Depart for Dar .. What a Team!

To be honest it was both exciting and a bit sad to leave Morogoro.  The mix of hard work, the amazing chance to experience local African culture while working and not just a tourist,  and the new IBM team friendships we had forged ... was pretty unique.      We decided we should take take team and a group  photo beside the huge world map in the hotel lobby.... good idea! 

Team #1!!

We Are The World 

Back in our chariot.  Luggage practices not up to code!!

Not sure the luggage police would approve.

Perhaps the one 2 people awake on the bus!

Not sure my pictures do justice to some of the sights you
 see of people, cars, trucks , motorbicycles, and people
 sharing the roads.  I was luck to snap this one out of the
 moving bus window.  Training for the next Grand Fondo?

When we got to Dar we checked in to the Peacock and went to a local outdoor spot for lunch... BBQ

Chicken and fish

Some went to shop.  I wanted to see the Jonathan's adventure through to completion so accompanied him to the hospital to get his stitches out.  No basement pharmacy without any windows here!!

I suggested to a number of the staff including the stitch removal specialist that
I hoped Jonathan did not start act up and make a fuss again.
Every thing went fine

View from my room at sundown ...

Shaun has been itching to get out to sample some local food in this city of 3-4 million.  Our driver suggested a spot and off we went.  You know a smok'in hot fire under bubbling oil brings up a sweat on a 30 degree evening with high humidity.  Shaun

Appetizers

Boys night out!  Would our stomachs handle it.  Shaun decided to try pretty much everything including  egg pizza, shrimp, bread  ... think I messed a couple of things .. to put it to the test.

These egg pizzas were wonderful... here is the process:
1) roll out a 6 inch square thin dough crust between your thumb and forefingers.  Add some ingredients and a cracked egg and mix a bit.
2) Toss it on a high temperature basin grill for a minute or two...then flip over.
3) Slice it up in one inch squares and put more stuff on top including a thin tomato like sauce
4) Serve ... and eat with your fingers.

Step 1

Step 2

The cook!

Step 3

These two little guys watched on
and seemed to find
the group of us quite interesting 

Step 4 ...enjoy! .. and repeat!

We asked our swahili driver to do some unnatural acts with our big bus including finding an ice cream shop. 

I did ...                                 

Small single coop and cone 1000 tsz.... 66 cents.
 No double scoops but you  can buy a second cone
for another 1000

Final Goodbyes in Morogoro

Well we are down to the wire... we leave Morogoro Wed. am for Dar es Salaam with 100 page Final Report, 15 page Executive Summary, and 80 page Text Report in hand.. 

We present to Dr. Alli Mcharazo and his team Thursday am..  Alli asked us to keep lunch and early afternoon open (lunch in Tanzania runs 1-2 pm.) as he has invited us to join his team to celebrate our work.  It is pretty cool as I see him using our work no not only build a Technology and Digital Library Vision for the country that he can shop around to secure gov't and private funding .... but also to energize his young team on what is possible.  It is Africa's time!!

Friday we do a repeat for government officials (Tanzania officials are big on formal welcomes and goodbyes!!) where each subteam lead has 10-15 minutes to present our executive summaries at a farewell dinner. 

Given the pressure of the day ... the teams looked intense but felt good about progress this am. 

SubTeam 1 -  left to right ... Augusto, Francis, Christie, Ian, Xiao Feng  

Sub  Team 2 - Shaun, Pearl, Jonathan, Petra, Ilona

Sub Team 3 - Maria, Aldrey, Ross (missing in action or inaction!!), Sonja, Ashish 

Everyone contributed a great deal to the experience ... I would do it all again in a minute.

We took time at 10 to visit the Morogoro Regional Library for the last time.  Here we are walking Leonard through the mid-term report and giving him a sense of our final recommendations.   He was extremely happy that we had come to help them and you could feel genuine hope for a bigger place for Public Libraries in Tanzania.

At 2 pm. we had a farewell appointment with the Morogoro Regional Commissioner who as it turned out had just been appointed by the government in Dar and had been officially in the job for 4 hours when we arrived. We had a good laugh when we welcomed him to Morogoro having been here for a month!!  

I had the opportunity to impress him with my Swahili ... and instead of saying Jina Langu Ian (my name is Ian)  Ninatoka Canada (I am from Canada) ... I mixed it up... got it all wrong ... again a good laugh for the team.  Maybe I should just stick with English!!

With the meeting complete.. we head back to the Arc board room to
finish  our reports.  Down to the wire just like any other consulting
engagement  I have ever done... but without the official visits.  

We are cleaning up our work room.  Taking down the stickies, our flags, charts ... etal. One of the kitchen staff had asked me 3 or 4 times if she could have my tie.  Had it hanging in our work area.  I gave it to her  this evening.  She had me re-tie it so the emblem showed above  her vest.  The people here have been very good to us ... and genuinely eager to help and ... teach us swahili!  Louise Sien the customer relations manager wanted in the final photo... she is the Maasai l

Off in the am to Dar... Ashish and Xiao are taking a last look at some craft items a fellow has been selling up and selling out front.

Once we were finished our preparation ... we did a first... went to a pub for one of those Tanzanian beers.  notice the sales guy above ... below!!  He gave me a gift of a bracelet which I suspect you will see on my left arm in upcoming pictures.

Francis and Sonja look a bit relaxed after pushing send on
the final reports!!    Turns out we were at the E-PUB... kind of fitting.
  It was interesting to see the flat screen TVs taken down and stored
when th soccer match on TV ended.  

Morogoro Shopping - Sunday Markets

Sunday after church 6 us headed down town to shop... this will give you a good sense of life in Morogoro and its vibrant shopping market.   Very practical items for sale over a many square block area.  Sights, sounds and smells.  Got it all for you right here!!

Our month long chariot... we get a lot of looks .. hey and upscale bus with
windows  closes (ie AC) including an international case and plenty
 of Mzungus (white people) creates a lot of attention.

We step out and first sight... a taxi stand... these guys excel in taking people down country roads and mountain paths.  They zip along beside the traffic... looks dangerous for driver and passenger to me.  They also carry the oddest cargo at times.   The alternative a bicycle .. Mark....need a flat fixed?  Mattress shop in case you need a nap while waiting.

First stop was lunch ... out door cafe and a chance for eggs and chips again... Ashish had his separate... mine mixed together and pan fried.  Flies like outdoor food also... so waving a hand often is becoming a habit at mid-day meals. 

I noticed a bar across the street and given something I had noticed a week earlier when we went to a local spot for a beer and dinner I went over to capture on film.   Notice the bars... the gentleman explain given robberies bars put a grate up between the counter and the bar tender.  Your beverage is served through an opening after money is received.   Seems to cut down on surprises.   

Ok we are realy to hit the streets.. but as you do that be very  very careful... this is what appears to be a finished drainage ditch running the length of the street... about a 3 foot drop of a very uneven sidewalk every 4 or 5 feet.  Doug K... we could use an engineer.

Watch your step

Fall in the ditch or need a rest.... consider buying a chair or couch.

The ladies were full of energy looking for Kanga wrap skirts

At which point the guys considered just buying a paper and reading it.
Remember the couches

A number of gentlemen were selling roast
corn on the cob

A bit of coconut and its juice sold from the
back of a bicycle

One thing that strikes me is the lack of animals helping to do the heavy work.  Very different than for example what I saw in India.  Fellows like the ones above pull these car tire sized vehicles often loaded ... up and down the streets sometimes long distances... some of them are just glistening in the mid day sun and look amazingly strong. 

This streets drain was nicely covered with planks

Petra's high end  flip flop happened to break and I suggested I had seen
 repair shops. she found one and for 33 cents (she actually tipped  double
 the price .. so a total of 2000 Tanzanian shillings) it was as good as new!!    

Had she not wanted to fix the flip flop she could have
 bought  a slightly used pair at any one of a
 number  of piles we saw.

A street view.. with lots of Sunday afternoon action ... the people selling the shirts are university students and called out to "IBMers" after recognizing the lecture we did.

 The new young in Tanzania are leading in the small business sector                               

Finally we checked out the food section of the market.  I figure a lot of this produce travelled down the mountain side we hiked yesterday. I love the colors.

Tomatoes, carrots, ochra, pepper, eggplant, cabbage and a few things I did not recognize 

Xaio doing some mango, pineapple and limes negotiations

Cabbage, tomatoes, ochra

Banana,  casava, and in Swahili nyanya chungu (a bitter tomatoe) 

Eggplant, cabbage, pineapple, ochra, potatoes, coconuts

That is Christie and Petra's feet .. they bought
 a selection from this ladys

Tomatoes

 I also bought two bags of a mix of these items for 3,000 shillings.  I planned to give them to someone on the street but decided to take it back to the hotel and give one to Mary and Jacquiline the maids that have been cleaning my room for 3 weeks.  Hope they like it as much or more than the Canadian note pads, pencils, button, colouring books etc. I have been leaving every second day or so.  A lady at the front desk said "you love your country very much" the other day ... then said she loves Tanzania!  Another female restaurant staff member asked me for my Canadian tie and for a coloring book for her niece.  Reminds me of the old days when I was consulting and travelling every week when we would roll into a city and hotel staff made us feel at home.  Hope the maids like the veggies  Our team sure enjoyed browsing and buying a few things!!

Jam packed weekend... with 4 or so hours of work mixed in to boot.