Shakes on a Plane

Tomorrow, my time in Tanzania will be over, and I’ll be boarding a plane to the UK, then to the US. There are a few activities that I’m looking forward to – meeting my new niece, eating a taco, and taking a hot shower – but also some memories from Tanzania that will stick with me:

• Teaching our friend Ole – who was photographed by a photographer in Zanzibar – how to use Skype to communicate with the many attendees at the photographer’s exhibit opening in Bulgaria. Attendees from Cuba, Bulgaria, France, and China were able to talk to Ole live as they bought prints of his portrait from the photographer. Ole had never heard of Skype or Cuba, but experience with enough tourists had taught him how to greet his fans in English, French, and Mandarin
• Getting a haircut at Smart Barber Shop (which competes with Smart Shavers, Smart Salon, and Smart Haircutters, among others). The barber took about 2 minutes to shear the hair off my head, then spent about 35 minutes giving me a world-class fade. He then shampooed my head and told me my new style was “safi sana”, or “very fresh”. I spent about $1.50 for the service
• The country-wide obsession with Barack Obama. His face is everywhere, and he apparently lent his image to endorse a ketchup brand, several barber shops, a few clothing retailers, and countless other businesses. Several Tanzanians insist that Obama is part Tanzanian, and I see his face or name around town at least 5 times each day
• The daily encounters with our night guard, Augustino, who is about 3 inches shorter than me, 25 pounds lighter than me, and provides protection by sleeping next to our house at night...he usually isn’t woken up by the noise when I come home late at night. There are only about 10 words in English and Swahili that we exchange, but this somehow turns into the same lengthy conversation every night (“Hello”... “How are you” ... “I’m fine, how are you” ... “I’m great” ... “Good, peace to you” ... “Peace to you also” ... “Are you completely fine?” ... “Yes, completely; you?” ... “Definitely. You’re feeling fresh?” ... “Yes I’m feeling fresh; you?” ... “Yes. You are completely fresh?” ... “Yes, completely. Are you also completely fresh?” ....)
• Practicing Swahili with our housemate, Martha, while she learns English from an English teacher and practices with us. Her English is far better than our Swahili, but we somehow manage to communicate through context, hand signals, and translation from our other housemate, Danielle. I’m hoping to see Martha on her first trip to the US in August, when her English vocabulary will probably be larger than mine. Our Swahili progress was encouraging until we met Al, a Canadian American who has had 1/3 the time in Tanzania as us, but has gained at least three times our Swahili vocabulary
• Realizing from daily conversation how much Swahili is influenced by other languages: Prepare tea (“Chai tayaar”), Law (“Shariya”), Peace (“Salaam”).... are all phrases that I’ve heard or used before learning any Swahili. I also take pleasure in a few Swahili words that are easy to trace to their origins, such as the words for chicken (“kuku”), roundabout (“keepy-lefty”), and big butt (“tsunami”)
• Carrying in tanks of water every day, while we wait for our running water to be fixed. A guy with a wheelbarrow and tanks of water delivers a few jugs to us every morning, and we carry the jugs inside to fill buckets in our bathrooms and kitchen. We’ve gotten used to it, but running water – not to mention hot water – will be awesome. I didn’t realize how sought-after we were, but I hear that 2 of the water vendors got into a physical fight a couple of weeks ago for the rights to deliver water to our house
• Gaining familiarity with the neighborhood taxi drivers, who started out calling me “rafiki” (friend) while giving me the “mzungu” (Westerner) price, but now give me the right price the first time I ask. This made me feel pretty good, until I realized that Kat’s prices are usually one or two thousand shillings lower than mine
• The many “international” moments I’ve had after arriving – I hadn’t thought of Tanzania as being very “international”, but I’ve had more of these moments in Tanzania than in London, New York, Hong Kong, or anywhere else. Showing a Maasai cow herder to use Skype to talk people in Europe; playing volleyball at Kipopeo (“Butterfly”) Beach with people from Syria, Malawi, Tanzania, UK, etc; buying items from Chinese merchants who ONLY speak Swahili; pubquiz at an Irish pub, with a team comprised of a British IT professional, an American law student, a Hong Kong-based consultant, and myself (we won by a HUGE margin)
• Visiting Kenya to go on a safari with other Columbia students – meeting my future classmates, who came from Germany, Egypt, and Greece, and visiting some of the world’s most notable sites to see some of the world’s most ridiculous-looking animals. I got hella pictures, as well as confirmation that I’ve chosen the right school, with the type of classmates I was hoping for.
• Renting a Bajaji (also known as a Tuk-tuk or Auto-rikshaw) to drive myself and my friends around Dar Es Salaam. It was hard to find a place to legitimately rent one, but as expected, an illegitimate payoff to a Bajaji driver got me the keys and an experience I’ve wanted for years. I’m getting used to driving on the left and honking at old ladies that are in my way…I hella want to get a Bajaji in the US after I get back
• Finally, getting mugged on our first day – definitely a highlight for Kat and myself...enough said

There are other things I’ll remember – especially about the projects I’ve been working on – but the above is just a sample. I’m glad to have gained exactly what I came to Tanzania for: a lot of learning, a lot of fun, and a moustache.

J-I-T to Sh-I-T

It has been over a month since my last post – a dead computer, unreliable internet connections, and an increasingly busy schedule (World Bank folks from DC are coming to visit us on Monday, so we’ve been preparing for that) have kept me from posting, but I knew it was time to write something after I thought of the hella clever title for this post.

I mentioned in a previous post that I would get my thoughts together on Purchasing Power Parity vs. the Poverty Premium – I’ve sorta done that, but lack of a computer has kept me from digitizing the 2x2 that I sketched in my notes (gearing up for business school!). Instead, I’ve gathered some thoughts about the Just-In-Time (JIT), or Pay-as-You-Go (PAYGO) mentality that I’ve observed here. Demography and supply chain experts can correct me on the extent to which JIT and PAYGO are really related, but my rough understanding is that they’re both in play here in Tanzania.

Unlike the US, it seems like people tend not to commit any resources for future needs here – I’m not talking about saving money for the future; I’m talking about buying more than $2 worth of gas at one time. This could make sense in manufacturing, but it is carried to an extreme here.

I sorta see why that would be the case. I guess the reasoning is that impoverished populations are unlikely to have access to credit, because they are not deemed credit-worthy (which is a questionable claim). Instead, they are forced to pre-pay for everything with cash, which they may hold very little of at any one time. As a result, they are likely to buy only limited quantities of goods, only when they need them. Instead of going to CostCo and buying a 4-gallon bottle of cooking oil, for instance, they may buy a cup of oil at a time.

That makes sense to me, but I think that mentality has spread throughout the region – from personal spending to commercial and public spending; from the impoverished to the wealthy. In many commercial, government, and household settings, PAYGO approaches are not necessary; however, people still live by them. This is partly because the forced pre-payment approach is applied to everyone – not just the impoverished.

For example, less than 5% of transactions at major department stores – which cater to expats and wealthy Tanzanians – are paid by credit card; all else is paid in cash. I recently walked into a South African department store, in which 2 prices were posted for washing machines and refrigerators: a cash price, and a higher check / credit card price. Even rent, for which almost all landlords require pre-payment for 6-12 months, is often paid in cash. It is not uncommon to give a landlord 20 Million shillings in cash (~$15,000) all at once [which, as we’re finding, can lead to non-responsiveness when you ask your landlord to fix things, if you’ve already paid him for a full year…we’re still waiting for the luxury of running water].

The above few paragraphs are a little abstract, and may sound like a boring textbook (which might be an upgrade in stimulation from my voice), but I think the following anecdotes – all of which happened since the last blog post – illustrate this reactive mentality:

• The Barclays ATM has run out of cash several times when I have tried to use it. Barclays waits until the ATM runs out BEFORE filling it with cash. As a result, I am forced to go across the street to a competitor ATM, and pay out-of-network ATM fees
• I found myself at a copy center / internet café, in urgent need of some printing and copying. I asked for 4 copies of a 5-page document (20 pages total). The man at the counter had me wait while he went across the street to buy paper to put in the machine. He explained that he didn’t know I would be coming in to have copies made, so naturally, the copy machine wasn’t stocked with the 20 sheets of paper needed to meet my request. [By the way, the stationary store across the street didn’t have paper for him, because they hadn’t been notified in advance that he would be coming in for it]
• About 50% of taxi rides start with a drive to the nearest petrol station, where the driver has the attendant load his car with just enough petrol for the ride (e.g., $1-2 worth of gas). I have only once seen a taxi with more than a quarter tank of petrol. The drivers explain that they don’t want to spend a lot of cash on petrol until they’re sure they’re going to use it. As a result, I’ve found that it’s a good practice to allow a few extra minutes for any car trip, for a stop at the nearest BP station
• The iStore (an Apple retailer and repair shop in Dar Es Salaam) didn’t have restore discs for my computer, because I had not called ahead to tell them that I would be bringing it in. (In contrast, Apple repair shops in the US have restore discs on-hand for every type of computer, since it is a typical troubleshooting tool). I then waited 2 days for the iStore guy to go to his headquarters, and find out from them that they don’t own the restore discs at all
• All cell phone minutes are pre-paid, and only the caller pays; the person receiving the call doesn’t pay. Many calls I receive start with the caller saying “I’m about to run out of minutes, so I’ll need you to call me back”. That’s an improvement from another typical scenario, in which people call you and hang up before you can answer, so that you’ll see their number and call back. The typical re-charge amount is under 1000 shillings ($0.75)
• This mentality has spread to my habits, also: Electricity is pre-paid (at 14.5 cents per KwH, for anyone who’s curious), and I once forgot to buy electricity for our house before the electricity office closed. I found myself taking a “shower” in the dark (with pre-paid buckets of water) to conserve electricity until the next day…then turned on the air conditioning before I went to bed (my mistake)

There’s a lot of inefficiency that arises in this PAYGO / JIT / pre-payment economy – wasted time, wasted effort, wasted money, etc, during the above experiences. I’m not sure I can definitively say how to completely solve this…Maybe LED lights and solar panels will do the trick?

Settling In...Sorta

The last few weeks have been characterized by tumult: finding a place to live, visiting potential pilot sites, and checking in on our first operational entrepreneur on the other side of the country have left us tired and sick (hoping like hell that it's not malaria), but rich with new information that we'll be able to apply to the project over the next few months (and longer, for everyone else at the company). There is so much promise in our endeavor that it's a bit unfortunate that my time here will be so brief; I'll just have to hope that grad school is all that I've hyped it up to be for the last few years.

We had intended to get a house in Dar Es Salaam when we got here, but that has proven difficult - landlords generally require 12 months of payment up-front, and pricing is on par with San Francisco for places with guards (which is more crucial in Dar than in other places, especially for 2 Westerners with a bunch of electronic equipment and a quality of apparent cluelessness). Instead, we're subletting month-to-month from an American friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend that's in Tanzania for a year, as part of her academic studies. It's not as permanent an arrangement as we would have liked, but it gives us a place to put our things, a small sense of home, a little familiarity (made Cinnamon Toast this morning), and most importantly, a kitchen (I can't wait to make dinner for the first time tonight!).

As soon as we "moved in" to the house in Dar, we left for Karagwe, a district in the Northwestern region of Tanzania, near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda. It caught my attention that everyone was saying "have a pleasant journey", instead of "have a good trip", which is the usual nomenclature in the US, but now I understand: the trip from Dar Es Salaam to Karagwe is absolutely a journey, with no guarantee of pleasantness - 17 hours by bus to Mwanza, 1-2 days of waiting in Mwanza (during which we found a really good Indian & Chinese restaurant - yes, both cuisines in one place), 10 hours overnight on a ship to Bukoba, and 2-3 hours on a dala-dala (minivan bus system) to Karagwe (4 hours in our case, since we got stuck in the mud).

We then spent about 4 days in the Karagwe region, meeting with our entrepreneur, holding a focus group with his customers, tying up loose ends (signing contracts, etc), getting feedback on our product and financing structure, and picking up equipment that had been left for us there. We learned a lot of good information that we'll apply to the project, but I'll leave the recitation of those lessons to another time or source. Aside from the pure operational lessons, I learned that Tanzania is much more varied than I had imagined - it was cold as hell in the Northwest, even though it's closer to the equator than Dar, and the ambience was much different from that of Dar. The only thing that remained the same between Dar and Karagwe was that schoolchildren say "Good Morning" to you, no matter what time of day it is (since those are the first English words they learn in school). After our time in Kayanga (the town in Karagwe where we spent most of our time), we headed back to Dar with the 50+ kg of equipment that had been left for us.







I also picked up a few other insights that I might start putting to use:

• People aren't quite sure what to make of me, since an Indian could be a native Tanzanian or a foreigner. My Berkeley and Apple shirts, the fact that I'm the only adult wearing shorts, and my terrible Swahili have given me away (though one guy ran towards me in Bukoba yelling "You are Pilipino!"), but I might change my attire a little to blend in and get better pricing on basically everything
• Food is incredibly important: I've been eating 0-2 meals per day for the last week (down from my usual 3 meals and sometimes a snack), because I've been getting tired of the Wali Maharagwe (rice & beans) and Chips Mayai (French fry omelet) that are the only vegetarian items available at most restaurants. I simply haven't been hungry, but every meal I've had has made me feel MUCH better. I'll need to start keeping track of what I'm eating, to make sure I'm consuming a sufficient quantity and good balance of foods (today's task: find spinach somewhere, and maybe go to the Subway sandwich shop we spotted a couple of weeks ago)
• I'll need to learn patience (or as I view the issue, I'll need to tolerate inefficiency): The fact that we spent more time getting to Kayanga and back than we spent in Kayanga, the fact that we spent almost as much time waiting for people to show up late for meetings as we spent in the meetings themselves, and the fact that I'm posting this entry 24+ hours after writing it because I've been searching for a working internet connection are testament to that
• Relationships matter: Everything we have gotten here that has made life easier - good pricing, use of the captain's sleeping quarters to store our cargo safely on the ship to Mwanza, a place to live in Dar, advice on health care and food, etc - has come from friends-of-friends, or friends-of-friends-of-friends in the US. Furthermore, we're making an effort to get to know the potential business partners that we meet (asking about their kids, etc) - contracts and potential profit are not enough to motivate people here. I don't know if that's a Tanzanian thing, or a developing-country thing, or just a non-US thing, but it's certainly different from the strictly numbers-based business cases that I'm used to
• Traditional Purchasing Power Parity that we learn in macroeconomics isn't always in effect, even when considering strictly tradable goods. CK Prahalad makes a convincing argument about a potential alternative to Purchasing Power Parity that he calls the "Poverty Premium", which is certainly being played out (and is part of the reason we're here, in fact), but I think there may be an even deeper distinction to be made. I'm collecting some pricing benchmarks and trying to make sense of it; more to come on that later
  

Most of the above lessons are things that my parents have told me since I was four, but I guess some things have to be learned by doing, rather than by hearing. So far, I'm learning a lot, and really digging the project. For now, though, I sorely need some rest, food, NyQuil, and Gatorade.

Hakuna Matata

We’ve only been in Tanzania for a few days, but it already feels like weeks have passed – it’s not that we’re not enjoying it (quite the contrary), but that our days have been packed. If it’s true that things move slower in Africa, then we’ll probably look back at the last few days as an aberration.

After spending 3 days in Dar getting mugged, setting up local appointments, meeting other expats (through friends in the US), and having meetings with several NGOs & potential business partners, I feel that were are off to a promising start. Strangely enough, the fast pace of our days has manifested itself not in stress, but in optimism. In fact, the tension in my upper back and shoulders that has been bugging me for over a year (borne from stress and extended computer usage) has simply gone away.

The reason for my reduced level of stress came to me as our boat docked at our weekend destination of Zanzibar and I read the slogan that greets visitors to the island: Hakuna Matata (no worries). Kat and I had arranged to meet a few of our new friends (other expats from the US and UK, who are around our age) on the northern tip of Zanzibar, and the 20-odd hours that the six of us spent there was time that I absolutely relished.

Every once in a while, you have an experience that – while living it – you know will be engrained in your memory for life. I’m not sure that describing our time there really does it justice, but the heavily Arab-influenced island still maintains an old-world charm that made me feel truly immersed in a completely different world. This immersion allows a vacationer – even a 20-hour vacationer – to escape common worries and live the crap out of every minute.

Nearly every moment of my time on Zanzibar can be characterized by details that I’ll look back on fondly: the distant sound of Arabic and Hindi music and the smell of saffron as I walked through a narrow cobblestone spice market in Stone Town…the satisfaction of talking down a taxi fare from $50 to $35 for the one-hour trip to the Northern end of the island…the faint sound of the Muslim call to prayer as I walked into the cooling Turquoise-blue water just before sunset…the taste of locally-grown cloves as I bit into the vegetable pakora that I had for dinner…the suspicion we had about our “native Tanzanian” waiter who had an East-London accent (as identified by the Londoner among us)…the view of African dancers and flavor of hookah at the beach party we attended…the alternating reggae, hip-hop, and Swahili music and the feeling of soft, cool sand between my toes on the outdoor dance floor …the view of a star-lit southern hemisphere sky as I floated on my back in the Indian Ocean at 1am…the fun of wading through waist-deep water at 3am to get back home during high tide…and the birds-eye view of the greenish-blue reefs, small fishing boats, and beautiful coastline as we flew back on a single-engine plane from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam, are all details that I will not soon forget.

Now I’m back in Dar, refreshed and eager to get back to work. I may have sand-soiled clothes and a phone that hasn’t recovered from being dropped in the ocean (by the way…email will be the best way to reach me for a few days), but that’s ok...Hakuna Matata!

Duality of Dar

I got to Dar Es Salaam yesterday morning, and the first few hours here – starting from my first descent on the African continent – showed me the tremendous beauty of the place, as well as the importance of knowing the locals, staying safe, and blending in. The following are some excerpts from my journal (a new practice for me…we’ll see how long it lasts).
Wednesday March 25, 2009 – 6:00am British Airways, London to Dar Es Salaam
I woke up from “sleep” a couple of hours ago – glad I got a few hours, but wasn’t able to sleep for the full 6+ hours I wanted. Neck sore from weird sleeping position (bent across 2 seats), and I’ve stretched out a few times. Breakfast was just served (interesting that in a few weeks, I might be missing plane food), but British Airways has been great so far. I try to sit quietly, reading, watching tv on the In-Flight entertainment system, etc – to calm myself down, because I am filled with excitement and today will be a long day once I land.

I open the window shade to my left, and there’s suddenly no hope of containing my excitement – I see the Eastern Horizon of the continent at sunrise (I’m over Kenya, crossing over to Tanzania), with the sun rising over the ocean, creating a gradient of orange, red, purple, etc (ROYGBIV, basically), as the clouds below me cast their shadow on the Indian Ocean. I can see where land meets water below me, as the tides descent on the beach gently.

Since I’m hella superstitious, I take the scene as a sign that good things are to come. I once again try to close my eyes and get some rest during my last few quiet moments, but it will probably be of no use – I’m just too excited!
Wednesday March 25, 2009 – 1:00pm
Dar Es Salaam - Oyster Bay District
HOLY CRAP – This has been an eventful day already (a little too eventful if anything), and it’s only mid-day! Kat and I made our way to Q-Bar Guest House in the Msasani district, and got a room that’s modest but comfortable. After checking in, we walked to Coco Beach (maybe a mile aw ay), and walked into the water (EXTREMELY warm – not much relief from the scorching rays of the sun). We then started making our way back to our room, drinking as much water as we could.

We got a little lost on the way back (forgot our map), and around 10:30am, Kat turned to face me as we were walking down a shaded road, and started yelling in fear. I looked behind me, and there was a guy with his left hand on my backpack, and his right hand above his head with a 8-10inch hunter’s knife, coming down towards me. Kat ran forward on the road yelling loudly to get the locals’ attention (a few street merchants and artisans were on the road), and I realized that I would have to give up my bag before the knife blade made its way to me. I slipped out of the backpack as the knife came down, avoiding the blade (and as I thought, ending the episode), but the guy kept coming towards me, with his knife lifted, swiping at me. I walked backwards toward the side of the road, facing him, and I either fell or was knocked down (can’t remember – it was too fast), landing on my back. I could hear local merchants screaming as people appeared on the road, as I said “take the bag” and tried to slide away from the guy, on my back. I didn’t understand why the guy wouldn’t just leave with my bag, and suddenly felt the fear that I could really get hurt.

Luckily, Kat’s screaming had created quite a commotion, and the guy felt a sense of urgency. He rushed toward me, and felt the cargo pockets of my shorts to see if I had any other possessions (but somehow didn’t feel the camera and phone in my real pockets), then ran away. I got up, and ran toward the villagers as I looked over my shoulder and saw the guy jumping over a nearby wall into some sort of compound. Kat and I asked each other if we were ok, which we generally were (though a little shaken up), and we decided to get a cab to take us back to a safer area.

As we walked away, the locals all yelled to us, gesturing that we should come with them, and saying something like “pori sana” (very sorry) repeatedly. We just wanted to get out of the situation, but the people were very apologetic about the situation, and wanted us to follow them. We followed about 10 people down the road (about 20 meters pas t he point of the mugging), and a guy emerged from wall on the side of the road with my backpack! He was covered in sweat, and he handed the backpack to me, apologizing for the mugger’s actions.

I kept repeating “Asante, Asante” (thank you, thank you), as I took the bag from him, and he insisted that I check the bag to make sure that the contents were still in it. I felt EXTREMELY fortunate that the locals had watched out for us, and that we were unhurt, with all of our possessions. I thought the episode was over, but there was more…

A few other locals yelled to us from the wall, insisting that we go through a door into the compound. We walked through (with about 20 people, by this point), as they guided us into the compound. We could see a couple of men running, trying to catch the mugger! The were furious that someone would do what he did in their neighborhood, and just getting my bag back wasn’t enough.

We didn’t see the guy, but the locals kept guiding us through the compound, into the courtyard between a few buildings (belonging to a foreign health organization, I think). There was a crowd gathered in the courtyard, with an armed guard holding the locals back, while a fairly elderly man tried to mediate the situation. Sitting on the ground next to the man was our mugger.

When Kat and I appeared, the mugger looked at us and said “I’ve every sorry; I won’t do it again”, but we were too furious to engage with him. Instead, we spent the next 15-20 minutes trying to understand the exchange between the mediator and the locals (in Swahili), who seemed to be insisting that the mugger be somehow punished. Finally, a man emerged from the building with a rope, and tied the mugger’s hands together (hand-cuff style).

The locals then led us to the gate of the compound, where there was a car waiting to take us to the police station. They wanted us to sit in the back seat next to the mugger – which we were not willing to do – so we hailed a cab. We then put the mugger in the trunk of the cab (mafia victim-style), as Kat and I were driven to the police station in the back seat.

At the police station, the police took our statement, as we could hear the mugger having the crap kicked out of him by the police. Another local man at the station said to us “Don’t worry, he’ll be taught his lesson. He’s lucky that he’s here – usually, he would be burned alive by the people in the neighborhood” (In the background, the mugger’s moaning continued). We dealt with several officers, each of whom spoke some English, as the local that had retrieved my backpack described the incident and told the police the exact location of the mugging (once again, in Swahili…We should learn this language). It was good to know that the police were dealing with the situation, but they kept asking us “What possessions are you missing”, and didn’t seem to understand that we wanted to charge the criminal, even though we got back all of our things. Finally, the police had us sign our written statement, and gave us a case number with a description of the charge: “TRYING TO STEAL”. We then gave a few thousand shillings (a couple of dollars) to the local that had retrieved our things, and found a cab to take us back to our room.



Looking back, I have some mixed feelings about this:

Should I take this as a bad omen, just as I took that sunrise as a good omen?

Was it somehow our fault that we were mugged? I’m sure we could have been less conspicuous and not carried a backpack, but it was 10:30 in the morning.

Is it ok that the criminal was physically abused by the police? This might be too weak a charge to imprison him, but will his experience being beat really deter him from attacking the next group of Americans that walks by? I feel a little bad for this, but I felt absolutely no remorse hearing him pleading with his abusers as I filed the report. Now I’m not so sure.

In the back of my mind….Crap, I should have gotten a shot of the tied-up criminal being put in the trunk of the cab! It would have made a great picture for this blog entry!

Most of all, I’m thankful – Thankful that we have our things, thankful that we are safe, and thankful that the locals took the effort to look out for us. I think this episode reminds me to be safe (and that it’s ok to be a little paranoid sometimes). We have since introduced ourselves to the police, introduced ourselves to the staff at the guest house, and made sure that we have some local resources to call on.

For now, to Kat (for her screaming), to the locals (for alerting the police and creating a commotion), to the police, and to the guy that got our bag back and tracked down the mugger: Asante.