I recently made a rather epic journey south to Malawi to renew my visa.  9 Days and approximately 2,700 km on a 250 dirt bike.  This is my chronicling of that tale.  Stay tuned for Day 2 coming soon...

(No Kelly this does not specifically have anything to do with the businesses or what we are doing here so you might as well stop reading now)

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It has been quite quiet on the blog these days – primarily because we have all been very busy. In this past week we have all made some amazing breakthroughs. Andrew spent two days with a mushroom farmer in Southern Tanzania (which included a 34 hour return bus trip) and leaned all the ins and outs of what is needed for the business he is starting. Tomorrow he is going to set up a mushroom growing operation in the shed at the house where we are staying. Apart from being a further experiential learning experience for him (and those who he will train) we are all excited about having mushrooms to include in our meals.

Vanja and Carmen completed their Feasibility Study on the bead production business which is proving to be a very prosperous venture. Apart from providing an attractive profit (relatively speaking) for the entrepreneur that takes the lead – the business model created ensures there is an income stream for women who badly need the help. They have already identified a Women’s Centre who will be one of several production outlets. He and Carmen spent several hours with the women recently, teaching them how to make the beads. I should mention that the majority of the women at the Centre are very poor and most are HIV positive or have aids. The bead business will contract with the Centre for required quantities each month thereby alleviating the load on just one or two women. With such serious health issues, their individual ability to produce on a regular basis will be impacted/hindered by their health each day. They/we have also identified other production centres, further referenced in this post.

Amy has had a significant shift in her ‘hair braiding’ salon. While she was originally going to capitalize on the tourist market for hair braiding in Moshi (a huge opportunity) she has decided to go back to the original smaller scale concept of braiding shacks in remote villages. They will also administer eye exams for women (a badly needed service).  
This week we had the opportunity of meeting with the Founder/Director of KCCO (Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology) as well as one of his senior staff members (Harieth).  This is the Centre where Dr. Nelson works when he is in Africa. For the past two years they have had a research grant which has allowed them to fund 42 advocates across a large portion of Eastern Tanzania. These advocates were selected by the tribal leaders (which mean they have respect and authority – plus communication and leadership skills). Their primarily role was to advocate eye care to women.  As many elders start to lose their sight, it is just an excepted fact in Africa that ‘that’s the way it is’. Once this progresses to cataracts and even blindness, it is also just seen as a sign of the aging process. They are not aware of the sponsored (free) treatment (including cataract surgery) through KCCO. The concept of ‘quality of life’ is unfortunately non existent. This is even more predominant among women since they are not valued as a priority in the tribal unit. Additionally, women in Africa don’t make themselves a priority. Husbands and children always come first. (Perhaps, not that different from Canada.)

The 2-year research grant has ended but KCCO is trying to identify ways to keep the women (advocates) involved. The results of their efforts over the past two years are very positive and KCCO advocacy is making a difference. The advocates indicated they were prepared to continue with their role on a volunteer basis – but needed to find some way of replacing the honourarium and travel expense money they were receiving.

Following our meeting at KCCO, it was determined that perhaps we could work together to not only identify the entrepreneurs for our Royal Roads enterprises but take it a step further – and provide business start up training for all women – if they were interested. Hopefully this training could help identify their own business ideas and provide the skills to make the business successful. They would naturally need microloans but these are quite accessible in Tanzania. 

We headed off on an exploratory trip this week. While the women come from many different villages, Harieth organized them into two central spots. Many of the women had to travel great distances on foot and/or by daladala to participate in the meetings. We administered a survey (translated to Kiswahili) to access their interest in receiving business training and/or starting a business. The total response (12 in one centre and 21 in another) was unanimous. They are all so keen and excited about learning. While these women only have a Gr 7 education, there are wise and intuitive in many ways.

At each session, we also mentioned our business ventures – which met with positive response. In fact we now have several women interested and will be meeting with each of them individually.

I have committed to teaching a 6 week course (6 x 2 hour sessions) on ‘How to Start a Business’. Even if the women are not involved in the current RRU project –it will be an opportunity to learn more about how they could identify business ideas and start a business. Starting the course will be contingent upon funding. We anticipate it will cost approx $25 per woman, which would cover room rental, travel expenses, translator and teaching materials. We are optimistic that we can raise the necessary funds (total approx.  $875). If you would like to support this project you can make a donation at www.intoafrica.biz. Your support is appreciated.
Cheers, Suz

I always thought that learning how to tell time was a challenge we mastered in Gr 1 (or before). After coming to Africa, my thoughts have changed. When we first arrived, we were on Daylight Savings Time, which of course, we were all accustomed to. Having said that, we had the challenge of adjusting time based on the time zones and where our families were located. Note - Amy's family is in Ontario (EST) while the rest of the team calls back to BC (PST). A bit challenging but we managed to master that one. Next - we globally switched from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time. Only a one hour difference but does have an impact when there are only a certain number of common favourable hours to communicate. We mastered that one as well.

THEN, we got on the ground in Moshi (Note: While at the school for 2 weeks we were somewhat protected and allowed to ease into the cultural differences). We had all been quite diligent in doing research about Africa before we arrived into the county but none of us swa anything about how they tell time in this country. It actually makes quite a bit of sense. Africans consider that their day runs from 6 am to 6 pm (approx the time it gets dark) and evening/night runs from 6 pm to 6 am. For us 'mzungu' (Kiswahili word for 'white foreigners') it makes a huge difference. Tanzanians consider 1 o'clock to be 7 am since their clock starts at 6 am. 2 o'clock is 8 am, 3 o'clock 9 am etc. until you get up to 12 o'clock which is 6 pm etc etc.

Several of the team have been caught in that trap. Vanja had scheduled a meeting the other day for 4 o'clock. As it turns out, the Tanzanian expected to meet at - what North American's would consider - 10 am (remember the day starts at 6 which is 0 o'clock so 4 o'clock is 10 am -). Hope you're following this. :-)

To compound everything - we were advised by our Swahili teacher Mama Lois (and many others) that time is really not an issue here and we should get used to the acroynm AFT (African Flexible Time). This means that it is not uncommon to show up for a meeting scheduled at X hour - only to find out you are the only one there and the rest of the participants show up 1 to 2 hours later (no excuses or apologies).

I must admit I'm getting a wee bit confused. :-) After living here for 4 months, I'm wondering how I will readjust when back in Canada. I don't think saying I'm still on AFT will cut it.

Just a little tidbit I thought you might be interested in. As mentioned in a previous post, all I can say is ... TIA (This is Africa).

Cheers, Suz  

Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/55996197@N05/

I had someone ask the other day just exactly what we are doing and how we are spending our days. Fair question and one I thought might be of interest to all. To say we are here to start up three micro-enterprises is quite ‘high level’ and somewhat vague in nature.

Since we finished our Swahili training and moved to our house in Moshi (2.5 weeks ago), the team members have been busy doing additional research around their business ventures. As a reminder, Amy is establishing a roadside ‘braiding tent’, which will offer braiding and plaiting primarily to the white, tourist market.  While there are a near infinite number of hair salons in the city offering a full range of hair treatments, none are really marketed directly to tourists. Vanja and Carmen’s business is the production of ‘Ucholi Beads’, a unique product of Uganda.  There are no local producers of these popular beads - they are being imported through Nairobi from Uganda.  Andrew is focused on a mushroom farming operation.

All of the business team members have been busy doing primary research for their businesses to confirm the need for the ventures and get as much information as possible with respect to pricing, competition, etc.  In Amy’s case, she has also been trying to determine the best location for her ‘braiding shack’, which has also included trying to track down the owners of the properties she has identified (not an easy task).  Amy, Carmen and Vanja have been busy sourcing out local suppliers for the required products essential to the success of their businesses. Andrew has been busy doing secondary research in terms of what is involved with setting up a mushroom farming business. He has become somewhat of an expert in a very short period of time. While growing conditions are very specific (and critical to the success of the operation), once he has confirmed the process, the rest is actually quite simple.

Another key focus has been on identifying the entrepreneurs we can work with and who will ultimately assume ownership of the businesses. Amy has already met with two potential candidates (referrals from our landlady). One seems quite promising. Carmen and Vanja have been able to connect with a Women’s Centre here in Moshi and actually spent several hours today training the women how to make the ‘Ucholi Beads’.  It appears that they now have production in hand but still need to identify the entrepreneur who will take the lead. As mentioned, Andrew is still working on the business model and mushroom farming process, but once that is in place he will be approaching women farmers in Mwika. We visited Mwika last week and were advised by a representative of the micro lending institution that there would likely be a lot of interest for his business idea and that a village meeting could be set up where we could go in and explain the venture to interested women. We are also hopeful that, apart from identifying women that would be interested in being trained to grow mushrooms, we could also identify an entrepreneur that would like to take the lead on the business – acting as a distributor for the products. It should be noted that although Mwika is a very remote village, it is a central shipping point for agricultural products. Large trucks from as far away as Dar es Salaam (9 hour drive) visit the Mwika market to purchase products in bulk and then distribute them to many of the larger centres (Arusha, Dar, etc.).

As for me – my primary role is to support the team and facilitate the business planning/start up process.  Yes, I know, that too sounds vague so I will provide examples. In the last few weeks, I have taken the key points from our Swahili training and created little booklets (21 pages). I had the booklets laminated and punched so they are easy to carry and will last for the next several months. I also made up 300 Swahili/English flash cards to facilitate continued learning of the language.  We have these sitting on our dining room table so everyone can flip through them on a regular basis. I created a template for the team to use for their Feasibilty Study/Business Plan (Note: We have targeted Dec 15^th as the deadline for the plans which will be forwarded to RRU and our funder Dr. Nelson for approval.) I have also spent time identifying business organizations and women’s groups - setting up meetings where possible. The more we can network and learn – the more we are positioned for success. Next week I plan on visiting both the Tanzanian Revenue Authority (the organization that is responsible for issuing business licenses) as well as the Tanzanian Investment Centre. While we are not ‘investors’, I am hoping I will be able to access data and resources to support our business ventures. I am also going to start supporting Andrew with some of the necessary market research for his venture.  We developed a small survey for hotel/restaurant owners (targeted as the primary market for the mushrooms) and will start pounding the pavement in the next few days.

I also act as the Financial Manager. I created a full set of books for the collective project and have taken responsibility for all monies in and out of the fund.  This sounds basic but it is important that we stay on top of it almost daily as receipts are the exception here rather than the norm. I also act somewhat as the ‘House Manager’ which means I ensure we have minutes on our house phone, monies on our power card etc.  (Note – In Moshi, you purchase your power time and punch the number into the power box outside the house.) One of our cupboards broke a hinge this week and we also have a broken toilet seat. Both of these are on my ‘to do’ list for next week in terms of finding the necessary replacement parts.  This in itself will be a challenge as there are no Home Depots or Cdn Tires in Moshi. I’ll leave it to Andrew and Vanja to actually do the repairs once I get the parts. J 

Apart from working on the businesses (as above noted) we spend time on household and personal chores. Personal laundry is a chore in itself. What I wouldn’t give for my washer and dryer again. J We have a cement table and cold water faucet outside the back of the house. You fill one plastic tub with your dirty clothes and laundry soap and then fill a rinse bucket. For heavy duty stains, we have a scrub brush. Once cleaned and rinsed, we hang our clothes on a line to dry. With respect to dinner and dishes, we have settled in quite nicely with a schedule that seems to be working so far. We each take responsibility for cooking our own breakfast (and clean up). We all seem to be in town for lunch so grab what we can. We have a rotational schedule for dinner. We each take one night to cook dinner and one night to do dishes. For easy math (even though we all have University degrees) we rotate the schedule Mon through Fri (five days – five people). We leave Sat open and again rotate who is responsible for Sunday dinner.  We shop almost daily as power has been sporadic and we don’t want to buy too much food and have it go to waste.

While we go our separate ways during the day, we are all home for dinner and the evening.  As mentioned in previous posts, it gets dark here very early (approx 6:30). We all arrive home before dark – cook and have dinner somewhere between 5:30 and 7:00 and then settle in for the night. That usually means a bit of private time (i.e. reading, working on the businesses, or watching DVD’s on individual laptops, etc.) Out of both boredom and a sweet tooth, we have also started filling the evenings with cooking desserts/munchies. Last night Amy and Carmen made Granola Bars and Andrew prepped Cinnamon buns that he baked this morning. The end of the day concludes with all of us watching 2 or 3 episodes of ‘How I Met Your Mother’ on Andrew’s laptop in the living room. (Note:  Carmen bought all 6 seasons on DVD’s while she was in China so we are set for awhile.)

On Saturday (our day off) Amy, Vanja, Carmen and I cook dinner for the 46 children at the orphanage down the road. (Reference my earlier post ‘This will Touch Your Heart’ for details.) Apart from cooking, this also entails going to the market to shop for the required food items. It’s almost a full day venture but very rewarding once you’re at the orphanage and interacting with the children. They thrive on the attention we give them – and it’s reciprocal.
Socially, we have met a few friends that we spend time with. There is a Canadian volunteer that lives in a house across the road and sometimes pops in. We also met a young girl from Saskatoon (Haley) that often stops by on the weekends to visit, have dinner and watch ‘How I Met Your Mother’.  I have become friends with Gislaine (the lady from Ottawa that cooks at the orphanage daily). She and I have gone out for dinner a couple of times at an Indo-Italian restaurant (very North American and a real treat).  We are all very excited because there is a movie theatre opening in Moshi today and we plan on attending ‘Opening Night’ (despite what the movie is). Not exciting by Canadian terms but everything is relative. We have adopted a new acronym … TIA – which means ‘This is Africa’. Not a complaint - just puts everything into perspective ... i.e. "we have no power again" ... "oh well, TIA."

On Sunday some of us walk down the road to the Keys Hotel. It is quite a nice hotel targeted to groups that are doing the Kilimanjaro climb. They have a nice swimming pool and a wonderful outdoor patio. You can swim in the pool and enjoy their lounge chairs for the equivalent of 21 cents CDN per day.

Sorry for the lengthy post – but now I hope you have a better idea of exactly what we are doing here. Mind you, it’s only the end of our first month in Tanzania so I’m sure things will change. STAY TUNED.   

Cheers, Suz

Walking through the streets of Moshi you encounter a myriad of sights, sounds and smells. I thought I would share some of these with you. 

Vendors are everywhere. There are no formal kiosks. People just claim a certain portion of the sidewalk and lay out their goods. Many others wander around with baskets in their hands or on their heads. Most typically you will see these types of vendors selling peanuts or baskets with cigarettes, etc. Wares carried around on heads cover everything from bananas to jeans to even draperies. Some vendors have carts and it is common to see them selling pineapples. You can purchase them whole or they usually have them cut into slices so you can just purchase a couple to munch on your way and quench your thirst. As an aside, I should mention that the pineapple here is much different from North America. It is much sweeter a lot juicier. It is also common to see similar carts that sell sugar cane. 

Another common site is women selling corn. They will set up an area where they can set a fire with a grate overtop where they roast cobs of corn. They sell for the equivalent of 15 cents CDN. While ‘corn vendors’ are more often seen in built up areas, it is also not uncommon to see a woman selling on a rural road with little traffic. 

Children in school uniforms is a common site. There is no cost to attend elementary school in Tanzania but parents must purchase school uniforms (which is interesting, based on the poverty. Families may not have food to eat but must pay for their children to wear a school uniform). Education is highly respected here and one of the reasons all children must wear a uniform (a sign of respect). While the government supports primary school – they do not necessarily provide desks or chairs for the schools. The parents of the students need to work together to raise funds for these. Middle and secondary school is very expensive and, as a result, few children continue past elementary school. If a family can afford to pay for secondary school, it is used for the boys. Many families do not invest in an education for the girls, since it is assumed they will not need it since their primary purpose is to raise children and keep the house (as well as the majority of family work such as farming).  DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE INEQUITY SO VISIBLE HERE IN SO MANY WAYS.  

Seamstresses are everywhere. In market areas, you will see up to 6 sewers in a block area. Most women have their clothing made which creates a high demand for sewers. The seamstresses usually have their machines set up on the sidewalk. I should mention they are VERY OLD treadle machines. One of our team members just had 2 pairs of Capri pants, a full length dress, a wrap around skirt, and a purse made – ALL for the equivalent of $21 CDN.  

It is also very common to see men with shoe shining kiosks (or blankets spread out). They seem to have a thriving business. It is amazing how clean Tanzanian people are. You would expect that with all the dirt, dust and vehicle exhausts – combined with the fact that there are no (or VERY few) washers or dryers – combined with the poverty – that people would be somewhat dirty. Just the opposite. Everyone is very cleaned. Men frequently wear pressed pants and shirts and take pride in polished shoes.  

The other thing I should mention is Coke is everywhere. They provide free merchandise to restaurants and bar owners that are all heavily branded Coke. I stopped at a street side café the other day that had plastic tablecloths and chairs – all with the Coke logo. Coke also provides signage which has the Coke brand on one side and room for the establishments name on the other side. I should also mention that on the signage, Coke uses very provocative messaging with a women drinking out of a bottle.

As I mentioned in a previous post – there are taxi’s and daladala’s everywhere. You can’t walk even a couple of yards without a taxi driver trying to offer you a ride.

Definitely not Canada – but definitely interesting.

Cheers, Suz

The scale read 190.5 and I knew that it was time to act…

The most popular way of getting around is dala dalas. It’s somewhat similar to our bus system in that they have standard routes. The dalas are also very old beat up vehicles. They are 12 passenger vehicles – sort of a cross between a mini-van and VW. It is not uncommon to see up to 24 people in one dala dala. Sometimes people are stacked 2 and 3 deep. (A very pleasant smelling experience, I must say). J Dala dalas are common into town but also travel between towns and cities. I’m not sure I’d want to one for any distance. They do have bus shuttles between cities which is the best way to go. The bus shuttle between Arusha and Moshi cost the equivalent of $3.50. A dala dala would be half that price. 

Motor scooters are also very popular here. They call them motorbikes but they are no more than 150cc (which in my mind is just a motorized bicycle considering I ride an 850 cc at home). Many of the motor scooters have large baskets/carriers on the back to move merchandise. Large hand pulled carts are also very commonplace to move merchandise around. Probably the best way of merchandise is on women’s heads. It is AMAZING what they can carry. I saw one women the other day with a piece of wood (approx 18” x 36”) on her head loaded with banana’s. Two things of interest – I have yet to see anyone drop anything! Secondly, it is very rare to man carrying things on his head. Women do the majority of work. 

For now, I’ll stick to taxis or walking. J 

Cheers, Suz  

I love the sounds of Saturdays because that is typically the day for weddings (and there seem to be a lot of them). Weddings are a major celebration. After the ceremony, the wedding party is led through town by a pick up truck that has a 6-8 piece band in the back. The band is primarily made up of horns and drums, but I did see a portable keyboard in the back of the one of the trucks the other day. All members of the band wear matching black dress pants and usually custom-made silk shirts in matching bright colours. Behind the pick up truck, there are usually 2-3 decorated cars and it is not uncommon to see 8-10 scooters behind that. Last Saturday one of the wedding parties actually had an escort of three men on horses with cowboy hats on – followed by the truck and rest of the party. 

Once they have travelled up and down the main street a few times, the truck leads the entourage to the Reception location where the band continues to play at the entrance to the Hall and everyone sings and dances. After about 20 minutes of singing/dancing, the wedding party moves inside. 

I should mention that dowries are still very common in Africa. The brides family is paid for the purchase of the woman. While weddings and marriages are very festive, the reality is that in the majority of cases, once the bride has been purchased, her family no longer assumes any responsibility for her. If the husband is abusive or neglectful of his wife and/or family, the wife usually has no resources. Her family will not take her back. In urban centres, there is more flexilibility in these practices – however they are still very much the norm. I definitely won't be looking for my next husband here.   

Cheers, Suz

It has been a month now and that means that our time here is already 25% over.  It is easy to think that four months is a long time, and then suddenly you are a quarter of the way through and you quickly realize just how little time it really is.  This is especially true here, where everything moves pole pole (slowly).  In Canada you can be pretty much assured of hearing back from people in a certain amount of time, of being able to conduct effective research in a timely fashion, of having at least some general idea of where to find the inputs that you need, suppliers/wholesalers etc.  Here however everything kind of feels like an uphill battle compared to our usual frame of reference.  The Internet is slow and unreliable, suppliers are hard/impossible to find, people are slow to respond to queries, everything just moves at a snails pace.  By Canadian standards 4 months should be just enough time to get things done without having to panic.  Here?…  The good news is that slowly but surely we are making progress, developing connections, and things are looking like we will somehow pull them off, but there is still an amazing amount of work to be done.

Let’s, however, recount some of the more promising things that have happened in the last little while. 

I have found evidence of a few small mushroom-growing operations in the area, which are generally considered a success, and there is a good amount of interest from locals to learn the skill and take this on as a supplementary income stream.  In the last two meetings with local people that we have had, both have indicated that they know people whom they can connect me with to learn from, which is highly encouraging.

Amy has been making good progress on finding a suitable entrepreneur to run her Mwazungu focused braiding operation, as there seem to be a number of people in the area with the necessary skills and interest in the business.  Yesterday she met with one girl, a Kenyan now living just outside of Moshi, who seems very keen for the opportunity.

Vanja and Carmen are making good progress on their bead plan.  The other day we met with some people from the Pamoja Tunaweza Women’s Centre, who work primarily with HIV positive women giving them shelter, training in business skills etc.  The centre is largely staffed by volunteers, on CIDA internships, who we met a couple of weeks ago in town.  They are quite interested in the possibility of partnering up, and training some of their women to make the beads as a supplementary income stream.  This is a particularly good fit, as many of the women cannot leave their homes for stretches when they are ill and this greatly limits their ability to earn.  But with the beads they can continue to produce and earn with little stress at home.

As a final note: I am thinking about buying a motorbike this week, to allow for easier getting around, and as it looks like in the next few weeks I may need to start making trips out of the area to learn the mushroom business from other producers.  I have missed my bike and it will be nice to get back on and ride.  All I have to do is master riding on the wrong/left side of the road and avoid death in the sometimes-insane traffic here.