Under the Gun

Moses is scheduled to go back to Haysali this weekend. The farmers had asked him to spend more time with them so he will be there for a 2-day training this time. We are both excited that farmers are expressing a lot of interest in our training but this also poses problems for Moses as he only works for me on the weekend while working full time for another NGO during the week. Moses is such good-hearted person that he couldn’t turn down their request knowing how eager they are and how little they have. I am praying that he doesn’t get in trouble with his boss.

I had sent him several emails giving him suggestions on how to deal with the challenges that the project is facing. I didn’t hear from him the whole week and began to wonder what happened to him. Finally, I found out that he got caught up in gunshot exchanged in a pub. He got beat up severely and lost his new cell phone. I was horrified. But he said he is now recovered from his wound and is ready to go to the village for the weekend training. Crime rate is going up in Arusha. I was told when I was there that it only cost $30 to hire a gunman to kill someone. When the president announced that he wanted to be tough on crime, the gangsters retaliated by committing more shootouts to embarrass him. Tanzania is one of the few countries in Africa that are free of civil wars. I hope that it will stay that way and doesn’t let the crimes get out of hands.

It’s easy to get frustrated with the project as there are so many problems with greed and communications. But having dedicated people like Moses and Naomi gives me the courage to keep pushing it forward.

Tanzania, Africa