Hello! Officer

Many Californian travellers are warned against driving in Mexico. Mexican Police is notorious for stopping tourists for no reason, which creates necessity or opportunity for bribery.

So I wasn't very surprised by how often Tanzanian Police stops vehicles by the roadside. Atty and Hens are Dutch doctors who set up a day-care center to help disabled children in Tanzania. On one of their trips they were stopped 5 times by different policemen during the one-hour ride. Each time, they refused to pay any bribery. Eventually, Hens, who was driving the car at the time,ended up in the police station. He could have faced jail time (for doing nothing wrong) but was able to avoid it at the end, thanks to his connection with someone high up in the police.

I rode with Lema frequently. Needless to say, we were stopped by the police many times. I was amazed how he always managed to walk away without having to pay any bribery which he also believes was wrong. Each time he put up a big smile and never gave up trying to reason with the policeman. He never fluttered in front of them. I guess most were impressed by this demeanor. But there was one time that I thought we were never going to get off the hook this time. We were driving at night to the rural village. The policeman who was probably in a foul mood stopped us and was taking it out on us. He said, "Do you think I enjoyed working in the cold night while my wife sleeps with other men?". He seemed determined to find someone to pay for his misery. When his superior cruised by in his jeep, he held back but as soon as the car was gone, he continued to gripe. It went on and on for maybe 15 minutes. When Lema got back in the car, I was surprise to learn that we were free to go.

So I learned a few things from Lema. When I had my first encounter with the police, I was ready. One early morning, I was rushing to catch a bus to Mbulu. Some policemen were already "waiting" by the roadside. When we were stopped by the police, I thought I was going to miss my bus. Instinctively, I put on my best smile for the police who was suprised to see a foreigner in the car. "Good morning, Officer!!!!" "How are you this morning?!" I tried all my efforts to be pleasant and to charm him. I held out my hand for a friendly handshake. The policeman, still a bit shocked, soon eased up and returned the friendly guesture. "Where are you heading?" he asked. "I am going to Mbulu.... And I think I am running late for my bus!" pointing to my watch but still with a big smile. We were let go just like that! I was so very happy with how it was handled. "Yahoo!" I shouted as we sped up for the bus station.

Cancellation

It was nice to be back in San Francisco after leaving Tanzania. It took a few days to get used to the damp and cold winter. The first night I went to bed with a leather jacket.

As scheduled, Moses and Naome went back to Mbulu to give more training last weekend. Moses gave his first training in Kainam in the morning. Their main concern was pest control. About 35 people turned out for the class. I was delighted.

The plan was to go to Haysali in the afternoon for a follow-up training on composting and form a group and constitution. They waited for hours only to find out that most villagers had gone to a funeral which usually is an important event that friends and acquaintances must attend. Because no one had a cell phone in the village that they couldn't inform us of such event.

The budget for the project is already very tight. Such last-minute cancelation only makes it even more challenging.

How Much is Knowledge?

I made the last trip to Haysali this weekend with Moses and Naome. We were supposed to leave at 1 pm in a non-stop Land Cruiser. Instead, the bus company put us on the 4-pm daladala without any explanation. The daldadala took a long detour and stopped along the way to pick up more passengers. By the time we got to Mbulu, it was almost 9 pm.

The next morning, we visited some families in Haysali and their farms which often are located far away from their homes. Before we began the training in the afternoon, the chairman sat us in his office and put up a big show (for the second time) about how angry he and the villagers were that we were not planning on giving them dairy cows. I made up my mind that there would be no free handouts as the project was all about self-sufficiency. I also knew very well that dairy cows were bad ideas as they would consume too much of the food supply that farmers barely have at home. Like most of the fellow Tanzanians, Moses and Naome are non-confrontational and got really nervous when something was not in harmony. But I refused to give in and assured the them that the chairman was just bluffing and the there would be plenty of villagers coming for our 2-pm training.

By 2:30, there were only about 10 farmers. Naome suggested that we pay a small fee as an incentive next time to encourage people to come for the free training. This is a common practice in Arusha where villages are overfunded by different NGOs. I told them that we would do it differently in Haysali, 168 km away from Arusha where no NGOs wanted to go. "The people would come! Let them prove themselves and that they understand the value of knowledge and they are willing to work hard for better lives." As time passed, more farmers trickled in. By the end of the class, we had almost 35 people in the audience and ran out of notebooks and pens. Unlike last week, no one asked for free handouts (they asked for a new breed of pigs last week) at the end of the meeting. Instead, they asked for clarification on how to apply composting as discussed in the meeting and asked for the trainer to come back again next week for more demo.

I gave a farewell speech and emphasized the power of knowledge. "If I gave each one of you a sag of maize today, it would be used up in a month or two. Knowlege is intangible so it is easy to overlook its value. You have been given invisible fertilizer in these classes that will help you improve the yields of your farms for many seasons to come. If you leave the fertilizer in the corner of your house and not carry it to the field to apply it, it would not do any good for you. But if you apply it, you will begin to pay off for you."

The next morning, we took the 5:30 a.m. bus home. I was really tired but kept my eyes open so I could enjoy the beautiful scenery for the last time. I probably won't be coming back here again but hope that the villagers will be able to profit from our efforts as we planned.

From Tanzania, Africa

Piggy, Please Grow Up

Last weekend, I invited George to give the Haysali farmers a crash course on pig husbandry.

We arrived one day before the training so we could do some family visits. One of the objectives of the visits was to identify low-income families and determine who sould qualify for special assistance we plan to offer. Soon we realized that just about everyone we visited was living in poverty, even based on Tanzania standards. Our main focus was also to understand how the farmers took care of their pigs and identify areas that needed more training. Most pigs were infected with parasites/lice/ ticks, and were much smaller than average. This further confirmed that training was much needed to help them grow pigs faster and bigger to generate more income.

The next morning, we joined the village chairman again for more family visits. This time we came with IVOMEC for parasite contro. George injected it to some pigs. It was fun watching the kids chasing after the piglets as they cried out and tried to run around. Most families were spread out in the mountains so we did a lot of hiking, up and down the hills in order to reach them. I was completely enthralled by the beautiful scenary and didn't even realize how far we had walked.

On the way back, the chairman spoke to George in Swahili about the concerns for the training. He said that some villagers did not feel that the training on pigs management was necessary as they they already knew how to raise pigs. They wanted the focus to be on cattle instead. It was clear that some farmers were fixed on the old way and not open to new ideas.

Before the training, George and I regrouped to discuss how to approach the training. We would need to explain to the farmers that it cost a lot more money and time to grow a cattle than a pig. They had not been taken care of their pigs properly to maximize the price they could fetch. If they could follow the steps outlined in the training, they would be able to grow bigger pigs and sell them in less than 10 months (as opposed to 12 - 18 months currently) whereas the cattle would take 3 years to raise before it could be sold and there was hardly any land for grazing. Given the current food shortage, for villagers and their animals alike, pigs would be a much better focus for them to rip quick profit with much less feeds.

We also sensed a bit of politics in the play. Ah... just when I thought it couldn't get more interesting than it is. More about the training in the next posting.

From Tanzania, Africa