I will miss...

I have no words to describe how I feel right now, so I have shamelessly copied (word for word) Andrea's team blog entry from the IBM CSC site. The entry started with just myself and Andrea contributing to this... until we can't help but get everyone else to type in their answers!

(this is a team blog, me Christine, Nitish, Sally, Colleen, Hiroya, Rodrigo, and Gloria .. Chris …is gone already … )

I will miss ...

(Christine): Wali and Kuku .. with Pili pili,
(Andrea): ...and me Ugali Kuku, with Casawa ...
(C.): the kids at the Orphanage
(A.): I'll miss very much Eastern Africa again, the smells, the sounds, the sky in the day, the night sky with different stars system
(C.): Going home with the sun still up and continuing to work by the pool at the lodge
(A.): My Tanzanian friends, colleagues, waiter/waitress, Maasai and non … they’re way to great you, to shake hands, to smile, to see life with a continuous powerful hope …
(C.): Talking about how our day went while playing cards
(Colleen): I will miss the friendship more than anything else…
Laughter – I laughed every day with this team – and learned so very much
And finally – I will miss the pole pole attitude and the organized insanity.
(A.) : Winning at cards, loosing at cards, being “neck to neck” with Christine … playing cards off course !!!
(C.): Walking off heavy dinners, sometimes under pouring rain.
(Nitish): Indian music channel in the Outpost Lodge., The Good Laugh of our friends
The discussion about our “Project”
(Sally): Crossing the busy road, street sellers, music, laughter, companionship, and the deep team spirit we had so easily together
(Hiroya): All of the happily and repletion time I spend at here Tanzania.
(Rodrigo): My new friends around the world, my friends in Tanzania…
And… Hakuna Matata, peacefull, teams diversity and Via Via (Great Times !).
Opps, also, losing at cards.
(Gloria): I will miss all of my wonderful new friends, including the children at the orphanage, stimulating conversations everyday, the magnificent natural beauty of Tanzania, learning something new and interesting everyday, and all of the delicious meals that I have not had to prepare or clean up afterwards. An experience that I shall always cherish with fondest memories!
(A.): I’ll miss you … all: “Shall I Kiss youuu” ?

Oh no!

This came via my email today. I've obviously postponed any wedding planning for the whole month that I am here in Tanzania. Now, the panic is starting to creep in again. Oh no, there's still a lot to do!

Run-rate

Chris and I came to IAA each with very broad two-page Scopes of Work --- I guess as did everyone in my team with their respective clients (AWF and TATO). Chris’ was to help improve their ICT infrastructure, and mine was to help improve their marketing and communications strategy. With 1 month to actually “make a difference”, the first thing we zeroed in on the first week was to specify and concretize our SOWs.

We did our rounds and each person we came in contact with wanted us to help or give recommendations on various things. We tried our best to accommodate each request, but they unfortunately left us with a feeling that small “victories” do not equal to actually finishing projects that are valuable and sustainable even as we return to our home countries.

Coupled with cultural differences and the “pole pole” (“slow slow, no hurry”) mentality, it almost became frustrating to a point. In fact, it took more than a couple of weeks for me to understand enough of the current situation in order to re-write my SOW, and revise timelines and deliverables.

IAA is an institute established by the government in 1990 to provide training on accounting laws and principles. It has, over the years, grown into a competitive institute offering long term courses for undergrad and post-grad studies, research and consulting services, as well as short courses and seminars. They have big ambitions and a good strategy: making use of technology as competitive advantage over similar institutions and universities.

However, being a government institution, they do not have the necessary funds to support the kind of growth they are going for. Thus, they look to the short courses to provide them with continuous and sustainable revenue. Currently, the short courses are far from making this happen.

Thus, my project can be summarized this way: leveraging on short course offerings to generate continuous and sustainable annual revenue for IAA by developing an effective business and marketing plan. This of course, includes improving their marketing & course calendar, brochures, info sheets, promotional tactics, web site content, and even their evaluation & feedback collection and analysis.

It amuses me how, when it all boils down to the specifics, how perfectly similar my project is to my real work back home. Run-rate business!

And I only have a week left to get this done. Oh dear.

p.s. sorry for the boring entry. this I posted on the IBM blog, hehe :-)

Say Cheese!!!

Most are orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS. The oldest is 14, but due to malnutrition, she looks like she’s just 10 or 11. She is very smart and speaks English quite well. She devoured all the books Colleen gave as presents. She would play with my "C" necklace every time she gives me a hug.

The youngest is 2 and just stares at you with his big black eyes, all the while munching on his sugary gum and playing with his toy car. He rarely smiles and never makes a sound. He is like a wise, old man watching everyone around him.

I remember another young boy, whom everyone thinks is my perfect match. He looooves the camera and said, “Say, cheese!!!” about a hundred times that afternoon. He will have giggling fits after.

The boys had a delicate operation the day before, so it was quite impressive to see them come out to play with us that afternoon!

There were 3 girls who just love “swings”. They’d stand in front of you and balance themselves as they loop their arms over yours. They’d say, “swing, swing!” as you swing them around. One would get up the platform and launch herself towards you until you catch her and twirl her around. Definitely the workout I’ve been looking for!

Then there’s this girl, with a giggle so contagious, you can’t help but giggle with her every time she breaks into laughter. She’s lovable and we’re happy that she’s found a home with a Canadian couple that will bring her home in a few months. She deserves the bright future waiting for her.

Rehema, the lady who founded the orphanage, is not much older than me. I am so impressed and so touched by what she is doing for these children. She told Gloria that with the stuff that we have given them, they feel like they are having Santa in March. To this, we said, these kids gave us an afternoon so fulfilling that what we have given them do not even come close to the joy their laughter have brought us.

More photos here.

Smiling Faces on a Tuesday Morning

As a side project, the team visited a local school and spent quite a fun Tuesday morning with the students. Gloria talked about seeds and vegetables with Andrea dancing like a sweet tomato ;-) Sally and Colleen shared some letters coming from a school in the US and encouraged everyone to write back to their American "pen pals". Hiroya and Chris did a wonderful job teaching a class paper origami. With the use of the Electronic Kit, Nitish and I showed 4 classes how a simple circuit board works. Finally, Rodrigo taught them how to play marbles ;-)

The children were all so engaging and very much excited about taking photos and posing for the camera.

The highlight of our visit for me though was when I was talking to a group of 7th grade girls. I jokingly told them that I will give a prize to the person who can guess which country I am from. This girl with the prettiest eyes smiled and nonchalantly said, “Oh you're from the Philippines”. I was shocked because she was the first person in the whole of Tanzania who was able to guess it correctly (I get Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, etc). She told me she watches a lot of soap operas on TV and some of them were from the Philippines. Hurray for cable TV!

Check out some more photos here.

Sitting across an open door

I share the room in IAA with Chris and Bakiri. Bakiri sits in one corner, behind the open door, Chris in the other corner, near the window. And I have the privilege of sitting right across the open door, almost facing the hallway. It's been quite amusing -- although sometimes distracting -- to see people pass by, sneak a glance into the room and with a surprised and questioning look, take a second glance before walking away. We get even more stares as we walk across campus, pass the pool tables and into the cafeteria every lunch break. I guess they're wondering what this white guy and this odd-looking lady are doing in their school. What's refreshing though is that when you catch their eye, not one fails to acknowledge you with a smile and a hearty, "Jambo!"

Another good thing about sitting across the open door is that when it gets stuffy in the room esp in the afternoon (no aircon, thank you very much), at least I can still feel the cool breeze come in from outside.

The thing is... kung hindi kaaya aya ang amoy ng mga taong dumadaan (and unfortunately, may mangilan-ilan sila), ako rin ang unang nakakalanghap ng kakaibang amoy ng simoy ng hangin. Pampalakas ng sikmura, hahaha.

--- Syempre isusulat ko yun ng Tagalog ;-)

Portable

Christine, Chris and Bakiri in IAA office. Around 11:45AM.

Bakiri: Hungry for lunch?

Chris: YES! Ididn't eat breakfast.

Christine: Like yesterday.

Chris: Oh, I don't really eat breakfast.

Christine: Hmm... I cannot NOT have breakfast. In the Philippines, we eat 6 times a day.

Chris: 6 times a day?!?

Christine (counting with fingers): Well, there's breakfast, there's the morning snack. There's lunch -- a long one at that -- then there's afternoon snack. Dinner. Then midnight snack.

Bakiri: Wow, you do eat a lot! But you're not -- how do I say this (gesturing with his hands) --

Christine (smiling): --- Fat? Healthy? Haha, oh believe me, compared to the other girls Philippines, I'm not slim either. Filipinas tend to be very slim!

Bakiri: Hmm.. I think you are quite portable.

Chris (eyes big): PORTABLE. Wow. I am sooo going to tell everyone about that.


Ayan. Payat-- este, portable-- daw ako sa Tanzania.

Mabuhay ;-)

Eating in Tanzania

So far I've tried grilled goat meat (like lambchops, but more rubbery); a number of beef stews (mostly with curry sauces); deep friend tilapia, fried and grilled chicken, and various green veggie salads.

For three days now Chris and I have been eating at the school cafeteria during lunch and today we've finally tried ugali. If it's potatoes in the US, and rice in Asia, then the staple in Africa is ugali. It's basically boiled cornmeal mush -- think mashed potatoes meet puto (steamed rice cake in the Philippines) -- served with a sauce for dipping. One is supposed to eat it with the right hand (never use your left hand in Tanzania!) -- take a piece from the mush, dip it into the sauce before putting the whole dripping thing in your mouth. Follow with whatever viand that came with the meal.

As far as student cafeteria goes, this one is very quiet and relatively empty, even during lunch hours. There's always a group of students hanging outside playing pool, but apart from that, it's a far cry from how it was back when I was in college :-)

Hmm... not that I'm complaining, but I wonder where the rest of the students eat?