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Tanzania Week 1 [2013-08-25]

Neal arrived in Tanzania Tuesday evening at 7:30 Arusha time.  He had almost 200 pounds of baggage with him.  Somewhat comically, his checked baggage met the weight limit but we failed on his carry-on.  We had a bit of a scene at the KLM ticket counter at San Francisco International trying to sort through what to leave behind.  Sadly he had to sacrifice his big chocolate bar, but I will be bringing that for him when I head out this Saturday.

Interesting we discovered not one but two connections to Arusha through our church, one of whom (Alex) owns a computer store just a couple of blocks from where Neal stayed this first week.  Alex has helped immeasurably with our immediate expected needs (a spool of Ethernet cable and some uninterruptible power supplies) as well as with some “surprises”.  It is always amazing to discover how interconnected the world is...

Neal stayed at our colleague Fiona's home in downtown Arusha this first week.  Here is an extract from Neal’s first e-mail on Wednesday morning:

My trip went very well. There was no problem in Amsterdam making the plane on time. After the gate security (with a body scanner even) I went right on board the plane. It took a long time to get through immigration at JRO [Kilimanjaro Airport] but I did not need to pay the $100 for a visa. The visa is good for one year so last year's is still good throughout our stay. No problems with pickup. I went to customs inspection, they read the letter, and let me pass on without even opening the boxes. There were three men there to meet me, one that had been the driver last year, a driver, and the IT head for the District DepEd. Then it was wonderful to get to The Clock Tower and see Thomas waiting there by the door.  There were lots of happy hugs and smiles. It really felt like I was coming home. Everything was the same inside and ready with lots of bottles of water, a made bed with the mosquito net up, etc.

Everything feels so familiar right here.  So far this morning I showered and then headed out to the bank first to get the max TZ300000 withdrawal [about $185] and then to the bakery and internet cafe where I am writing this. I will be wandering around today to the computer store, to Arusha School [one of our projects two years ago], etc.

As you can tell, Neal hit the ground running!  He also met Wednesday with Richard, his good Maasai friend whose family we visited near Ngorongoro Crater two years ago. 

On Thursday morning Neal met with his dear friend Edward.  He then visited the District Department of Education office.  The computers we purchased from World Computer Exchange had already been transported there for delivery to Mukulat and Mlangarini Secondary Schools in Arusha where we will be installing IT labs. 

Neal was able to pay a visit to Mukulat Secondary School on Thursday.  Things sound great!

The room is very nice and they have good tables and stools and good security with solid gratings on the windows and a metal door. The room will need some rearrangement. I drew a diagram of what I wanted the setup to look like. It should be ready before we arrive.

The computers were delivered to each of the schools yesterday. We had the help of several students to unpack the equipment from the store room and distribute it on the tables. It looked pretty good. The monitors are all like the one we got and the computers look in reasonable shape. There were a total of 16 standard computers and one extra - a very nice P4 machine. There are also 256 MB and 128 MB memory sticks and there are 3 slots in the computer so we should be able to bring all of them up to 384 MB and a few to 512.  There were 18 monitors. I brought back one and a keyboard with me to take to Musoma [for our third school near Lake Victoria].

But of course there had to be a glitch…

But somewhere there was a loss of a box of 50 mice so there are no mice at all.  The box was in the equipment that was shipped from Dar to Arusha but they can't find it here.  Ah, well. We may end up buying a bunch of mice. There also were only 2 VGA monitor cables and 25 power cables.  There may be some more at the other school but there will be further purchases.

Thank goodness that we know Alex!  Neal picked up 15 mice to take to Musoma, and we will see if the missing mice and cables turn up in the meantime.

Friday brought a visit to Mlangarini Secondary School, our other site in Arusha.

It was a bit longer drive than I remembered and the road was rougher but that was probably because we were in a regular car rather than the SUV from last year. The school setup was really fine. They had a large room with 6 good sized extremely sturdy metal framed tables.  The computers were already set up and it looked like a lab. The second headmaster and the IT teacher were with us. Wonderful IT teacher, knowledgeable in Linux (!) and very motivated. As part of our discussion we talked about student helpers for setup and a student specialist group. I suggested that he should choose them before we returned and he said ‘I already have chosen them’.  Should be good to work with.  When I mentioned that we would bring one laptop to be used in teaching in another classroom if they had a display he said that they had a projector in a large room in a new hall that could seat about 100.

We spent some time working out wiring, cable routing, table position, etc. This setup will really use a lot of Ethernet cable, but they plan to build wooden box cable conduits on the floor against the walls. They will also need the conduits to run the electrical power line to the wall sockets but should have it done by the time we arrive. The school is not yet connected to the grid but it does have a 3000 watt generator. I think that should be enough for about twelve computers. They also have a smaller generator that could be used for the rest of the school when the computer lab was active.

In short, the two schools look great!!!  Neal also had a very successful and interesting meeting with Minister Goodluck Ole-Medeye, a Member of Parliament who has been instrumental in making these Arusha projects possible.

Saturday brought a longer visit to Arusha School.  This did not go as well as hoped although that was perhaps to be expected.  During our original installation there two years ago, our main task was coaxing back to life the very old inoperable computers they had in the lab.  The good news is that since that time Arusha School received a donation of some new Pentium 4 computers and flat panel monitors.  However the bad news is that they were not set up to be networked – obviously a problem when trying to run a client-server system!  There is a new IT teacher who is interested in learning about Ubuntu Linux but we may not have the time to make it happen on this trip.

So far there hadn’t been a chance for Neal to rest, and the next challenge up was preparing to take most of that 200 pounds of equipment further west on Sunday, to Musoma.  Here is Neal’s note on that process:

I came back here and started making up a list of everything to take to Musoma. As I was working on this I got a call from Juma [the IT teacher there]. He asked what further things that he could do to prepare.  He said that they had the Cat5e and were going to fab the cables. Much relief that I don't have to pack the cable. The box of cable itself was too big so my plan was to wrap it around the monitor.

Quick flash! There is a truck full of horns and drums and wedding car going around the square!  [This was one of our favorite sights in Arusha, seeing a pickup truck with its bed full of musicians celebrating with a bridal party!]

Last year Neal bought a USB modem, and it's been wonderful this year to have fairly regular internet.  Amazing how much has changed since he made his first trip 3 years ago!  Although some things remain familiar…

A quick note before I turn in. I am writing this in the dark because the electric power went down. The laptop still has power and the incandescent light bulb is glowing dimly but there is not enough voltage for the florescent.

Happily all went well on the trip to Musoma Sunday morning:

Richard arranged for one of his employees to give me a ride to the airport. He arrived a bit ahead of schedule and we got to the airport ok. Glad we arrived when we did because the line was a lot longer when I was finished. Of course the longer line might have been because of the extra time I took :) There was no problem with the excess luggage – it was 39 Kg [about 86 pounds] but he only charged me for 30.  At current exchange it was $94, better than I had feared.

Neal e-mailed from Mwanza that he and the baggage all made it.  Another key supporter and Member of Parliament, Mama Kabaka, sent someone to pick him up and drive him to Musoma.  He will spend the week there getting the IT lab at Paroma Secondary School set up.  He did some work there last year, so it should be quite a bit easier this year – plus he’ll be working with Juma, a great IT teacher.

Neal returns to Arusha on the 31st, and I arrive on the 1st.  We will then tackle the two Arusha schools together.  I began getting my stuff together yesterday, and it appears that I will be within the weight limit… but not by much.  The scale is definitely getting a lot of action!  I am taking a server computer, network switch, laptop, and surge protector for each of the two schools in Arusha.  We have been talking about how easy it will be pack to come back home!!!