sitting on a bench under an awning, waiting with ten or so other unfortunates without an umbrella for the daily onslought of rain to stop, or at least slow enough for a sprint, i found myself pondering, once again some interesting observations. first, tanzanians appear not to sneeze. this was an extremely relevent observation as i have a bit of a cold and always attract an uncomfortable amount of stares and "pole"'s (think poor you) when i go into my frequent fits of sneezing. in my five or so months here, i have witnessed three tanzanians sneezing. it gives them a much more hearty, capable sort of image in contrast to the pale, sneezing creature that i have become. because although yes, i am in africa, it happens to be the rainy season and i have been hard pressed to find the necessary rays of sunshine. i might as well be in england.
another somewhat health related observation is that tanzanians interpret yawns differently than most americans. one day at the solar workshop i yawned. when someone noticed this, i got a hearty "pole" for my hunger. i thought that obviously my swahili is not as good as i thought because that's ridiculous, i was obviously tired. another day, another yawn, one of the deaf workers noticed this time and signed "pole" for my hunger. this required investigation. it turns out that tanzanians regard yawns as signs of hunger, not in any way related to being tired. hmm. my swahili abilities can be relied upon once again.
so many mysteries and discoveries, so little time. about three weeks in fact. hmm. chris and i had the most romantic valentine's day in our history, which to tell the truth isn't saying much but this was truly lovely. some friends here treated us to a stay at kisalanza farm which is about an hour from iringa and is absolutely lovely. to the point of ridiculousness actually. we stayed in a room in a converted stable house which had a bed with actual fitted sheets instead of just a top sheet tucked-into the foam mattress. that would have been enough for me in and of itself but there was a laughably beautiful sunset, and dinner. dinner was in the ruins of a mud hut with a restored roof, which gave it a grotto feeling, especially with the kerosene lamps and small charcol stove. the food was amazing, quiche with fresh, locally made fetta and beautiful fresh vegetables, savory scones with homeade cream cheese, a ridiculously rich chocolate cake. the only problem with the whole thing is that we stuffed ourselves so full that we couldn't actually move. the breakfast was just as lovely, which was a welcome relief because i have been panicking a bit about my daily breakfasts of two slices of whitebread with margarine. call me spoiled. but it was an absolutely wonderful time, such a nice way to enjoy a holiday we so rarely celebrate.
soon, i will see many of you. love. annie
Feb 16, 2008
Feb 2, 2008
who's to say it's not for the best?
i've been quite bad at keeping in touch lately, and for that i apologize. my birthday was quite unforgettable. chris arranged a surprise safari to the nearby national park, which was lovely despite being possibly charged by an angry elephant resulting in our being stuck in a swamp for three hours and chris getting a wretched sun-burn. but that is our style, we don't just go on a safari, we go on an adventure safari. it was great fun and excitement.
we've been focusing most of our time on the solar project, with me dabbling in some cafe work and bookeeping. our time is rapidly drawing to a close and so we're trying to ensure that our impact is as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.
i still take time for trying to absorb as much as possible. yesterday morning, as we were waiting for a dalladalla (minibus)i saw a rather horrible thing. a women climbed out of the dalladalla, the conductor went to get her parcel from the trunk. it was a bucket. the bucket fell over and blood seeped out. then i noticed that in the bucket was a pig head, barely covered by a piece of cloth, it's ear flopping all around. a way to start the day. no pig's heads before 9am please. other strange animal sitings: three goats strapped onto the back of a bicycle, chickens heads popping out of the most unlikely places, actually, most of my images revolve around animals strapped on bicycles. so to those of you who balk at doing grocery shopping on a bike, i say if some people can carry goats, or up to 5 mattresses, or large panes of glass, i can carry some flour and broccoli.
so we're looking at the end of our trip rapidly approaching and towards coming home to the comfort of a recession. if anyone has any leads on jobs for us, please let us know. seriously.
love. annie
we've been focusing most of our time on the solar project, with me dabbling in some cafe work and bookeeping. our time is rapidly drawing to a close and so we're trying to ensure that our impact is as long-lasting and sustainable as possible.
i still take time for trying to absorb as much as possible. yesterday morning, as we were waiting for a dalladalla (minibus)i saw a rather horrible thing. a women climbed out of the dalladalla, the conductor went to get her parcel from the trunk. it was a bucket. the bucket fell over and blood seeped out. then i noticed that in the bucket was a pig head, barely covered by a piece of cloth, it's ear flopping all around. a way to start the day. no pig's heads before 9am please. other strange animal sitings: three goats strapped onto the back of a bicycle, chickens heads popping out of the most unlikely places, actually, most of my images revolve around animals strapped on bicycles. so to those of you who balk at doing grocery shopping on a bike, i say if some people can carry goats, or up to 5 mattresses, or large panes of glass, i can carry some flour and broccoli.
so we're looking at the end of our trip rapidly approaching and towards coming home to the comfort of a recession. if anyone has any leads on jobs for us, please let us know. seriously.
love. annie
Jan 9, 2008
and we can thank socialism for that!
the afore promised nerve-calming entry never quite materialized and so i will enter into a brief discussion of tanzanian politics.
first. the situation in kenya is not flowing over into tanzania. the only result in tanzania is closed borders and a place for refugees, but absolutely no violence.
second. although kenya and tanzania share many things such as: ecosystems, mount kilimanjaro, and the maasai, the two countries have had drastically different political pasts.
when tanganika won their independence in 1961, Nyerere, commonly referred to as "mwalimu" or "teacher" was elected president. Nyerere followed a socialist agenda, much of his own making. he ruled absolutely but without much corruption that plagued other african leaders during the post-colonial times. he had many flaws in his regime, most notably his collective agriculture system which he thought was a natural outcome of the melding of traditional african culture and socialism. he did however, unite tanzania in a way that did not happen in many other east african, or indeed african countries. education in his time was free, and in kiswahili, with the result that literacy rates soared in the country and a large portion of the country is able to communicate in a common language. he pulled people together in a way that made them identify as tanzanians first, tribe second. in many ways nyerere's policies failed, but it is a country much more united than many other neighbors.
kenya didn't have this same leader to bring unity. their first leader was kenyatta, who was a member of the largest tribe, kikuyu. kenyatta opened the country up to trade and followed the classic capitalist route for economic improvement, much different from his southern neighbor, nyerere. soon after his election, he was accused of patronage politics, favoring members of his own tribe. these tensions have persisted since kenyatta's time, inevetibly being exploited now by the current politicians.
so after that brief and very superficial explaination, you can see that the tensions in kenya are quite unlikely to flow into tanzania and you can be glad. but quite sad at all of the atrocities being committed in kenya and the disappointing fall of one of the more stable countries in east africa. i hope that if not detailed, this was at least somewhat enlightening. love. annie
first. the situation in kenya is not flowing over into tanzania. the only result in tanzania is closed borders and a place for refugees, but absolutely no violence.
second. although kenya and tanzania share many things such as: ecosystems, mount kilimanjaro, and the maasai, the two countries have had drastically different political pasts.
when tanganika won their independence in 1961, Nyerere, commonly referred to as "mwalimu" or "teacher" was elected president. Nyerere followed a socialist agenda, much of his own making. he ruled absolutely but without much corruption that plagued other african leaders during the post-colonial times. he had many flaws in his regime, most notably his collective agriculture system which he thought was a natural outcome of the melding of traditional african culture and socialism. he did however, unite tanzania in a way that did not happen in many other east african, or indeed african countries. education in his time was free, and in kiswahili, with the result that literacy rates soared in the country and a large portion of the country is able to communicate in a common language. he pulled people together in a way that made them identify as tanzanians first, tribe second. in many ways nyerere's policies failed, but it is a country much more united than many other neighbors.
kenya didn't have this same leader to bring unity. their first leader was kenyatta, who was a member of the largest tribe, kikuyu. kenyatta opened the country up to trade and followed the classic capitalist route for economic improvement, much different from his southern neighbor, nyerere. soon after his election, he was accused of patronage politics, favoring members of his own tribe. these tensions have persisted since kenyatta's time, inevetibly being exploited now by the current politicians.
so after that brief and very superficial explaination, you can see that the tensions in kenya are quite unlikely to flow into tanzania and you can be glad. but quite sad at all of the atrocities being committed in kenya and the disappointing fall of one of the more stable countries in east africa. i hope that if not detailed, this was at least somewhat enlightening. love. annie
Jan 4, 2008
fupi lakini tamu
i believe chris will be writing a soothing explaination of the differences between tanzanian and kenyan politics in an effort to alleviate the worries of our friends and family. i will instead write on a fairly trivial subject. so throughout my travels, there's always a type of awkwardness i feel because everyone else seems so adept at doing things that are unfamiliar to me such as: somehow squeezing my body in between two people when given only enough room for maybe my neck, but not my entire butt. i stuggle and apologize and settle myself on the edge whereas a tanzanian woman with hips that make my sizeable hips look waif-like will look at the same size space and without thinking plunk herself down and somehow make space. walking in the incredibly uneven streets is a stuggle for me, whereas women here can not only carry a baby and an entire tree but wear heels without stumbling. anyway, so all of these things and today i saw a man running to catch a dalladalla that i was sitting in, he prepared to leap smoothly into the moving vehicle and instead ran smack into it, provoking the laughter of the entire car. not nice to laugh at other people, but it is nice to once and a while not be the source of clumsiness.
Solar project to-do list
I thought that to give readers back home a better idea of what Annie and I are actually doing here I'd post my to-do-list and along the way articulate for my own benefit some of the challenges we're facing. Hopefully from this I can better understand what our priorities should be for the remaining 10 weeks.
Update BOM (Bill of Materials) with new frame cost
Every solar panel we sell is enclosed in a protective wood frame. The frames are fairly simple but do require some detailed carpentry work. We've outsourced their production to a fundi (a generic kiswahili word for some sort of skilled craftsperson, everything from electricions to seamstresses). Turns out I was working from the old price when I developed the bill of materials. Now the frames are about 500 Tsh (US$0.45) more expensive. We really should develop an in-house production system, and it seems like that was something that Gary was working on before he had to leave. We have a surplus of labor in the solar workshop, so it is just a matter of figuring out how to make these things, training everyone and then following up with strict quality control. The frames are the third most expensive component after the solar glass and labor, but because we are only using 25%-40% of our labor potential (very low efficiency) we could really drive down the cost.
Reply Gary report
I finally got the email address of my predessessor after only two months of asking. Turns out he wrote a pretty extensive report and summary of his work, which he kindly emailed to me before Christmas. Some of the things he was working on are solved now, such as low cost lighting, but others I had no idea existed, such as the extensive troubles with making plastic frames in house (probably why we now use wood), how the current quality control system was implemented, etc. I'm also going to print out his report and put it in the solar folder for Destori, the Tanzanian man Neema is hiring with funding from Solar Aid to replace Annie and me.
Create Instructions
One nagging thing I've been meaning to finish for almost two months is a set of printed instructions in kiswahili and english. Nothing we're doing is complicated, but it is not intiuitive especially for people without much exposure to electrical gadgets. We need to translate the instructions, take some instructional photos, test them out on a couple people and get them printed.
Verify functioning of 1W panel w/ Kobe
Paul has complained a couple times that his one watt panel does not work with the kobe (turtle) universal phone charger. The 2W panel works great, but it would be quite unfortunate if the 1W panel didn't supply enough current for the charging circuitry. There are a couple alternative problems, such as maybe Paul isn't putting his panel in direct sunlight, maybe the sunlight in the rainy season is not sufficient, or maybe his charger is a different design. The problem with buying really cheap chinese electronics on the street is that you never know what is going to be inside the box. I've bought 3 or 4 regular wall AC powered phone chargers on the street out of curiosity (they cost maybe two bucks each) and each one has been curiously designed in conflict with my limited knowledge of the laws of electronics. A one diode bridge rectifier? The components never match the PCB silk screen layout either, showing that the design has been changed since it was first designed, perhaps dependent on the price and availablity of components. Really makes you appreciate things like CE and UL certification.
Price Sheet
I'm kind of proud of our current price sheet, it looks straight out of a catalog page with pretty pictures and everything. But it is still in English and our prices are going up slightly next week so it's in need of an update. We also need to verify my translation of the wholesale price sheet.
Duka Project
We are trying to expand our sales network to the point that every resident of the Iringa region is within a 500 Tsh (US$0.45) public mini-bus ride of buying our products. Radio shack has apparently reached the point where something like 90% of the people in the US are within 7 miles of one of their stores. They're still working on the whole selling things people need or want part, but you have to admire the market penetration. We hope that by expanding into the rural areas we can introduce our products to a wider audience beyond Iringa city limits and also maintain people's attention for the month or two they will need to save to buy, say, a light set. To do this we have applied for a interest-free loan on behalf of 12 yet unknown small shops (called duka in kiswahili) to allow them to borrown 160,000 Tsh (US$140) for 20 months. This start up capital would finance the purchase of initial inventory.
To encourage accountability Andy has opted to identify shops through existing contacts within the Diocese. I need to identify who these contacts are and the encourage Andy to move ahead in identifying shopkeepers. Then we will organize some sort of introduction and training, perhaps a seminar in Iringa or maybe one-on-one with each shop. Either my kiswahili needs to improve dramaticaly or I need to train Andy or another fluent speaker in how to give such a session.
We also need to design some secure bump proof way of transporting panels to minimize breakage, maybe adapt a cardboard box. It would be good if each shop gets a cusioned reuseable transport box. The fairly narrow profit margin and the high cost means that one broken panel would destroy the profit of 5 sales.
This Duka project will be our major effort over the next 10 weeks, yet without careful timing and intensive management it is unlikely that it will get off the ground before we leave.
Travelling Sales people
The two solar projects in Kenya have had a great deal of success using travelling sales people. One barrier to the success of that model around Iringa is our lose population density. Where one person on foot or a bicycle can reach thousands of people in Mombassa or Nairobi they would be lucky to reach more than a few hundred outside of Iringa. That said, there are successfull traveling sales people in the district that we should be able to partner with.
Train Destori
Our replacement as is a man named Destori, who I haven't met yet but who is apparently really great and well organized. He is graduating from a local university in a month and will step in as the full time solar manager. We need to make sure he is 100 percent up to speed by the time we leave.
..... So it looks like we'll be busy for the next 10 weeks.
Update BOM (Bill of Materials) with new frame cost
Every solar panel we sell is enclosed in a protective wood frame. The frames are fairly simple but do require some detailed carpentry work. We've outsourced their production to a fundi (a generic kiswahili word for some sort of skilled craftsperson, everything from electricions to seamstresses). Turns out I was working from the old price when I developed the bill of materials. Now the frames are about 500 Tsh (US$0.45) more expensive. We really should develop an in-house production system, and it seems like that was something that Gary was working on before he had to leave. We have a surplus of labor in the solar workshop, so it is just a matter of figuring out how to make these things, training everyone and then following up with strict quality control. The frames are the third most expensive component after the solar glass and labor, but because we are only using 25%-40% of our labor potential (very low efficiency) we could really drive down the cost.
Reply Gary report
I finally got the email address of my predessessor after only two months of asking. Turns out he wrote a pretty extensive report and summary of his work, which he kindly emailed to me before Christmas. Some of the things he was working on are solved now, such as low cost lighting, but others I had no idea existed, such as the extensive troubles with making plastic frames in house (probably why we now use wood), how the current quality control system was implemented, etc. I'm also going to print out his report and put it in the solar folder for Destori, the Tanzanian man Neema is hiring with funding from Solar Aid to replace Annie and me.
Create Instructions
One nagging thing I've been meaning to finish for almost two months is a set of printed instructions in kiswahili and english. Nothing we're doing is complicated, but it is not intiuitive especially for people without much exposure to electrical gadgets. We need to translate the instructions, take some instructional photos, test them out on a couple people and get them printed.
Verify functioning of 1W panel w/ Kobe
Paul has complained a couple times that his one watt panel does not work with the kobe (turtle) universal phone charger. The 2W panel works great, but it would be quite unfortunate if the 1W panel didn't supply enough current for the charging circuitry. There are a couple alternative problems, such as maybe Paul isn't putting his panel in direct sunlight, maybe the sunlight in the rainy season is not sufficient, or maybe his charger is a different design. The problem with buying really cheap chinese electronics on the street is that you never know what is going to be inside the box. I've bought 3 or 4 regular wall AC powered phone chargers on the street out of curiosity (they cost maybe two bucks each) and each one has been curiously designed in conflict with my limited knowledge of the laws of electronics. A one diode bridge rectifier? The components never match the PCB silk screen layout either, showing that the design has been changed since it was first designed, perhaps dependent on the price and availablity of components. Really makes you appreciate things like CE and UL certification.
Price Sheet
I'm kind of proud of our current price sheet, it looks straight out of a catalog page with pretty pictures and everything. But it is still in English and our prices are going up slightly next week so it's in need of an update. We also need to verify my translation of the wholesale price sheet.
Duka Project
We are trying to expand our sales network to the point that every resident of the Iringa region is within a 500 Tsh (US$0.45) public mini-bus ride of buying our products. Radio shack has apparently reached the point where something like 90% of the people in the US are within 7 miles of one of their stores. They're still working on the whole selling things people need or want part, but you have to admire the market penetration. We hope that by expanding into the rural areas we can introduce our products to a wider audience beyond Iringa city limits and also maintain people's attention for the month or two they will need to save to buy, say, a light set. To do this we have applied for a interest-free loan on behalf of 12 yet unknown small shops (called duka in kiswahili) to allow them to borrown 160,000 Tsh (US$140) for 20 months. This start up capital would finance the purchase of initial inventory.
To encourage accountability Andy has opted to identify shops through existing contacts within the Diocese. I need to identify who these contacts are and the encourage Andy to move ahead in identifying shopkeepers. Then we will organize some sort of introduction and training, perhaps a seminar in Iringa or maybe one-on-one with each shop. Either my kiswahili needs to improve dramaticaly or I need to train Andy or another fluent speaker in how to give such a session.
We also need to design some secure bump proof way of transporting panels to minimize breakage, maybe adapt a cardboard box. It would be good if each shop gets a cusioned reuseable transport box. The fairly narrow profit margin and the high cost means that one broken panel would destroy the profit of 5 sales.
This Duka project will be our major effort over the next 10 weeks, yet without careful timing and intensive management it is unlikely that it will get off the ground before we leave.
Travelling Sales people
The two solar projects in Kenya have had a great deal of success using travelling sales people. One barrier to the success of that model around Iringa is our lose population density. Where one person on foot or a bicycle can reach thousands of people in Mombassa or Nairobi they would be lucky to reach more than a few hundred outside of Iringa. That said, there are successfull traveling sales people in the district that we should be able to partner with.
Train Destori
Our replacement as is a man named Destori, who I haven't met yet but who is apparently really great and well organized. He is graduating from a local university in a month and will step in as the full time solar manager. We need to make sure he is 100 percent up to speed by the time we leave.
..... So it looks like we'll be busy for the next 10 weeks.
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