The 2nd Summer of 2009

Our time in Tabora has concluded and Tanya and I are flying to Zanzibar for much needed R&R. My Kili trek is off as I hurt my knee playing basketball, so I will be doing lots of scuba diving instead over the next two weeks. Tanya and I are going to get scuba certified in Zanzibar and then I will head to Pemba for more diving. We are really looking forward to having a chance to actually rest and take a breath on our sabbatical. We have been going non-stop for the last 2 months, so it will be nice to feel like we are on vacation.

What a great last Saturday evening in Tabora! Well the first half of the day was quite awful. We were in a mad dash at work, as we seemingly have been for the last few weeks, to complete our work to hand off to the incoming consultants. I woke up at 6 am on Saturday morning…the earliest I have been up yet and in time to see my first Tabora sunrise, which was amazing, as I began to get my work organized. Yesterday afternoon we had another great Brazilian BBQ with the Adrian and Claudio and then headed to the Orion for one last hoorah. We had a great send off party and we are going to very much miss our friends in Tabora.

Friday! Today’s our last day in the office (well, weekday – we’ll be back Saturday and Sunday!). We have tons of notes to type up and get our stuff together before we leave on Monday. Goodbyes are hard, as always. Hilda, the multi-tasking lady who works in our office (she does secretarial work, is one of the few people who has a computer here, cleans our office and occasionally comes to our house to cook for us) has been our best friend. Pasco, the public health official who sits next door, has been another good friend. Last weekend, we went to Pasco’s house for lunch and met his wife and sons and saw his house. They made us so much food! We ate outside in this little, thatched shack constructed in his front yard. I loved it! It was nice to be part of his family and life for an afternoon.

Earlier this week, we hosted a meeting with the district commissioner (DC) and the municipal director (MD) to present what MCI is doing and what the basic premise of our project is – Foreign Direct Investment can help stimulate domestic enterprise and foster economic growth. The DC and MD had invited over a 100 people from the local and regional government, business owners and community leaders like the Church pastors. About 60 people turned up, which was more than Cameron and I expected! The logistics were – “interesting”! All invitees received a hand-delivered letter inviting them to the location. The morning of the meeting, we learned the venue had no electricity. So the venue was changed and a sign and a person planted at the old venue directing attendees to the new one. The new venue looked like a crazy frat party took place there the night before and it was over an hour past the appointed time before everything was set up.

The meeting actually went really well. The DC and the MD explained why they were supporting MCI and we spoke about our objectives and findings thus far. We introduced the concept of a task force to enable public-private sector dialogue and had round table discussions at the end to get some ideas from the audience. The audience was great (minus a couple of snoozers!) and had lots of questions and opinions. Cameron and I were unsure whether we’d be able to pull off an hour and a half but instead, the meeting went on for three and half hours! Ofcourse, drinks and samosas made an appearance – thank goodness!

We’ve looked at sunflower oil processing, honey or beeswax processing, timber processing into furniture and building materials, textile manufacture, and dairy processing as ideas for potential investment here. We’ve also tried to learn about tourism and poultry hatching and meat processing. Hopefully, the team that will be coming after us will be able to determine, through demand and market research, which of these opportunities is most viable.

On another note, Zanzibar! Here we come!