It was nice to get from the dog days of a consulting engagement as we prepare our mid-term report and prepare for a meeting next meeting in Dar-es-Salaam with the Tanzania Library Board CEO. These library users appeared in front of me and when I showed them my camera were quick to line up and give me a huge smile.... one of the best pictures I feel I have taken... they look pretty cool hey in their Tanzania colored school uniforms and untucked shirts!! Their buddy showed up just a second later but was too late for the photo. They were keen to see the result when I displayed it an showed them
Francis, Augusto and Christie interviewed 10 or so people. Half in the local library and half across the street in the post office internet cafe. Morogoro Regional Library had an internet connection for a year in 2004 when the local gov't partnered with a Finnish firm on a project with the library. Project ended... money was tight and they have not had internet since. Interviewees identified a lack of internet access in the library as the single major thing that would attract them as a member/user.
This photo is from the post office corner across the main city intersection to the library.
Back at the hotel after lunch I decided to talk a photo of the nice open air hallway outside my room. Look to the right over the fence and you see a small pasture and stable. The first night we arrived honest to heaven the frogs over that fence were deafening .. I would not have gone over there for anything! The zoning laws are a tad different in Tanzania but it all seems to work.
Back downstairs a bit later .. the typical lunch ....scene outside chez workroom! Warm and sunny ... followed by a little bit of rain.. hey it is the season.
We went downtown with Elijah a young man that works for RITA (another one of our three project hosts) for a bite to eat.... very interesting night scene with lots of people and activity enjoying the warm humid nights. Lots of motorcycles. Once inside we went upstairs to enjoy our meal. We got a platter of chicken, a plater of beef... and a platter of chips with 4 large deep fried bannanas that are a staple and as Petra mentioned seem to lose a lot of the bannana taste (perhaps plantains - a starchier, more potato like fruit/vegetable) in the preparation and have more of that carbohydrate texture. They are very good.
Traditionally food is eaten with the hands ... their is either an attendant that comes by that gives you a squirt of soap and a pour of water.... or a container of some kind with a tap. You can see the soap... I'm looking a bit confused one might say. Shaun and the group mentioned they have even seen hot coals burning under the container to heat the water.
Here is Elijah... with Ross an Ashish.
Maybe those bananas are really plantains--a starchier, more potato like fruit/vegetable. I suspect the people of Tanzania would think those we are familiar with to be dessert bananas.
ReplyDelete