flight. The goodbyes were very difficult - very difficult.

I made it to my flight comfortably on time, and arrived in Amsterdam. So far so good

Drumming, chips, post office and travels

2009-05-15T10:57:00.003-04:00

As promised, here you see Denise and I playing the drums with the Gogo tribe. You may notice that she is getting extra special attention on how to play the drums - but apparently I am a natural. This night was a blast. I'm not sure what we expected, but it wasn't to have a huge village come out and put on a special performance of their traditional dance. This is a village of about 3000 people. Lots of children. Each person or family builds their own home. I'm guessing they don't get too many visitors, and certainly not typically a group of 10 people from 7 different countries. I know for certain they don't see too many digital cameras. The kids just loved having their picture taken and wanted to see the picture on the camera. All we had to do was turn our camera around so they could see the picture and we'd be swarmed by kids..all looking for themselves in the pictures. To quell a riot, we had to put our cameras away, as the kids were going crazy with excitement. In the end we donated some shillings to the village kids, which are going to be matched by the university. They're going to make sure the donations go directly to the children. We have had several sources tell us that if you want your donations to go where you want your donations to go - you really have to reach out and do it directly so that you can truly see it having a direct impact. There are alot of different directions donations can go that don't always reach their intended destinations, so we definitely learned that being involved directly is the best way to go.

We had our last day at UDOM yesterday. We finished our final presentations on Wednesday, and tied up all our deliverables on Thursday. We were given some UDOM polo shirts to take home with us. We also had wanted t-shirts - for workouts, etc. - but were unable to find them. As we were leaving the building this girl on the staircase was wearing a cool UDOM t-shirt. We commented on it, and she noticed. We started talking with them, and by the time we were done, they agreed to go back to their hostel and buy the shirts and bring them to our hotel for us to buy from them. Of course, there was an expected markup - but that was fair given the service - she had to return to the hostel (the campus is huge), and then shuttle into town. She texted Denise, and we met her outside for the exchange. We could only get a few, as we couldn't commit for 10 people - but I'm glad to have it. Mostly I was glad to have yet another happenstance experience where something we wanted appeared when least expected. Honestly I thought the girl was going to sell Denise the shirt off her back right on the staircase. I an't recall if I blogged about it, but a few weeks ago, she ended up buying earrings right out of a waitresses ears. I swear the girl was about to take her t-shirt off - but we stopped her (fear that we might have to reciprocate ;-) ) - and said we wanted to know where to buy them.

We went out to a local Dodoma restaurant last night for one last experience of a place where our choices would be chicken and chips, meat and chips, egg and chips, or piza and chips (we're not exactly sure what the last one is). I risked egg and chips again - and here you have it. As this was an upscale restaurant (it had a floor to go with the plastic table and chairs), I got some garnish of papaya, cucumber, and tomato with the egg and chips. A risky last meal in Dodoma - but I have survived.

I will spare you most of the tale of trying to mail a box of literature back from Dodoma post office. I went to the post office - "can I send this box to America" - "yes". Ok, "what do I have to do to send this box to America" (pointing at address on box). - "you can't send the box to america today" - "why not"....."customs person is not here today" (in the capital city main post office) "come back tomorrow". "when tomorrow", I ask. "sometime between 9 and 11". (our bus leaves at 9)..."when between 9 and 11"...."sometime", he says. "Can you be specific" -..."sure - sometime between 9 and 11".....

and so I trudged back to the hotel, box in hand..ready to toss it onto the train tracks. In the morning I gave the box to our host at UDOM when he came to see us off, and I may or may not see it again.

We took the bus to Dar - stopped in Morogoro at the Hilux hotel for lunch. Got here around 4:30. Long ride - euchre games, book reading and napping I am in our last hotel for the trip. I will go out now to meet my friends and enjoy our last night together.

Last Day in Dodoma

2009-05-14T04:09:00.005-04:00

The internet connection at the hotel (formerly known as the 'fast' connection) - is not working. Perhaps it will be working in 2 or 3 days - perhaps. Perhaps it will be working for an hour, and then never works again - perhaps. Perhaps they don't realize the impact to our blogging!

In any case, we head to Dar Es Salaam tomorrow morning, and will get there in the afternoon (hopefully!). Ideally their internet is connected and I can share more about our last days and nights here.

Yesterday we did our final presentation to the university. There were about 30 people in the audience, and they asked some good questions. I think the team did a great job. I am proud to be working with this group. Today we are finishing up all the final deliverables, wiping the white board, sharing small gifts, cleaning up our work rooms, meeting with the students, and getting a few things ready to ship - and we do hope we see them again.

Its really weird closing down the project. So many people helped us and supported us here. The TA's and students were terrific. I'm going to miss the 61 steps everyday up to our room - and all of our visitors. I am, however, excited to be heading home too!

Will write more and hopefully put some pics up tomorrow night.

Day of Contrasts - Thank you Innocent

2009-05-12T15:02:00.005-04:00

Today's blog is a teaser. Its been a big day. Lots done. Saw a great Cloud Computing seminar. Room was packed with students. Dan and Wolfgang did a terrific job working with the TAs and creating a cohesive presentation that the students were really interested. The room was packed and they were all really interested. We were completely exhausted, but had been invited to Innocent's village to see the home he is building. He arranged a big welcome by the entire village, together with a traditional tribal dance done by the women of the village. I've just posted a few photos of that, together with a photo of Wolfgang presenting (sorry Dan - but Wolfgang brings me my audience in Europe, so I have to feature him!). Note the packed room with as many behind the camera as in front of the camera. As you can see, the day was full of contrasts.

I will share more with more pictures later (as long as the internet service holds up). For now I will say that Innocent is the best host, and we were treated like visiting celebrities. The kids absolutely were fascinated by us - perhaps not as much by us, as by our cameras - and they all love to be in photos. You should be able to see in the first picture..as we were trying to leave, the kids were all over our car wanting to say 'hello' and 'thank you' - they were also excited to be saying the few english words they knew.

More later - together with pictures of the Gogo dance, featuring ME playing the drums!

3 days left

2009-05-12T05:46:00.000-04:00

Still no internet at the hotel. We did our best version of enforcers, but the hotspot guy was insistent it was a problem at the satellite – and that all of Dodoma was not able to get internet. This was, of course, very interesting, because the internet café’s in the area seem to have internet. No negotiating power on our end – if we say we won’t pay, we’ll just get our id’s cut off – so we wait. Such is Tanzania. I followed up again today, and he seemed shocked that we would be expecting an update…sigh!

We are on the final countdown to coming home or going off on different excursions. Our big presentation is Wednesday, and we are tying up our final deliverable document. It is all heads down work for all of us, interspersed with bits of music sharing and chatting.

Monday evening most of us stayed at the hotel. The food is good with a lot of choice, and it is very relaxing to sit outside in the pleasant breeze in the courtyard. The team is really great and there is a lot of laughing. We were talking about the service in the hotel. It is a very good hotel, and clearly a gathering place for the area. There is a lot of staff here, and each seems to have a very specific job function. There is one for the mosquito net, one for the bug spray, one for the water, one to clean the bathroom, one for the soap, one for the bedroom, one to take laundry, etc. I have a particularly enthusiastic soap person as you can see. Others, however, are not so lucky. Their soap gets taken away daily unless they hide it, and then they only get one bar. The people who service my room are going to give me more soap, whether I like it or not. Perhaps I’ll find a place to donate it, along with a few books I don’t want to carry back.

Each day gets us closer to our trip home. I do miss my friends and family – and of course Shane and Rusty!

Last Sunday in Dodoma

2009-05-11T03:56:00.006-04:00

You’re getting a few blogs today because the internet was down at the hotel. Electricity is a bit dodgy in Tanzania, and when the power goes out the internet provider needs to refresh his equipment. Unfortunately the guy wasn’t around this weekend, so that’s it – no internet. Honestly, we believe it requires simple restarting – but nobody will let us into the room to do it. We have considered letting ourselves in – but don’t think that’s a very good idea from a legal standpoint. So – hopefully I will be able to find a place to put this in (assume that I have if you are reading this!).

Sunday – the day we selected to relax – turned out to be a really nice day. Late breakfast and some room organizing for the big packup this week, and a run into town. A smaller group of us headed into town to visit the shops and see if we could find some fabric..some went to buy, other went to just get out. This short errand turned into a few hours of wandering Dodoma, visiting stalls and shops, and walking through their markets. I have to say this is quite different from the Raleigh Farmers Market. Certainly they had potatoes and other vegetables, but there are a few items I’ve never seen – large mounts of tiny dried fish piled high, everywhere, medium dried fish just looking at you when you walked by – just daring us to buy some and try it. The lanes were narrow and this part of the market was covered and dark. It reminded me of some of the markets in Istanbul. After going through the lanes of the markets, we headed down a few more streets with more shops – we’re definitely used to shopping around town now, so it didn’t seem unusual that the streets and shops were so dramatically different. Some of the guys were looking for things for their kids (and for themselves of course). Sean managed to get his hands on a Tanzania soccer team jersey. Sandip got this guy to custom make a t-shirt – he’d just have to come back in a few hours. He did do that – and when he got back, not only was the shop closed, but it was completely gone – packed up and carted away. We may never see this t-shirt, but he will continue on the journey to see if we can at least find the store again. We finally took a break after a few hours in the hot sun, having a cool drink at the Cana Lodge. We relaxed there for a while, and then headed back to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon – relaxing and watching some soccer – Manchester City vs. Manchester United, followed by Chelsea vs. Arsenal. We then had dinner at and played some euchre. Innocent came by to say hi, so we invited him into the game. Denise taught him how to play and paired him with Liz – who was also learning. The game was fun – and of course I cannot recall who won because it wasn’t me. I’m not sure if Innocent had any idea what he was doing – but I do know he had a great time. He tried to escape once but we were able to hold him hostage til the end of the game.

Our very last weekend here is over. Lots of work to do this week, and a repacking. Wow..this just flew by.

A full Saturday

2009-05-11T02:32:00.009-04:00

Shortly after the wire-melting, smoke filled car incident, we made our way to the beginning of our walk. It was a gorgeous, but rather hot day. We had plenty of water, and Chipe and his friend to watch out for us on the walk. The trail was a variety of paths cut between farmers plots together with paths laid out by dried up riverbeds. We were very pleased with the quality of the trails, and joked that perhaps a gift shop would be up ahead. Throughout the farms were various homes of the farmers. As is typical in Tanzania, the homes were made of bricks made of baked red clay, and mudded in, with corrugated tin roofs, normally held down with large rocks. In this area, it seemed that each of the farms had a few houses built with sort of a courtyard in the middle, so there was a place to do things other than farm. We saw kids playing, various livestock – including chickens, roosters, lambs and pigs, women outside preparing some vegetables, or people just talking. We occasionally saw someone in the fields working the land. Of course, all looked at our international group with curiosity.

We continued around the paths and through the riverbeds for a while, occasionally backtracking due to a path that closed in. One member off the group began to feel poorly. The sun was hot, and we had not had lunch, so it was not surprising if you had not had enough water. She was not going to be able to carry on with the walk, and one of the driver/guides agreed to stay with her and walk her back to the car when she was ready. I offered to stay with her, as he did not speak English, and our Swahili wasn’t really up to much of any use. Plus, I had supplies in my pack. We were fortunate that a farmer was at his house and brought chairs out for us to sit. He was looking after his 11 month old son, and we believe his wife was working in the fields. My friend was really not well, and we had given her water and a protein bar and tylenol, and fortunately I had some super duper expanding towels that were compressed to about the size of a dice. We put water on it and it became a nice cool compress for her to use to cool her down. Thanks Jan for the last minute going away gift of the towels..it really helped. We stayed with the farmer for quite a while, trying to ask questions in Swahili, but really unable to interpret the answers. As the dark clouds moved in, and some time had passed we started our path back to the road. It was unclear whether our guide had any idea how to get back, but there were enough people in the area working their fields, that every so often he called out something to them, and they exchanged words and laughed. Either they were helping us find the way, or were laughing at us. Either way, we eventually made it down.

When the others returned, we headed back to the hotel, with no further incidents. A cold drink and a shower, and we were good to go. Our hosts from the university then came by to meet up with us and let us know they had a last minute meeting called in Dar, and were not going to be with us this week as we wrapped up, though might be able to meet us in Dar just before we headed out to our various destinations.

We had been invited to dinner also that night to the home of a wonderful couple who owned the mini-mart down the road. After meeting with our university colleagues, we walked over to their home, where Fatima prepared a meal for the 10 of us, that was just fantastic. A homemade Indian meal and a terrific family made the evening great. We watched some of the cricket match, and learned more about how cricket works, and how it is nothing like baseball at all. Fatima and Manez have two terrific pre-teen daughters who were also excited to have guests – and an audience for their dance routine. These girls were some of the brightest and confident kids I’ve seen, and so friendly and welcoming to 10 strangers – or new friends! Mostly, I think they were glad to have an audience. The dance was great and entertaining. We also got to see their 8 dogs. Yesterday was also dog day! We had not seen more than 1 or 2 dogs the whole time we were here. At the farm earlier the farmer had a dog, and now our hosts had 8 dogs. I am really missing Shane and Rusty now.

We headed back to the hotel following very full day and had a competitive game of euchre with the help of some flashlights.

The night was capped off nicely by what sounded like a freight train running through my room at 1:30 am, but turned out to be a generator and a team of exterminators trying to remove the bee infestation in the tree overlooking the courtyard.

I think we can make it

2009-05-09T17:59:00.004-04:00

We had thought we booked a van and driver for the day at 11 am today. . . but apparently we had not been specific enough and nothing had been set up. We moved to our plan B and called Chipe – the guy who we met at the hotel and we were going to call for a van on Sunday. Chipe was able to help us, though he would arrange two cars. Outstanding – we were going to be set to go when they got there. Where were were going was another story. Apparently we were going to go around 12km, and stop at the side of the road and find a trail leading to a large hill/mountain and wander up the trail. Sean had mapped this all out, with the help of google maps, and though there remained questions about whether there were really trails, we were going to go for it.

Chipe and his pal arrived shortly after to meet up with us, a serious negotiation took place on price – as we were booking 2 cars and 2 drivers to wait for us til we got done with the hike. They agreed to hike with us and look after us, and we came to what we believe was a fair price for all. Finally, we hit the road. We got a few kilometers up the road and I started smelling burning rubber. I assumed it was just something in the air from local burning, but it was getting much more intense. Finally, smoke started billowing in through the front vents of the car and the car started filling up with smoke. Our driver pulled over and I was about to dive out of the car to get some air, and noted that the interior door handle was completely broken off. I quickly opened the window, reached out to open the door and jumped out of the car. When he opened the hood, I was expecting to see flames, but what we saw was melted wires, and melted plastic. Fairly serious melting. He disconnected the battery, and peeled the melted terminal covers back, and then ..of course..we all just stared under the hood. It didn't look like we were going to make it to the village. In this picture you can see the heavy duty diagnostics going on. After some knowing nods of doom, our driver called the other car, and they returned to share in our puzzled staring under the hood. We all agreed that melting wires could not be good. We agreed that car 1 would drop the first half off, and then come back for our car, and they would deal with the car after that. However..we had not counted on Wolfgangs power of car repair. As we were wandering around a dried river bed, watching numerous women carry all manner of items on their head - with no hands.if you can believe it....they yelled out to us to come back to the car. Apparently Wolfgangs glare at the wires cause the car to fix itself, and we all hopped in to continue to meet up with the others. We assume something must have stopped working, but we never did learn what that was. We proceeded to start our hike through fields being farmed by many different families - maize, grapes, tomatoes, gourds were things we could identify. The sun was very hot, but it was a beautiful day. More about the hike and a wonderful dinner later, as it is quite late here now.

Good things come to those who wait

2009-05-08T15:34:00.002-04:00

Today we worked at the hotel…It was pleasant weather with a good internet connection. We were able to find some power outlets outside around the courtyard, so we set up outside and had a quiet and pleasant day to really focus on our work without any other meetings involved. We still hadn’t had our weekend plans sorted out, yet somehow we knew something would work out. Things just seem to work out once you become Tanzanian like we are.

So as the work day was coming to a close, Matthias, waiter/concierge extraordinaire, stopped by our table to say hi. We asked him his thoughts on things to do on the weekend, and how we could arrange transport. Voila! Of course, the guy across the room could organize a van and driver for 10 or so people, no problem. We can just go to this village we learned of, and hike around, and the driver will wait til we’re ready. So – that was Saturday – all set. We went back to our work and….Voila! – Chipe called Lucia back. She called him on Tuesday, and we had given up on that path, so the call was a surprise. Chipe apparently organizes outings. As she was talking he says..’ok..i see you’..and as she is saying ‘hello, hello, can you hear me’, he is standing over our table saying ‘it is me’. We ended up chatting with him for a bit, and there you go – a few other options and cars and drivers for Sunday. To be fair, I don’t think we know where we’re going or what we’re doing..but we are getting into those vans and going – as it is the last weekend in Tanzania for most of us.

The learning (and I know my bosses will be thrilled to hear this) is that planning is over-rated – if you just hang out outside and chat with folks, everything works out.

So who knows what the weekend will bring. All we know is we hop in a van at 11..and go wherever they take us..and we know it will be great - ..hakuna matata…

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2009-05-07T15:25:00.003-04:00

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Student Leaders today

2009-05-07T14:41:00.007-04:00

We had a really good meeting this afternoon with the President, Vice President and Secretary of Students at the University today. Wow - what smart people. The purpose of the meeting was to tell them about IBM, why we were there, and to talk in general about careers in computing. They were all students in the IT part of the university - so they were very interested in listening and learning and had some great questions. All of us that are from IBM have very different jobs and different backgrounds - and we represent 7 different countries - so we were really able to share all of the different types of things you can do in the industry. It was fun talking about the company to people that were aware of us, but didn't know much about us. We got to talk about the IBM Corporate Service Corps (the program that we're in), about social responsibility of the company, all the industries and businesses we serve. Most of this discussion was in response to their questions - so they were very interested and engaged. They also asked our points of view on the potential and timing for Tanzania to be able to embrace and leverage computing. It was clear that they were all thinking about what they're going to do for a career when they graduate from UDOM. It was a very rich conversation that I truly enjoyed - and I think we all did.

Some of you may not think this would be fun...but it was actually really interesting. First - the student leaders were very smart, and asked some thoughtful and great questions ..and it is always nice to be around what are clearly going to always be leaders in whatever they do. Second, I got to hear from my own international team of colleagues about what they do when they're not in Africa - and everyone put it in a really interesting context. Then the questions were interesting so the discussion was interesting.

There are so many contrasts in Tanzania. This is a cash economy. There are visa signs - but they are on ATMs and largely for those cash machines only. Even hotels are paid for in cash. Most shopping seems to occur in roadside stands. Schools rarely have computers for children to see or use. Processes are largely manual, yet there are also many sophisticated processes in place and very smart people together with big investments in IT. Everything is a contrast, and everyday is learning. I really have met so many interesting people here. I know the blog is largely focusing on the elements around our work days for the most part, the work has been very interesting, and meeting so many interesting people has been great, and a wonderful way to keep my eyes and mind wide open. I am very lucky to have this experience.

Wine & Chips

2009-05-06T23:50:00.006-04:00

There always continues to be new places to try in Dodoma, so tonight we went to a new place for dinner. The atmosphere was magnificent. The weather was nice and mild, we had all had busy days, and it was nice to take a walk into town and try something new. A few of the guys had already checked out this place, so we knew that it would be a good place. This place had doors, and a floor, a menu, and cutlery...what more could you want!

We ordered 2 bottles of wine..and they sent a guy out in a car to buy it. When we asked for wine, he offered 'Dompo' wine. We said..'Dodoma Presidential'..they nodded. The Dodoma Presidential is the good wine from the winery we visited, so we know we'd be happy with it. However - this turned out to be so not the case. Dompo..is Dompo...and if you read the bottle carefully....it is 18% alcohol - more of a port wine. In the first picture, Sean has already had a taste..Roku's is yet to come..so he is still smiling. When we got the first bottle, we were unable to pour it into the glass, as the cork had been pushed into the bottle. Denise..being anxious to dig in...brought out a pen to push the cork out of the neck of the bottle so we could pour....Well - the cork was jammed tighter than expected..so once the necessary force was applied....Mount Dompo erupted - pouring wine all over the table.

Later, for the second bottle (we could not send back, as it was already bought for us by the guy in the car that went to the store and got it)..we asked if we could open the bottle..so the cork could be removed rather than pushed into the bottle and stuck in the neck. When they didn't bring us the bottle, Dan went in after it..and brought out an assortment of items offered up as 'the corkscrew'. There was a screwdriver, a screw, a small pair of scissors, and a few other small items. Here you see Denise trying her hand with the screwdriver, screw method. Unable to get the leverage to lift the cork from the bottle, Dan took the scissors inside..and tried to use it to lift out the cork. Unfortunately he applied enough pressure and successfully broke the scissors. Ultimately we were left with the restaurant (which will not be named) owner continuing the effort by pushing the cork back into the bottle! By the way, we did end up getting used to the wine - at least enough to drink it.

The place was absolutely great...atmosphere..personal service..screwdrivers (the real thing), and a varied menu. Note the chips leading the menu items (that's fries for many of you). Also see that in addition to the option to have fries with everything, you could also have Supaghetin, and further down on the menu were some great Indian choices.

We also sat outside, which was very pleasant, and caught the attention of many kids walking by who were fascinated by the strange group of people that were obviously not from this part of the world. I know it is going to be a disappointment when I get home not to be looked at like a visiting celebrity. Perhaps some of you could indulge me, to ease the transition back ;-).

Secret restaurants, and dreams of beans

2009-05-05T16:27:00.019-04:00

Its nearly midnight and a band of europeans are singing some version of 'happy birthday' just outside my door. Crowds of people have checked in to our hotel and they are clearly excited to be here. Right now they're on their third or fourth round of singing. Turns out louvred doors don't have the super power of noise reduction one might hope.

Our group found a great new restaurant tonight. I am sworn to secrecy and cannot share its name - or anything about the restaurant. Suffice it to say that the food was round and italian and overpriced and worth it! I swear that is all I can share. Seriously it was a great evening - a fun dinner. Despite the challenging days, it was great to get out with the group and laugh and have a good time.

Since not alot was happening today other than work I'll share a few fave pics.

Here you see the local Tanzanian brews. Rumor has it that it is the root of all evil and should be followed by liberal dosing of imodium and potentially cipro. Fortunately this is only true for some people - but its a very serious issue for those that have suffered.

Note the alphabetical alignment of the bottles.

Speaking of brews - one wonders where the fresh Tanzanian coffee beans are. I can only suspect that they are primarily available for consumption at the plantations (none of which are around here), or for export. Apparently I will have to go to Costco when I get home if I want Tanzanian coffee..for now its Africafe. This is instant coffee (as noted on the label), the consistency of nestle's quik - with a questionable amount of caffeine content.

For now I'm dreaming of Larry's Beans - fresh beans I can grind on demand with full strength caffeine. Oh the irony of having to go back to North Carolina for Tanzanian coffee beans.

(I don't really know if Larry's gets beans from Tanzania - but their website claims they go all over the world to find the best beans..so that would likely include Tanzania).

Anyhoo.....the connection is extremely slow tonight, and I've been struggling with this for far too long tonight. More adventures to come

Dedicated to Todd

2009-05-04T15:29:00.005-04:00

My younger brother Todd is clearly feeling unloved by his big sister...so this blog entry is written in his honor. I know this is what he would like, primarily because he has mentioned this to me several times. If you would like a special dedication, you will have to be at least as persistent.

Its going to be a challenge to beat the popular appeal of a Tanzanian Safari, but as I am here to work, I cannot be on safaris all the time. So today's blog is about what we did today.

We started the day with a brief visit to the Mackay House building in Dodoma, trying to meet up with the elusive Brian from Australia. Success! We eventually found Brian in his office at the diocesan house and had a short visit to talk about the work we were doing, and the work he has been doing in Tanzania. He's been in this country for most of the past 25 years, and we were hoping to learn more from his knowledge of the area. He shared his background on agricultural hands-on training and his current development work, and we shared our work as part of the corporate service corps. We also took the opportunity to ask about getting flights from Dodoma to various points in the country - possibly Arusha, Moshi, or Zanzibar. The location we may travel to next weekend will be largely determined by availability and cost of flights. Right now its just about information gathering. Like many things here, information is not available online, and if it were, the access would be very slow until they can get the fiber optic cable linked and working in the country. Its really all about phone calls and hope.

We got into the office and spent the day tying up all the details of the past two weeks of information gathering. It is essential for this project to ensure we have well documented deliverables, and a path forward for the university to work, and for potential future team projects. We are shaping all we've learned and finalizing our recommendations. We are documenting and process mapping, and data modeling, and prototype building, and presentation and report building...We are all aimed at moving the ball forward..so there is alot of work to do as time ticks down. We capped the day off with a nice dinner outside. A smidge of a threat of rain never came to be, and we continue our run of no real rain to speak of. The evenings are pretty wonderful here all the time.

More progress tomorrow. I'll post more pics as we get them.

Lions, and zebra's and giraffes - oh my

2009-05-03T15:42:00.008-04:00

We have just returned from our weekend in Mikumi National Park. What a great time! Friday was International Workers Day in Tanzania. This is a public holiday, similar to Labor Day - so the offices were closed. We took the opportunity - with alot of help from our ever-gracious hosts - to arrange a weekend in Morogoro and in Mikumi National Park to go on a safari. Mikumi is the fourth largest park in Tanzania, though is home to most of the animals found in the larger parks - and it is much less crowded. For us, it was also the most realistic place to go to - as there is a good road to get there from our home in Dodoma. In Tanzania, for travel, it is important to ask about the quality of the roads. Many major routes do not have paved roads, and once you have traveled a long distance on an unpaved road, you do not forget to ask that question! and the answer may determine the choices you make.

On Friday, we spent the morning in Dodoma just taking advantage of a little bit of time. I went to the markets with a small group, and visited several local shops selling a range of merchandise made in Africa, and largely in Tanzania (or so they said!). We tried our hands at negotiating deals like the locals, and minimizing the uplift placed on most goods for those that are obviously not local (the tourist price). The weather was again, beautiful, so we enjoyed being out, and went to a cafe for a nice cold drink and a rest. One of our shop owners escorted us over to the cafe and sat down and had a drink with us. We also believe he sent out a message near and far telling all of the peddlers that we were there - as we were swarmed upon by people selling all sorts of things - from electronics, to paintings and jewelry. This similar swarming had happened the day before when we stopped in a minimarket - and as we left - they all had arrived. I'm fairly certain they're all in this together and are always on the ready to surround local tourists.

Later that day we left for Morogoro - our overnight stay before heading to Mikumi. We were a bit skeptical about the hotel, as so many others were called and did not have rooms - but it turned out to be a great place with the only quirk being a shower curtain that enclosed both the shower pan and the toilet. Not too bad for the price and it felt safe! We had a good dinner, a few rounds of euchre and headed to bed for a 6 am start in the morning.

We hit the road and headed to Mikumi in the morning - arriving on time and expecting two safari vehicles. That was not to be. Safari vehicle driver #2 got a better deal and did not show up. Rather than finding a backup solution before we arrived, the park waited for us, and only then worked on finding another vehicle. Fortunately they were able to do so, and we headed out for a day of viewing.

The park is 1250 square miles and is connected to an even larger area called the Selous Game Reserve. The Mkata Flood plains is at the center of Mikumi and the scenery is wonderful. We saw so many different animals - elephants, baboon, giraffes, wildebeest, impala, zebra, hippo, and water buffalo - and ultimately - after accepting we might not see a lion - as they are hard to find in the tall grasses - we found a lion - layin down on the edge of what looked like a dried up river bed. There was also a lioness on the other side, but she was much harder to see. We finished up the day heading back to the Mikumi Wilderness Lodge, where we would spend the night before heading back Sunday morning.

The Mikumi Wilderness Lodge is pretty cool. There seem to be about 10 different buildings - we had reserved 5 - so naturally there were only 4 available for our use. This presented some logistical challenges - though after a while everyone was allocated their cabin for the evening. After a great dinner at the lodge, we went to our cabins, and spent some time on the patio enjoying the views. We saw at least two elephants very close to our cabins. We also were completely unnerved by the sound of a lion's roar - and it did not seem too far away. Here we were - in East Africa, in a huge National Park, staying on a great plains, surrounded by animals living in their natural habitat - wow!

We got up at 5:15 in the morning to enjoy the sunrise - but it was not to be. It was damp outside and 100% cloudy, so the sun could not be seen. We had tea in the lodge and relaxed in their comfortable chairs until breakfast - and then rushed to get out of the park by 8:20 am before we were charged for another day!

We spent the day driving back to Dodoma - stopping along the road to pick up items at roadside stands. We are all pretty tired - so must get some rest to start the week.

2009-04-30T15:47:00.004-04:00

This morning we were having a fairly serious meeting in our room, when one of our hosts, named Innocent, came bursting into our workroom with a huge smile on his face. (we had just gotten to the agenda item on talking about the safari!)... He came bearing gifts for each of us...declaring has he presented each that 'You are Tanzanian now'. For me, an American, I received a beaded Obama bracelet, and a beaded leather bracelet with the colors of Africa on it. It was all ceremonial, and fun. Each person had these gifts personally selected for them - including the one for Dan - the Masai warrior!..In this photo, Innocent is presenting the wristband to Roku. Innocent is wearing a hat for the workers union, in prep for Workers Day tomorrow.

As part of our team update today in that meeting, we were laying out or plans for the day..and then learned that we were not going to do any of what we planned...we were due at a school 15 minutes 'ago'! We were to do more interviews and they got them scheduled for this morning. We threw out our plans for the day, packed up our bags, and away we went. We went to both a primary and secondary school in Dodoma. As with most places, everywhere we went, people stared at us with curiousity. Kids are especially cute when they do this..they look at you sideways with a small smirk on their face..and if you wave at them or say jambo - they either run away or get a huge bright smile on their face and wave and say jambo back in a very excited way. We asked if we could take a few photos, and upon receiving permission, we turned toward a group of kids playing, and took out our cameras. All of the ruckus stopped when they saw the cameras. As you can see, everyone of them was a big ham..and Sandip got into the act, running into the crowd to ensure he was also in the photo. The kids loved it. Especially when they get to see themselves in the picture.

After we visited the schools, we went back to the hotel. We finally found some power outlets in the courtyard, and plugged in and continued our work for a few hours. It was very productive ,and we were grateful for the quiet. The schools are crazy noisy all the time, and at the university, there is also a ton of noise and activity - so it was nice to have some quiet and regroup. Eventually the others in our CSC team met up with us, and we watched some cricket and had a nice meal outside. We discussed our logistics for the weekend to ensure we all knew the timeline and were where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be there. We are all restricted to no more than the normal bags we carry in to work..as we have a long drive in the same vehicles, with one more person, and no storage room in the jeeps. It will be quite a ride to Morogoro - but it will be a fantastic trip. I won't be able to blog for a few days - so don't forget to come back to ready on Sunday!

Check out Denises Blog

2009-04-30T12:20:00.002-04:00

My office mate and new friend Denise from Canada also has a blog you may want to take a look at. Check it out www.deniseintanzania.blogspot.com

2009-04-29T15:43:00.012-04:00

Today was a typical work day here in Dodoma. Not alot to report. We're all becoming process modeling experts - and we're starting to produce powerpoints - so we're all in our happy place. Tonight was just an easy evening at the hotel, sitting in the courtyard and enjoying a cool breeze. As you can see, there are many contrasts in Tanzania. The hotel is very pleasant. I'm guessing some of you thought we were sleeping in a tent and eating sticks and mud (at least one of you thought that for sure). I will also share with you my hotel security system when I am in for the evening...to keep it all in perspective. Its not so much that I'm concerned about someone breaking in to the room at night - but the lock is almost non-existent - it is a light louvred door (the black is a vinyl covering over the louvres), and it is just warped enough to sound like its being opened all night. The chair under the knob somehow allows me to sleep. When I sleep I am secure in my tentlike mosquito netted bed. I bring all of my key items under the tent - alarm clock, cell phones, glasses, and remote control for the TV. You don't want to have to burrow out after you went to all the work to re-tuck and limbo in to the bed. The mosquitos are not too bad - though the toxic chemicals they use may help keep them away. I keep up on my malaria meds - which is a great accomplishment for me - but mostly I try to avoid them completely, and use the DEET or sit by someone who mosquitos are attracted to more.

Tomorrow I will find out about more details for the weekend. Looks like we are going to Morogor and Mikumi for a short safari. Details to come! Pics to follow.

Expecting the unexpected

2009-04-28T16:32:00.002-04:00

Today was an interesting day. Nothing went as planned, but all went well in the end. All in all we all learned alot. The teamwork was awesome. We flexed with unplanned meetings, and constant changes - and still came out on top. We also learned alot on how to approach our projects. Nothing here in Tanzania is how it would be in any of our countries, and frankly the dream is so huge here for Tanzania that we just need to jump in and make things happen - while balancing dreams with reality in a way that continue to be visionary. It is actually incredibly exciting to be a part of a pioneering and visionary growth plan. Four weeks first seems long, and then not even a blink of an eye when I think of all we could be part of.

Today was a simple work day with complex challenges, that ..if we focus on rolling with it ...worked out just fine. Lesson learned!

Missing my friends and family - but totally thrilled to be on this personal and professional adventure

A sobering moment

2009-04-27T16:49:00.002-04:00

This afternoon as we were working in our office on the third floor of the university we heard some beautiful singing outside our window. It seemed as though many people were singing, and the sounds were beautiful. We all went over to the window and looked outside. What we saw was very sobering and somber. There was an ambulance, and they were loading a casket into the back. What we were hearing was a Christian hymn, sung by hundreds of students. We stood in respect as they finished loading the casket, and as a ministry said many prayers. About six other people then climbed into the ambulance, and as it drove away, the singing continued. It was a beautiful show of respect by all of the students, and very sad.

Later in the day we asked one of our hosts what had happened. He explained that it is not uncommon to see deaths - often medical treatment is not available, or not sought or advice not followed. He then seemed to suggest that this particular loss was due to an act of violence. I'm not sure we will know what did happen, but what we learned was important. The losses of life in a country at this stage of development, with so many limited resources, are not uncommon. It is certainly something to think about.

Coffee, Bats, and Euchre

2009-04-27T16:30:00.003-04:00

Back to the university today to get moving on our projects. There is so much to do, but the projects are filled with challenges that all add time to the schedule. We're getting ready to run a workshop tomorrow and to spend some time with our UDOM team of TA's. We took a slight detour this morning to try to find our contact at the diocese building in Dodoma. we were assured he would be there this morning, so we started early to try and catch him. Rather than have a huge group descent upon him, we split up. Three of us went for a brief coffee at Roses Cafe - and of course it was closed. It is neither on swahili time or non-swahili time..it just seems to always be closed - despite adjacent shopowners insisting it is still in business.

We did end up at the Executive Cafe - just around the corner - which was open. We did our best gesturing to the young man who seemed to be working there. Gesturing as if we were drinking back a cup of coffee, gesturing to show the movement when you scoop coffee out of the can to mix coffee. I kept repeating the common brand name of the common coffee - but with no luck. Sandip came up with the word for tea. The young man finally gave up and went for help. We sent Wolfgang in after him to see if we could somehow end up with 2 cups of coffee and one cup of tea. As he finally returned, we got a call that we were ready to go. But - Wolfgang had worked so hard to gesture 'with all his body parts' to order our drinks - he didn't think we should be rushing. We got our drinks a few minutes later - and sat outside in the beautiful weather, and then headed in to the university.

Today's highlight was Dan flying into our room suddenly - and slamming the door as fast as he could as if he were running from the law. It was quite an entrance!.. turns out somehow a large bat had entered the building..and it was chasing him down a long hallway. He sought refuge in our room - lucky we were not having a deep meeting with those outside the team. Over the next 10 minutes or so we monitored the position of the bat in the hallway until it had moved from our intended path as we left for the day.

We also tried to arrange for dinner at a local restaurant. The owner asked that we please call in advance (at around 3 pm) and tell him what we wanted to eat. It was an Indian restaurant and he assured us he would make whatever we wanted as long as it was from North India. Over lunch Sean meticulously got input from everybody, as well as our questions - so that we could call ahead and they could be ready for 10 people. Some time in the afternoon they called the owner...which was followed by a call from some relative of the owner telling us he had to leave town....no dinner for us there tonight!... We returned to the hotel, sat outside in the courtyard and ordered our meals at the hotel...followed by a competitive game of euchre - though it was aslo a teaching session as we prepare for great competition across the teams. I have a feeling there is going to be alot of euchre being played.

Friends, Futbol and Traditional Dance

2009-04-26T15:11:00.006-04:00

After the winery yesterday, we joined our host, Justinian, from UDOM in his home - which was not too far from the hotel. He invited 10 people to his home and we met his wife, Happiness, and his two young sons, Ericky and Edgar (apologies for the spelling). It was so nice to be invited into his home and to meet his family. His wife was welcoming and warm, and the boys were adorable and happy. It was pleasant - they served drinks and dinner, and then drove us back to the hotel.

After we arrived back at the hotel, a smaller group of us got together to play Euchre. Those that did not know it, were able to pick it up quickly, and we had a nice competition until far too late in the evening.

Sunday morning several people went off to church - some to the Lutheran and some to the Catholic. The rest of us stayed back for a leisurely breakfast, and some much needed down time spent getting organized and relaxing. After lunch a group of 7 of us went to a soccer game at the Jamhuri Stadium in Dodoma. The Dar Es Salaam Simba's were playing the Dodoma Polisi. This was a must win battle for the Simba's to ensure qualification to play in the confederation cup. There were many fans from Dar in the stadium, and though Dodoma apparently had a weaker team - it was a great game. It seemed scoreless until the last 20 minutes - after which time, Dar scored 2 goals for the win. We don't know this for sure, as there was no scoreboard and no announcer - we missed the first 15 minutes due to a conflict in times from various people on the actual start time, and it is entirely possible there was some scoring before we got there.

The place was mobbed. Crowds were pushing up to one open ticket window, and then they finally opened a second window. Two of the guys agreed to get in the mix and push forward to purchase tickets to the match. Ultimately Sandip made it up to the front - easily spotted with his thick wavy Indian hair. His arm was held high in the air, amongst many other arms waving money around in hopes of the ticket seller grabbing their money first. He slipped out of the mob to hand Dan his wallet - as he felt others reaching for it..and then returned to the front to fight for his space and wave our 14000 shillings until she took his money. She thrust 7 tickets in his hand, and he returned to the team in great victory as our hero - the only one brave enough to push through the crowds! Tickets were around $1.50 per person. We then pushed our way into the stadium and found some space in what was later found to be a set of Dar fans. Again, we were conspicuously 'not from these parts', and attracted much interest. Kids were hamming it up, and a group of guys were saying alot of things toward us and having a big laugh.

When we got back to the hotel, we were prepping to go to dinner in the courtyard, and a drumming group started practicing. Later traditional dancers were added and it was great entertainment. The pics were hard to take as it was getting darker, and the light was poor - but the music and dance was terrific.

We had a great dinner at the hotel chinese restaurant..and then went back to our rooms. I came back to write this blog entry. Now I must get ready for work tomorrow.

Taking in the local Dodoma scene

2009-04-25T17:42:00.008-04:00

We're definitely not in Raleigh anymore! Today was a very busy day. We're trying to make sure we really use our time off well, in terms of taking in the local culture. Despite a mentally exhausting week, we woke up early today for a quick breakfast, and then a walk into town. We wanted to check out the local markets, find some shops to get some locally created crafts from, and generally get a feel for the town. This is, after all, the capital of Tanzania, and one of the big parts of this opportunity is to understand the local environment. As we headed into the big roundabout - from which nearly every set of directions starts, we looked to the right and saw an interesting market scene. It was also likely to be the place where some of the shops we asked about were located. We walked down the path between the stalls, just getting a sense of what the story was. Turns out these various stalls and shops are always open during week as well, and are some of the primary places where locals shop. Take a look at some of these photos.

The first shot is the local rows of stalls not far from our hotel. The other two are a few blocks out, and in somewhat more permanent feeling buildings

We took a look at some local crafts at the curio shop just to give us an idea of what we might find in the area.

It was a beautiful morning, and just wonderful to get out and walk and mix with the local people.

We returned back to the hotel around 12:30, as we had arranged for a tour of a winery that was about an hour away. We boarded the minibus and headed out to the winery. We thought we were making great time - the van was driving around 120 km/hour, and the road was good....until we then turned on to a dirt road, and stayed on that for about 45 minutes. We went through all sorts of areas - local villages, people walking and biking up and down the roads bringing wood, water, and charcoal to their village or to the town. Some of them may be walking for several days to get to where they were going. It is quite an experience to be driving at maximum possible speed (relative to the road conditions), while dodging, people, bicycles, dogs, chickens, goats, and mules and car eating pot holes. We were rather glad to arrive at the winery - and were really amazed at how beautiful it was.

The tour was one of the best winery tours I have been on. They spent nearly 2 hours with our group, with tastings throughout. We learned alot about how they work with local farmers to help them grow their grapes, and from whom they buy, as well as who they sell to within Tanzania, in South Africa and Kenya, and throughout the world. It was fascinating and educational....and we were all exhausted but happy as we finished up and headed back. We had to get back to the hotel, as we had been invited to the home of our host at the university, and he had arranged to pick us up at 6:30. I'll write more about that tomorrow...as well as our euchre training sessions at the hotel listening to their local music.

Its been a full day -

Time, Schools, and the Weekend

2009-04-24T15:38:00.008-04:00

I shall seek forgiveness from the Tanzanian people for suggesting, in my last post, that they don't keep to their posted hours. I had forgotten about 'Swahili time'. Basically they have a system of referring to time, where 6 am is considered the beginning of the day. What this means is that 7 am is 1:00, 8 am is 2:00, etc. So, when I saw it was 6:30 pm on my watch, in swahili time, this was 12:30 locally. Roses cafe is open every day from 6 - 10, meaning its open every day from noon to 4...is that clear!

Today we got picked up at 7:45 am to go to a few schools to interview them about their records systems. We went first to Mlosa Secondary School - which is a government run (public) residential secondary school for girls with about 700 students. We met with the head mistress directly for about an hour and a half, and then walked around to see more of the school. Below is a picture of our team with the Head Mistress, and then a few of us with some of the students. All of the girls are required to wear short hair as part of the school uniform, but as you can ee, they can wear their uniform any number of ways. They were quite excited to see visitors.

After Mlosa School, we went to Martin Luther Primary School, which is a private primary school with about 950 students, about 650 are residents. This school was between terms, so we spoke only with their Head Teacher and Admissions Officer (i think). This was a very different meeting. As a private schools the facilities were higher end, and this was a growing private school with new buildings being added.

We returned then to the university to enter the main building in total chaos. The place was heaving with students - and we learned later that this was the day that money was being disbursed to the students - so they were rather excited to get it. There was quite a buzz around the place. We finished the day in our offices, taking in all we'd learned earlier in the day. I have to admit also, we did find and print off instructions for playing euchre - so we could teach everyone in hopes of some friendly competition some of the evenings.

When we got back, we were to meet our hosts at the hotel at 6:30 pm (the real 6:30 pm) to be taken to a place for drinks and dinner and a band. They said it was the police mess hall. This seemed rather odd to me, and we were pleasantly surprised to get there and find a really nice place with outside tables and a bandstand - inside the building there was a wedding. (and yes, this was the police headquarters). We had drinks with 3 of our wonderful hosts, and eventually the band came on. There were two of them, and it was very enjoyable. The temperature drops quite a bit at night. Its not 'cold' unless you are only in a t-shirt - but would require a sweatshirt or jacket to be comfortable. This is the time of the year when it starts getting colder here. This, of course, was in sharp contrast to the devastating heat wave they are having in India. After a bit we jumped in a taxi and headed back to the hotel. We could have walked - as it was rather close, but we were advised it was not at all safe to do so. A few chose to walk back, and we waited to make sure they arrived safely. The taxi's were outside waiting, and it was less than $2 to get 4 of us back to the hotel safely.

We have alot planned for the rest of the weekend - though a bit of rest has got to be found. Tomorrow we'll go to the market, and we have arranged to go to the winery. The wine guy was gracious enough to rent a van for us - so all we have to do is show up at the front door at 1, and hop in the van to be taken to the winery for a tour, and return back to the hotel.....after which we have been invited to the home of on of our excellent hosts. On Sunday we're planning to both go to a soccer game and see some live music. I'd also like to do some reading and plan for next week.

Must get some rest to get the energy for the weekend!

Projects and weekend activities

2009-04-23T15:27:00.003-04:00

Another day - and exactly one week since I left. I can't tell if it seems short or long. The first four days of the work week went pretty fast. We're starting to make some real progress on our work. We were all tentative about our assignments, as the projects are all outside of our normal types of job roles. As we got more engaged with the university, most of us are seeing that we bring some good capability to the table, and we are getting much more confident in leading projects of this magnitude. Its great getting more and more confidence, and frankly its pretty interesting. I would guess I could start my own university by the time we get done talking to all the key people in the key functions. The great news is that tomorrow morning we are going to a school to meet with the principal and key administrators. Its an all girls school in Dodoma. I'm pretty excited to be digging into the project, and pretty happy to get to a school and hopefully visit with the children as well.

Today after work we came back to the hotel, with plans to take a walk to find this Australian fellow who was going to help us out finding things to do. We got back to the hotel..I tossed my bag into my room and evacuated, as they had just sprayed for mosquitos and I needed a mask. Three of us took a walk down to the diocesan health clinic to find this guy - but alas - it was closed. We got the deal on their hours and will try again when they're open. We continued walking around (carefully)..and decided to look for this coffee house - Rose's Cafe. As we were looking around and just about to give up, Denise remembered a landmark, and we looked around and found it! Yahoo! So we got to the place..read the hours - every day 6 pm - 10 pm. Since today falls in to 'everyday', and it was 6:30 pm, we went to open the door (the doors are more like solid wood barn doors with no windows). Of course - it was closed - this is Tanzania. We headed back to the hotel to get back before it got dark. We forgot our flashlights, and it is generally not safe for us to be out.

When we sat down for a cold drink, and we asked the waiter about things to do. He was very helpful, and shared info about crafts places, music, and markets. We asked specifically about going to a winery. We had a glass of this Dodoma wine the other night - and it was really excellent. As it turned out, a rep from the winery was at the hotel, and the waiters dragged him over to talk with us. The winery is not open on the weekend, but he agreed to open it up and personally take us on a tour on Saturday. We're going to finalize details tomorrow.

I think we have a plan for this weekend, and we're hoping next weekend is a safari at Mikumi National Park. Our hosts are doing all the planning for us - which is very generous, so we will await the details. We think that is a long weekend, so we're hoping they can find capacity to accomodate us.

There is some talk about chartering a plane to Zanzibar or possibly Serengeti one weekend. Feel free to chime in on the comments and let me know how you'd feel about getting on a chartered plane here? Would love to hear from you - I'll take your guidance on this one. We're going to have a terrific safari in Mikumi - and we should be able to see all the big safari animals there..so what do you think?

DEET

2009-04-23T00:42:00.002-04:00

I think I'll be very careful with the DEET bug spray I have. After spraying, I had some left on my hand, and a few hours later noticed that the spot where my hand rests on my computer was disintegrating. The DEET is melting the case on my computer - its got to be great for my skin!

Salama Safari, High Fives, and more

2009-04-22T18:12:00.001-04:00

Day 2 and we're making good progress on our projects and learning what its all about on Dodoma. Honestly, I'm not sure you can learn what it's really all about - but we pick up a little bit of learning each day. We also share very important cultural information with one another. Today, we taught one of our hosts how to do a 'high five'. This further evolved into a fairly full deal of 'high five -..other side - ... down low....etc.' - later with a demonstration of the various conditions under which a high five would be used. We lined people up to show how you high five a team down the line - which was of great amusement to our Tanzanian host, as well as to Lucia from Slovakia and Sandip from India. Once all of that important cultural learning was shared, we learned a few more Swahili phrases - which will be of great use if I don't freeze up each time someone shares a simple swahili greeting with me!

Tonight was Kate's last night with us. Kate is from Citizens' Development Corp' - the NGO that is organizing everything. She is a really interesting and impressive person, and fun to be with - and it is sad to see her go. Apparently she believes we can survive without her. I will miss watching her try to negotiate various items like internet access, laundry service rates, cab fare, room safes and refrigerators. She has taught us that if we simply repeat the same phrases 20 times or so...that sometimes we will get a different answer (though often that is not the case). General stuff also we learned included looking for a train before walking across the tracks, and not walking in front of moving cars - things we tended to do when being in totally unfamiliar territory.

We went out to Club 84 tonight for dinner - and it was an interesting place. The menu was.......drum roll....meat or chicken and rice or chips (fries). After a tussle about the fact that there was no place to sit, finally culminating with 11 chairs and a few more tables arising out of nowhere, we agreed to finish ordering. Since I could not take another chicken dinner, and the meat was of unknown type, and I had rice for lunch, I decided just to order chips. The guy asked me if I wanted eggs - which seemed like a good option. When I got the food , we were all surprised to see that the meal ultimately was an omelette with the fries inside. I'm not sure how we got to that - but it was an interesting meal and was only 2000 shillings.

During the meal, where we sat outside, I noted also that there were several men standing behind us. They were in some traditional kind of wrap, and they had sticks coming out of their wrapped garb across a shoulder. There were 3 or 4 of them, and they seemed awfully interested in our table. At first it made me a bit uncomfortable, and then we realized they were basically watching us, perhaps interested in the 7 different nationalities that we added to the mix, and also that they were probably guards for the restaurant/club. Was told they were likely to be Masaii tribesmen, which are often guards at businesses. We were there until very late, and then taxi'd back to our hotel with our reliable taxi drivers - Frank and Salim.

New day tomorrow, with lots more to learn and see. Hope to talk to Brian from Australia to find out what more there is to do in Dodoma for the weekend.

Rice

2009-04-21T17:25:00.001-04:00

chicken and rice and beans and spinach. beef and rice an plantains. fish and rice. everything has rice - rice for lunch, rice for dinner. as it turns out, my favorite short grain brown rice is not one of the options - it is basic white rice - and it has been part of most meals - and will be a primary option on most meals for the foreseeable future. Now - to be fair - the rice is good. Often it comes with a tomato based sauce with various vegetables in it - today it was okra, yesterday it was green peas. with a little chili sauce, the rice alone is fairly tasty, and a fairly good bet for lunch. Not sure how it will go for the next 30 days, and i'm not overly thrilled about carb loading. I do know that its a sure way for a post lunch crash.......which............brings me to my next concern....coffee.

I made a poor strategic decision to leave a travel coffee maker out of my suitcase, as I simply had too much to bring. That was a real shame, since the university does not seem to have any coffee available. I find this very hard to believe - but it is our experience so far. So this is the deal. 2 cups of coffee with breakfast - instant from a powder. It is much better than you'd think and serves the purpose - but that post lunch cup is a real gap in my world - though in the scheme of things, I'd be fairly confident I am far far better off overall than most of the people in this country - so I will learn to manage the post lunch crash, and perhaps be better for it.

Today after lunch we met with the head of the university. He wanted to share the history of the decision to develop this university, ensure we understood we are an important part of helping them achieve their vision, and thank us for coming. He is a very impressive man (as have many that are part of this vision and this university) - and it was an honor to be invited to his office for an official welcome. We thanked him for the opportunity to be part of this.

We also got a tremendous amount done today in terms of scoping and planning for our projects. This is becoming a very real work project that has huge potential for high impact. V-exciting.

more later

University Tour

2009-04-20T15:56:00.000-04:00

Had a terrific first day at the University of Dodoma today. We were picked up in two big 4WD vehicles this morning from the hotel to take us up to the University. It was a 7 km drive and we needed every bit of the 4 wheel drive once we got near the university. The roads are unfinished with deep ruts and it is very dirty and dusty everywhere. This is the biggest construction site you can imagine. Its about 7km from one set of buildings to another. Each of the colleges is being built in a separate grouping of buildings. There are several completed buildings, including the main university, several classroom buildings, and some residential housing - many more are under construction. You can see the main building on their web page at http://udom.ac.tz/ . This is another view of some of the classrooms or residences

We toured around the campus for most of the day visiting each college, the college hospitals, dormitories, computer centers, libraries, and student centers. The scale of the construction and plans for growth are unbelievable. Several students kindly allowed us to see the dorm rooms - which are exactly big enough for 4 raised bunks, each with a desk and closet underneath. There is a buzz around the campus and alot of excitement about all the growth. While we were cautious not to stare at everyone and everything, we noticed that we were the subjects of great interest as well. We were clearly not from these parts - and it seemed like everyone stopped, smiled and waved when we walked by - from students to construction workers. We had lunch at the cafeteria and then visited a few more sites, tooks some group pictures, and went back to the hotel for a team debriefing:

Later we all went out to an African restaurant. Our leader Kate was masterful at trying to negotiate our taxi fare - and was almost successful at getting our preferred fare - though we agreed not to pay the drivers until they returned to take us back to the hotel. Tomorrow the real work begins.

Lala salama

Dar to Dodoma

2009-04-19T15:26:00.000-04:00

We gathered today at 8 am to take our bus to Dodoma from Dar Es Salaam. Today was the six hour busride to our final destination. We left around 9 after packing the bus with all our luggage and getting organized. It was a good bus with enough space on a good road - so we were all thankful for that. When the roads aren't paved here, they 'really' aren't paved - they are dirt roads with deep ruts in them that drivers have to navigate very slowly. Fortunately that was not the case for our group. We stopped in Morogoro for lunch at a very nice hotel that normally has a buffet - but that was not to be. We had to order lunch - and living up to the expectations set by the other CSC teams, preparing lunch took forever. I would say we were there nearly 2 hours, and then did not arrive in Dodoma til about 6 pm. The road and scenes were varied. They included rows of roadside shops (they were closed in this picture as it was early on Sunday morning) - and then some beautiful mountain scenery.

Of course it got more rural as we reached Dodoma, and then as we saw some billboards we knew we were finally getting to town. Tonight we had dinner with so many people from the University including the Chancellor, and the Heads of all the colleges . In addition to a very warm welcome, and interesting conversation, we heard from them about how important this university is to the country and what an important project this is for the President of Tanzania. They described the campus a bit, and apparently it is just huge. We'll get a tour tomorrow - so I will share more then. Dinner was great - a nice buffet of Tanzanian and Chinese fare - all was good. Interesting dishes with bananas as part of the main course, and an excellent hot and sour soup. I may not need all my kashi bars after all.

Must go to bed now. Lala Salama

A Day spent in Dar

2009-04-18T17:55:00.000-04:00

Have had a wonderful day so far, and am taking a short rest before dinner and a big party at the
Hotel Mediterraneo in Dar Es Salaam. The hotel is right on the ocean. It is a single story hotel with a nice small front patio - as you should be able to see in the picture. There are 18 total rooms in the hotel, and we have 11 of them - though they say that tonight at their monthly party, that there will be 400 or so people coming to this hotel. The rooms are nice - the power seems to go out frequently for short periods, and the hot water doesn't last too long - but I'm told to expect that everywhere. Should be better when I get to truly unpack in Dodoma tomorrow and find my flashlight. The beds are comfortable, there is wireless internet, and the grounds are pleasant.

There are paths throughout the grounds flanked by a border made of empty wine bottles, with the neck of the bottle into the ground - which I think is really creative.

We started the day with a nice breakfast at the hotel, and then our per diem allowance and cell phones were given out. It was very pleasant.

We took 3 taxis into town to exchange money, add minutes to the phones, visit a small seaside shopping/restaurant area, and have a nice lunch. Lots of little vendors offering a various assortment of things like chess sets, carved animals, and scarves. There was a hard sell to get me to buy an Obama Kanga (big fabric wrap used to wrap into a dress or skirt), and an Obama beaded bracelet. I did manage to resist that in hopes of finding more authentic items as we head more into the middle of the country.

We have an early morning start to get on the bus to Dodoma. We have to arrive, get settled, and plan to have a formal dinner with the chancellor of the university - so there is no room for lengthy time lags in getting ready. The group is doing well together so far - though it did take over an hour to split up the dinner bill - we're going to have to get a bettery system!

More later.

Beth got to Africa!

2009-04-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

Just a brief update - as it is now 2:45 am local time here in Dar Es Salaam. Despite a re-routing through Newark - which I was trying to avoid - all went smoothly and I arrived in Dar Es Salaam just 30 minutes after our expected arrival time. I traveled from Raleigh to Newark, and Newark to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam we flew to Kiliminjaro with an hour stop and then continued into Dar. It was dark , so we could not see Mt. Kiliminjaro - perhaps another time. The last leg of the trip I joined up with one of my colleagues so we arrived together and shared a ride to the hotel. Once we got to our rooms, the staff told us that most of the rest of the team was waiting for us in the bar/restaurant. So we got our bags into our rooms and headed over to meet the team. It was a great time - meeting most of the people I'll be spending 4 weeks with. I think this trip is going to be great. Was so pleased to finally meet these guys in person.
More after some much needed sleep!

Weather

2009-04-13T00:53:00.001-04:00

I noted earlier this week that the weather was looking a little rough in Dodoma. Some form of thunderstorm every day. Not a big deal - though I'm hoping that is not the case when we make our brief layover stop in Kiliminjaro. The idea of flying into an airport near a mountain in a bad storm is not that appealing to me. However, when checking several sites for the weather, as well as my handy little icon on this blog, i have learned that I have no need to be concerned about the weather. All the weather stations in Tanzania have seemed to stop reporting their weather - - at least on weather.com or on weatherunderground.com That is sure one way to not get too focused on it. Not sure what kind of sign that is when they all shut down - but for now, i'm just going to pack my rain gear, and be prepared for anything.

Four weeks is very fast!

2009-04-10T16:11:00.000-04:00

Tanzania Team 3 has their last night tonight. I've been following the tweets of one of the members, and a few of their blogs. I swear it was only yesterday that I spoke with someone on that team the day before they went. I wonder if they felt it was fast or slow. I'm winding down to one more day of work before I pack up and fit a room full of stuff into two mid-size suitcases. For me, the time between learning I am going to Africa and now has seemed like forever. I am so ready to get on the plane, meet my team and get started!

I'm getting so many questions about whether I'm nervous about the trip. Honestly I'm no more nervous about leaving than I normally am when I leave home even for a few days to just head to the mountains. I'm going to miss my dog Shane and his trusted sidekick Rusty.

We spend alot of time together - and frankly i feel guilty for leaving them. I wonder if people with kids feel this way? Of course, I'm going to miss his unwavering unconditional adoration - and I don't expect I'll be getting that from anyone else! (though perhaps I'll be surprised!)

I've been learning more and more about Tanzania - and getting a better understanding of the context of our project. Tanzania is one of the poorest nations in the world - and higher education, and the growth of small businesses are two of the keys to improving their lot. Its pretty exciting to get the chance to be part of their growth. Its also very important to me that I always keep my eye on how I'm personally contributing to help others be better off - so I will continue learning before I go - and of course am really looking forward to talking with people who live in Tanzania. This time next week I will be in Dar Es Salaam

More soon!

University housing not ready for us ;-(

2009-04-06T22:59:00.000-04:00

They said they were cutting close on completing the building of the grad student housing at UDOM (University of Dodoma) - but it has been cut so close - that it won't be complete by the time we get there. I was looking forward to living at the university - but we will be staying at the newly renovated New Dodoma Hotel right in town. There's a shuttle to the university that takes 10-15 minutes, so we'll have easy access to UDOM for work, and be right in town for dinners and shops. I think that's a fair trade in the absence of a functional and complete building. . The doc also had a couple of good ideas of things we should bring - such as a laundry line for light washing, and a money belt, and to consider a towel, as the ones in the hotels will be quite thin. We also were given our cell phone numbers - but this is primarily for in-country use. I can get calls on it..but I do know it costs about $5/minute from the US, so skype is the best option if I call home. I'm quite concerned about the coffee situation . I can get past all of the other travel challenges if I have good coffee. I will ask about that on our call in the morning.

14 Days

2009-04-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

I know the countdown might be getting boring. But in two weeks at this time I should be somewhere between Houston and Amsterdam - and hopefully knocked out. The trip is getting more real. We hope to talk one more time with the team from Africa, but if not -Dar Es Salaam here we come. We'll learn more once we get there and I'm guessing its nothing like I expect.

In the meantime, I officially started my new position this week, so have alot to do to get ready so I can leave and feel comfortable that everyone is pointed in the right direction, and that all the backup plans are in place. Lucky for me I have a great team.

Counting Down

2009-03-27T13:18:00.000-04:00

In exactly 3 weeks - almost to the minute - I will be arriving in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. I am nearly done with my packing list - which I'm sure I will modify many times. I think I have everything I need - and am now focused on what i 'want'. I'm assembling photos - for a picture album to share of life in the US. Submissions are welcome from anyone for this one. I'm also thinking about gifts that I might want to give the many people that will be hosting us. I received a wonderful medallion for inspiration in the mail yesterday from someone who wanted to wish me the best and keep him in my thoughts. It was such a nice card to receive, and a warm thought. I'm sure I will be thinking of all my friends when I am there. I so much want to share this experience. I remember a question raised in the move 'into the wild' - something like....''Happiness is only real when shared". Now - I'm not going into the wild - but to a brand spanking new university in the capital of Tanzania - and I will be with many students - IBM teammates, University Students and Professors, and other members of the community - but I do want to share the experience with friends. So thanks for reading this ;-) I promise it will get more interesting when i actually hit the road.

With or without food!

2009-03-23T23:46:00.000-04:00

There is a difference when you're taking meds whether they should be taken on an empty stomach, or 'with food' - and as a general rule you shouldn't mix this up. I started my typhoid pills last week. Its 4 pills every other day. I took one in the morning, and then remembered the doc at the health department said something about food. Was it - 'make sure you take it with food, or you'll get sick' or 'make sure you take it on an empty stomach so it will fully absorb'. I was sure it was one of those two. The box was totally unhelpful - saying nothing on the topic. I opted for 'with food', as I think that is more typical, and generally I can reliably count on my gut feel. For some reason, later I took out the small print paper folded 20 times and in about as many languages. Amongst the fascinating reading was a notation on ensuring you take it on an empty stomach - so my streak of always being right came to an abrupt end. Called the pharmacist. He didn't have the info and suggested I call the doctor. Left a message for the health department. She called me back today and left a message needing to know more. Apparently I need to make sure I have enough space to absorb this pill to not interfere with the anti-malarial meds I'm taking. Hopefully I've got the time and can extend the prescription. I have 2 more days to figure this out. I'll be very happy when I don't have to worry about this and go back to my pill free existence.

25 days

2009-03-23T23:31:00.000-04:00

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!

Logistics, Logistics, Logistics!

2009-03-02T15:11:00.001-05:00

Boring post - I know..but as an update

Drug update: I got my prescriptions for malaria and typhoid, as well as a cipro script - just in case = plus I picked up some meds to sleep on the plane flight - v-important! Tomorrow I get part 2 of Hep A/B plus part 1 of Rabies. I'm also starting to collect meds to take on the trip - advil, pepto, etc.

Visa update: This morning I shipped off my visa application. There were alot of pieces to put together - the application, the letter from the NGO, a money order, bank account statement, 2 passport pics (bad ones too!), my passport, and a self addressed stamped envelope to have my passport and visa returned to me. I have to say I was not thrilled about putting my passport in the mail.

Flights: Woo hoo!!..Flights are all booked. Naturally I fly through Houston to get to Amsterdam, to get to Kiliminjaro on the way to Dar Es Salaam. Backwards you say ...absolutely - BUT...the other option was to go through Newark. Newark has a 100% consistency rating on losing my brothers luggage - so I didn't want to risk that. Rumor also has it that I can get Northwest airmiles on Continental - any tricks to make sure that works would be most welcome.

That's all for now. I'm leading this weeks team call -so that is where my focus is going to be.

The Project!

2009-02-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

We are now starting to learn more about what we are going to do when we get to Tanzania. This morning we had a call with the team, and were joined by our sponsor from Citizens Development Corps. She has recently been to Tanzania and will be with us for about our first week when we get there. We will be doing a project with the University of Dodoma which opened in 2007. We will probably primarily be working with the College of Informatics and Virtual Education, though it is possible we'll work at other parts of the university or at other colleges. The university has high growth goals, so in addition to things like curriculum development, we could be involved in their marketing plans. All of this is subject to change - but that is the current plan. I also got all the paperwork for my Tanzanian visa together. This involved passport photos and money orders and forms - now all that's left is to find envelopes and stamps...and soon I 'll have my passport mailed away - hoping to come back to me.

I'm pretty excited about the project. I had envisioned tents, cots, and mosquito netting, but we'll likely be in university housing. I don't think its going to be luxury (especially since they're building housing for thousands and thousands!)..but it will be cool. We'll be living amongst students and working on important projects to further higher education in the country.

More to come soon!

Needles!

2009-02-11T23:21:00.000-05:00

I really don't care for needles at all - but apparently it is time to just get over that! I started the process of immunizations in prep for the trip. My friend Marjorie called me with urgency last week insisting I get started to ensure that I would have time to fully complete the full set of shots before I go. I made an appointment with Wake County Health Department (Clinic E if you're interested!) and went down there last week. The last time I went to a county health department I think was during an outbreak of Rubella in the early 70's - and I only recall lines that wrapped around the block - so my expectations were very low for the level of service and conditions. I was pleasantly surprised! I was called for my appointment within about 10 minutes of the scheduled time and brought back to a very nice office. The doctor (possibly nurse practitioner - but I don't recall) - spend a great deal of time going over the various recommendations. We discussed the malaria belt, the possibility of rabies, and other such fascinating topics. Ultimately we landed on starting with 5 shots: DPT booster, Tetanus Booster, MMR booster, Hepatitis A/B (all in one), and Polio. I also got a prescription for a Typhoid pill, information on the choices for malaria pills, and 28 days to consider if I wanted a rabies shot. The doctor suggested that if i got bit by an animal from a 'safari' - then I probably would have alot more to worry about than rabies - but I'm still thinking about it. The hepatitis shots were the most critical - as there are to be 3 of them - and it was important I get this all done in advance of leaving. Overall - I was very impressed with the quality of service. Thumbs up for Wake County Health!

As for other medical concerns - it was also suggested I get caught up on most other medical items - so I have a physical in a few days, and I also went to the dentist. You know you're in trouble when you are given a written estimate for your upcoming dental work - but I'm glad I went - as I am sure I will much prefer getting crowns in North Carolina - than having emergency dental work done in Tanzania. So - over the next month I will get all that taken care of and have clean and shiny new teeth and crowns for my trip.

Have another call with my new team tomorrow morning - am looking forward to getting to know them all over the next 2 months before we go. That's all for now.

2009-01-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

I couldn't sleep last night - so at about 2:30 in the morning, I started reading my Lonely Planet book on Tanzania. I read about the food, transportation, and medical preparations and planning. What I concluded is the following:

I will either gain alot of weight or starve
I better start immunizations now
I will NOT be drinking the water or anything that has been rinsed in the water
I will be packing alot of Kashi Bars
I may actually have more medication than clothing - including alot of imodium and whatever it is you take for motion sickness

And strangely - I am even more wicked excited about this trip! But...the next time I pickup the book, I am going to focus on the National Parks!

I'm still anxiously awaiting further information on the nature of the project I will be working on. I am supposed to be on my first call with the new team on Thursday morning - but...as luck would have it, the call is during the time I will be on an airplane - so I will catch up with the team this Friday.

2009-01-23T16:46:00.000-05:00

I got accepted into the program!!!!

2009-01-23T16:10:00.000-05:00

After applying in early 2008 for the 2009 Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program, I got in!!! I'm beside myself with excitement. This is such a tremendous opportunity. CSC in a nutshell is where IBM partners with an NGO to do community service 'with a business bent'. Basically it is volunteer service for business people to lend expertise to organizations in other countries. Projects are done in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. The first set of teams were dispatched in 2008 and worked on projects such as developing growth strategies for the Africa Wildlife Foundation. Africa was my first choice - and that is where I'm going! Specifically I'm going to Tanzania. I don't know yet what kind of project I'll be going on. I sent my resume in this week and representatives from the Citizen's Development Corps NGO will be placing us into our projects. The IBM Tanzania team is 10 people from 7 countries. We have yet to meet. The calls and prework starts next week. Meanwhile - take a look at this link to learn more about the Corporate Service Corps Projects. You can also see the blogs from there here