Day Twenty Eight

I woke up at 7:00 AM this morning! Can you believe it? And I’ve made it fine through most of the day, despite doing a lot of walking. I always knew there was some hidden reservoir of energy in my body just waiting to be exploited like a multinational corporation on a newly discovered African oil field. =P Most of the day was spent dealing with NTC e-mails and members of the Committee itself, trying to encourage them to do what they’re supposed to in a timely fashion. I guess I’m kind of like a Bahá’í whip.

I had some “adventures” in the sun today. The weather is getting to where it’s almost enjoyable when the sun goes behind a cloud, but if it’s out and blazing in the sky then forget it. I had to walk to the dala dala stop to buy some credits for my cell phone, or “mobile.” The whole mobile process here is unusual. First, you buy the phone, then you buy a SIMM card, and then you buy X amount of credit and put it on the phone. When you run out, you go buy more. It’s sort of like a pay as you go plan. The traditional plans we have in America are totally unheard of. Also, most people use text messaging, or SMS as it’s called here, because it’s substantially cheaper than actually calling. It took a bit of conversation before they understood what I wanted, again highlighting the need to learn more than one word of Swahili a day. Today's word was jangwa, which means desert.

After lunch, I confirmed with Dr. Sabet what I would be doing after the National Convention at the end of April. He’d mentioned that he wanted me to visit home front pioneers, but I didn’t know he meant all of them. There are over 15 of them spread out all over the country! So if I go to visit them one after the other, I’ll basically be traveling for the entire month of May and part of June. Here’s a map of Tanzania so that you can follow along. I’ll be going to Zanzibar, Iringa, Morogoro, Mtwara, Arusha, Singida, Shinyanga, Mwanza, Kigoma, and Mfindi (or Mufindi), and that’s just what I know. I imagine there will be a few more towns along the way.

The Sabets are also discussing going to Brazil for the month of July to visit relatives. I have no idea what they intend to do with me. I’ll likely burn the house down or get robbed or something if I’m alone for a month. Maybe I’ll be able to do some traveling of my own, but it’s so expensive! You have to pay like $100-$200 to get into the national parks. Although I guess if you’re coming to Tanzania for vacation, chances are you’ve got the money to pay it. I bet I can find some cheap stuff to do.

This afternoon I met with a man who lives in Dodoma who is helping me make arrangements for the National Convention. Although he'd been described as a reluctant participant in assisting, he turned out to be very nice and friendly. Depending on his work schedule, I'm supposed to go to Dodoma on either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday and stay for two days to make various arrangements. He's going to accompany me, which I didn't expect, and show me around Dodoma a bit, so I can see the real Tanzania instead of just Dar. While I was at the Centre, I discussed the whole work situation with the office manager. Basically it boiled down to her wanting me to work from the National Centre instead of home. While I have my own personal opinions about that, I decided it was best to just go with the flow, so I'm going to be at least dropping by the Centre in the mornings three or four times a week to see if there's anything they need help with.