My African Dream

I am in Karatu now. My host Herman was diagnosed with malaria and UTI so the docs sent him back to his hometown to rest for the weekend. Hopefully I’ll see him on Monday or so.

He very kindly arranged for my bus ticket from Dar es Salaam to Karatu yesterday. It was a freaking 16-hour ride, the longest I’ve ever been on a bus since forever. It wasn’t terribly unpleasant though, with a number of rest stops where we could come out to stretch and go pee. I’ve read horror stories about these rest stops, but those that we stopped at yesterday were very clean. Just like what we have on Malaysian highways.

In fact, my few days in Tanzania now, I feel that this place is cleaner than what it’s been given credit for. I took a walk in Karatu town today, in the business area and residential area. Sure it was very dusty. Everytime a vehicle passes by, you feel like choking on sand and dust. But I didn’t see rubbish mounds and such. I think the impression of such African neighborhoods being dirty stems from the lack of proper infrastructure (if they had proper tarred roads, it wouldn’t be so dusty and dirty) and access to clean water to clean up.

People are generally open, warm, helpful and welcoming. I was in town this morning to get my line and data. A boy working for the shop spent a couple of hours with me, patiently explaining the different plans and helping me settle on the most value-for-money.

M-pesa and such money transfer facility via mobile phone credits is amazing (it’s very advanced here, I can’t help chuckling at the thought that we’re just only starting to have PayNow).

While we were sitting there setting up my line, so many customers came to the mobile phone shop “withdrawing” money that it felt like we were in a bank. They could send millions of Tanzania shillings via mobile credits to anyone with a mobile phone, withdraw-able at any location where there’s a mobile phone shop dealing in this (which means anywhere). Some smaller telcos only allow you to transfer to same telco but at lower commission, but big guns like Airtel and Vodafone enables you to send to any telco but they charge more. These guys also have promotions, like you get free data if you use Airtel Money to transfer, etc, as competition heats up.

A few people were enamored with my entry-level Redmi 4A phone. Feature phones are very alive here, we see some smartphones but the image quality sucks (MP is what these consumers care about). They asked if I could help buy and bring the phones here the next time I come to Tanzania. Do we smell a business opportunity here? Those Chinese bizmen who made millions selling phones to Africa are really no myth, it’s real 😂

I know right, the fieldwork instinct kicked in 😱😁 Wish I had a translator. Although the boy could speak reasonable English, it was sometimes a little difficult getting my point across.

What I love doing in my trips is to mess with kids. They’re usually the most curious and interactive. I used to bring candies when I visited rural China, but alas, I failed to do so this time 😞 The kids came to play with me, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that they came with agenda, i.e. to ask for money. After some time having fun, it seemed that they’re just genuinely having fun teaching me Swahili, and me teaching them English.

When I was about to leave, and we greeted each other ‘kwaheri’, an adult who passed by told them they should ask for money. Man, how could they destroy the innocence of kids like this – to expect something in return for every tourist they interact with? When I said no money, they asked for chocolates, biscuits, soda, … This makes me think, if tourists should share these treats at all with the local kids~to us, we’re just genuinely wanting them to have something nice once in a while, but are we also bringing harm as we inadvertently “educate” them to demand these things from tourists in exchange for something, like playing or a photo?

For this workaway, I get to stay in a Catholic monastery. The sisters are wonderful, and the monastery grounds are very well-kept and beautiful. I have my own room that’s clean and comfy. The sisters are also open to discuss and learn of other religions, although being someone that’s not terribly religious myself, I don’t have that much to share. Lol.

Well, anyways, to friends and family, I’m well taken care of here in Tanzania. I don’t feel unsafe walking amongst the local people who are generally pretty awesome. Hope I’ll be able to give back to the community with the work I’ll be doing with Herman later.