Last night, Jodie got a phone call saying that a friend was stranded a little way outside of Arusha. It was 9 PM, but we both immediately got in the car to help out. We left another friend alone at our house and told him we'd try to be back shortly.
We grabbed some diesel for the friend in case that was the problem and set out towards Maji ya Chai (literally "tea water", which I believe is a reference to the brown river nearby). Unfortunately, Jodie and I weren't actually sure how far it was to Maji ya Chai. And the road is not well lit at that hour. Also, our friend was out of phone credit, so we kept calling him to make sure we hadn't passed him yet. We took turns trying to keep each other calm about the whole situation. Our big concern was that the gas light kept going on and off (especially when we were on a hill) and the gauge was right at E. We passed a few gas stations, but we really wanted to get to Maji ya Chai first because we weren't sure what kind of situation our friend was in.
Finally, the gas light started staying on consistently, however, the gas gauge started rising. It jumped to a quarter tank and then slowly climbed to the halfway mark. At this point, Jodie and I had no idea what was going on, so we finally just decided to stop for gas at the first station we passed (the car took petrol so we couldn't use the gas can we had picked up for the other vehicle). The gas station was slightly more expensive than some of the others that we passed, but there was an attendant to wash the windows (there's always an attendant who puts the gas in the car, which makes me feel like I'm in New Jersey or something). The window-washing actually made a huge difference, as the glare through the windshield was almost gone and it was a lot easier to see speed-bumps as we drove on. However, we started laughing when we realized that adding gas (we weren't traveling with much money, so we only put in 1.5 gallons) had actually lowered the gas gauge.
At 9:40, we found our friends and discovered that there was a ton of liquid on the road next to their Land Cruiser and vapor coming out of the radiator. We learned that there was a problem with one of the belts and that they were waiting for the engine to cool down (they had been there for an hour). We also saw that there was a completely broken down car in tow that looked like it might get turned away at most junkyards. I asked one of the passengers and she said that they had had quite an adventure. They were towing the car from Dar es Salaam (which is over 500 km away) and had initially chained it badly, so that the beat up car got a dent in the fender when it slammed into the Land Cruiser. She further explained that the car had managed to turn on a few times and even drive a few feet while they were in Dar, but that it was definitely far from being drive-able.
About ten minutes later, the engine had cooled down and we were back on the road, feeling like we had come all that way and done nothing. After about 10 km, the Land Cruiser pulled over and they explained that the vehicle didn't have any more strength to pull the car, so we had a rather complicated Chinese fire drill where we all switched cars and attached the beat-up car to the one with the funny gas gauge. They explained that the problematic belt was the one that connected to the alternator, which is why the battery wasn't charging. Then Jodie and I hopped in the tired Land Cruiser and started driving. We just hoped for the best.
It was another 20 km to get home, and we realized that we couldn't actually stop or the Land Cruiser would probably stall again. Pretty soon, the truck was barely crawling along. We were amazed how much more juice it had after switching off the hazard flashers and headlights. Of course, that also meant that it was even more difficult for people to see us and realize how slow we were driving. But at least we were moving. I was watching the front window for speedbumps and the rear window for oncoming traffic to tell Jodie when to brake and when to flicker her lights, while she was concentrating on just keeping moving.
Mercifully, the Land Cruiser didn't die until we were going downhill towards our house. We managed to roll all the way to the entrance to our driveway, but that was uphill. I had advised Jodie not to park at the nearby gas station, since I wasn't sure it was a good idea to leave the Land Cruiser there over night. Unfortunately, as I soon discovered, even with four people, we couldn't push the Land Cruiser into the driveway (it was partially blocking the street). Our friend who was still at the house had been there for two hours at this point. So much for a quick trip.
The other cars arrived shortly after us and we opened up the hood and started cooling the engine again and trying to let the heat out of the radiator. We realized that the battery was dead and the old pick-up was blocked in so we wouldn't be able to jump it. So, in the end, we took the battery out of the pick-up and put it into the Land Cruiser. Once the Land Cruiser had cooled down sufficiently (another 30 minutes or so), we drove it the last twenty feet and parked it.
Jodie was pretty tired at this point (it was after 11:30 and she had done all the driving), so I volunteered to drop the passengers who had switched to the car with the bad gas gauge back to their house and bring the car back home. It was nice to be behind the wheel at this point, although once I started going up the hill, the gas light started up again. I made it home with the tank on E. And I was just in time for my weekly IDDS meeting, which mercifully ended after only 40 minutes.
Phew. Hopefully tonight is going to be an early night.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Election songs
This is one of my favorite Tanzanian songs. It's just super-catchy. Not actually great lyrics.
Unfortunately, it's not nearly as much fun when they change the lyrics to be the campaign song for CCM. There was a truck just now parked 50 feet from the office blasting the election version. Nine more days until this election happens. It can't come soon enough...
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Dead Aid
Well, Jodie is out of town for a few days, so I did the first thing that most normal people would do with a house all themselves. I broke into Jodie's room and raided her library (okay, so I had the key to her room, but I could have also picked up one of the books I brought that I still haven't read). I haven't been reading many books for a while (I still devour The Economist), but I polished off a book in less than 48 hours (and I'm trying to decide what I'll read next). So, reverting to my old book review style, here goes.
*** Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo - I'm pretty sure that this was the big development-book-worth-reading of 2009. It was written by a Zambian woman who has spent most of her professional career in Western financial institutions. Her central thesis is that foreign aid has pushed the African continent backward economically, and the only way for it to develop to its full potential is to bring aid flows down to zero. It's probably worth noting that when Moyo says "Africa" she is referring to sub-Saharan Africa. She never mentions this or explains her choice, and although I can understand why it makes sense in the context of the book, incorrect use of geographic terms bothers me a bit.
I guess it's pretty easy to get through a book that quickly when it's only 154 pages (plus foreword, intro and a rather brief set of citations). 154 pages means that the author is either very good at arguing her points, or puts forward some rather flimsy arguments. Unfortunately, in this case, I feel that it was the latter. Although I agreed with some of her major arguments, I disagreed with a healthy share as well, and the weakness of her arguments only served to make me feel more confident about my stances.
Many of the data she presented were put up without any citation. I suppose I could make some pretty compelling arguments if I didn't have to cite my data. She wrote a long section on how the Chinese are much more popular in Africa than Americans especially in terms of commerce. I can only draw my experience in three countries, but I've seen a lot of skepticism toward Asians (especially in rural settings, all people of Asian descent including Asian-Americans are assumed to be Chinese) where people will blindly follow the advice of someone who is American (which is usually a risky strategy). She even cites the example of Chinese built roads across the region and says that they are as smooth as the ones in California. At one point, I asked a Kenyan friend why one particular stretch of road was in such good shape. He explained that it had been built by the Japanese, so it was much stronger, while the Chinese-built roads are filled with potholes (and worse) before the next stretch of road can be completed. Regardless of whether his account was true (and I heard similar tales from many others), it hardly supports her statement that the Chinese are liked by most and much more popular than Americans.
She also condemned virtually all forms of foreign assistance, with only a slight mention of possible benefits that could arise from humanitarian relief (of course, the horror stories from humanitarian relief tend to be rather terrifying). In some cases, people arguing for modest budget cuts put forth the argument that it should be done with a scalpel, not with an axe. I feel that aid budgets should be cut with an axe, not with a guillotine. She acknowledges that there have been some effective campaigns, but feels that the abundance of overwhelming failures means that it should be foregone in all cases as the market offers more effective tools. I agree with most of it, except that I think that there are lessons from the success stories and the failures and a much leaner program with highly accountable officials could deliver some effective results. Moyo dismisses PEPFAR outright, while I feel that it has been one of the most effective campaigns to deliver anti-retroviral drugs to people living with HIV/AIDS (ARVs to PLWHAs for those who love acronyms), which offers tremendous benefit to both the donor and recipient countries (although the program certainly could be made more efficient).
I had to cede the point on trade and agricultural subsidies, since I know very little on those subjects. Still, I worry that her desire to end all US agricultural subsidies would be just as disastrous, and it comes down to finding the ones that offer a good return for the spending and cut the ones that don't. On the other hand, she picked a fight with Paul Collier on a point (I read The Bottom Billion two years ago and liked it much better) where it seemed like she was misrepresenting his argument. In fact, she brought in arguments from a lot of the major thinkers in this field and explained why they were all wrong and occasionally cited them when their arguments meshed with hers (and sometimes took jabs at them even as she was agreeing with them). As much as I love picking on certain people who she was picking on, I found myself mentally defending them as she tore them down.
Still, she writes with a voice that is easy to listen to. And she raises some very serious issues that warrant addressing. So while I would recommend picking up this book, I definitely advise doing it with a critical eye. Although she is Zambian (most of the other popular aid books are written by white males who have spent a lot of time in the system), at times, she seems a bit removed from the context that she is writing about. Her stronger credentials more likely come from her experience in finance and markets and lead to a book that focuses on markets as the solution to all woes.
*** Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo - I'm pretty sure that this was the big development-book-worth-reading of 2009. It was written by a Zambian woman who has spent most of her professional career in Western financial institutions. Her central thesis is that foreign aid has pushed the African continent backward economically, and the only way for it to develop to its full potential is to bring aid flows down to zero. It's probably worth noting that when Moyo says "Africa" she is referring to sub-Saharan Africa. She never mentions this or explains her choice, and although I can understand why it makes sense in the context of the book, incorrect use of geographic terms bothers me a bit.
I guess it's pretty easy to get through a book that quickly when it's only 154 pages (plus foreword, intro and a rather brief set of citations). 154 pages means that the author is either very good at arguing her points, or puts forward some rather flimsy arguments. Unfortunately, in this case, I feel that it was the latter. Although I agreed with some of her major arguments, I disagreed with a healthy share as well, and the weakness of her arguments only served to make me feel more confident about my stances.
Many of the data she presented were put up without any citation. I suppose I could make some pretty compelling arguments if I didn't have to cite my data. She wrote a long section on how the Chinese are much more popular in Africa than Americans especially in terms of commerce. I can only draw my experience in three countries, but I've seen a lot of skepticism toward Asians (especially in rural settings, all people of Asian descent including Asian-Americans are assumed to be Chinese) where people will blindly follow the advice of someone who is American (which is usually a risky strategy). She even cites the example of Chinese built roads across the region and says that they are as smooth as the ones in California. At one point, I asked a Kenyan friend why one particular stretch of road was in such good shape. He explained that it had been built by the Japanese, so it was much stronger, while the Chinese-built roads are filled with potholes (and worse) before the next stretch of road can be completed. Regardless of whether his account was true (and I heard similar tales from many others), it hardly supports her statement that the Chinese are liked by most and much more popular than Americans.
She also condemned virtually all forms of foreign assistance, with only a slight mention of possible benefits that could arise from humanitarian relief (of course, the horror stories from humanitarian relief tend to be rather terrifying). In some cases, people arguing for modest budget cuts put forth the argument that it should be done with a scalpel, not with an axe. I feel that aid budgets should be cut with an axe, not with a guillotine. She acknowledges that there have been some effective campaigns, but feels that the abundance of overwhelming failures means that it should be foregone in all cases as the market offers more effective tools. I agree with most of it, except that I think that there are lessons from the success stories and the failures and a much leaner program with highly accountable officials could deliver some effective results. Moyo dismisses PEPFAR outright, while I feel that it has been one of the most effective campaigns to deliver anti-retroviral drugs to people living with HIV/AIDS (ARVs to PLWHAs for those who love acronyms), which offers tremendous benefit to both the donor and recipient countries (although the program certainly could be made more efficient).
I had to cede the point on trade and agricultural subsidies, since I know very little on those subjects. Still, I worry that her desire to end all US agricultural subsidies would be just as disastrous, and it comes down to finding the ones that offer a good return for the spending and cut the ones that don't. On the other hand, she picked a fight with Paul Collier on a point (I read The Bottom Billion two years ago and liked it much better) where it seemed like she was misrepresenting his argument. In fact, she brought in arguments from a lot of the major thinkers in this field and explained why they were all wrong and occasionally cited them when their arguments meshed with hers (and sometimes took jabs at them even as she was agreeing with them). As much as I love picking on certain people who she was picking on, I found myself mentally defending them as she tore them down.
Still, she writes with a voice that is easy to listen to. And she raises some very serious issues that warrant addressing. So while I would recommend picking up this book, I definitely advise doing it with a critical eye. Although she is Zambian (most of the other popular aid books are written by white males who have spent a lot of time in the system), at times, she seems a bit removed from the context that she is writing about. Her stronger credentials more likely come from her experience in finance and markets and lead to a book that focuses on markets as the solution to all woes.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
A few overdue pictures
One of my friends from Unreasonable Institute does henna. She does it amazingly well. This picture is from June in Colorado. I might need to visit her in Pakistan.
Look at this! I finally posted a picture of Juju. I don't see him much these days, but when I used to see him every night, he definitely thought he was a lap dog. I miss the playful guy. Photo credit: Jodie
And will you look at that? It's a picture of me at work. I'm putting corn into our maize sheller (you can see videos of it in action on our youtube channel). This was taken in Mbeya back in May. Photo credit: Reuben
I feel so accomplished now that I can put up pictures. I wouldn't expect them too often, but I'll try to include them 2-3 times each month.
I don't understand ants
So I've had problems with ants my whole time here. I have to give them credit for their persistence. It seems like any food that contains sugar is not safe from their clever ways. However, imagine my surprise when I opened the salt container (probably the least sweet thing in the kitchen) and found it crawling with hundreds of tiny ants. I can't even imagine how they got in, since the container was tightly closed.
NB: I think this is the first photo I'm posting on here. Isn't it lovely? Well, I've tried a few times before, but with no success (just wanna throw it out there that I never had problems uploading pictures using wordpress, only blogger). My new recipe will be whatever pictures I can capture on my netbook's little webcam, will go up here.
NB: I think this is the first photo I'm posting on here. Isn't it lovely? Well, I've tried a few times before, but with no success (just wanna throw it out there that I never had problems uploading pictures using wordpress, only blogger). My new recipe will be whatever pictures I can capture on my netbook's little webcam, will go up here.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Pay it forward
So I was never a big fan of Polonius. But his "neither a borrower nor a lender be" tidbit was some pretty good advice. In fact, that's one of the main things that stops me from supporting some worthy causes is that I don't want people to strain themselves to pay me back (which most of the people who ask me will inevitably do).
However, this week, my Tanzanian friend Baraka asked me for money so that he could buy a passport. I would not consider his one of the neediest cases that I've been faced with, but he had a few things to recommend him. First, I know how fortunate I am to have traveled as widely as I have and I am grateful for the perspective it has given me, so in that sense, I see a passport as a valuable educational tool.
Second, I know that Baraka understands my living conditions and can distinguish the fact that I live the life of a middle class Tanzanian, which is very different from the lifestyle of a middle class American of the sort who he likely sees hopping on safari buses in town or eating at the restaurants that most Tanzanian customers can't afford. And third, I knew that he understood what I meant when I told him that I didn't want him to pay me back. I don't want favors or repayment (I gave him 1/6 of my monthly salary, which covers only 1/3 of his cost anyway), I'd rather that he take the opportunity when he finds it to help someone to attain their own goal.
In any case, I consider this an investment. Baraka is a really enthusiastic break dancer, and I could see him packing up and starting a break dancing school in some new location. But in any case, the first time that he crosses an international border and enters a new country, that will be payment enough for me.
However, this week, my Tanzanian friend Baraka asked me for money so that he could buy a passport. I would not consider his one of the neediest cases that I've been faced with, but he had a few things to recommend him. First, I know how fortunate I am to have traveled as widely as I have and I am grateful for the perspective it has given me, so in that sense, I see a passport as a valuable educational tool.
Second, I know that Baraka understands my living conditions and can distinguish the fact that I live the life of a middle class Tanzanian, which is very different from the lifestyle of a middle class American of the sort who he likely sees hopping on safari buses in town or eating at the restaurants that most Tanzanian customers can't afford. And third, I knew that he understood what I meant when I told him that I didn't want him to pay me back. I don't want favors or repayment (I gave him 1/6 of my monthly salary, which covers only 1/3 of his cost anyway), I'd rather that he take the opportunity when he finds it to help someone to attain their own goal.
In any case, I consider this an investment. Baraka is a really enthusiastic break dancer, and I could see him packing up and starting a break dancing school in some new location. But in any case, the first time that he crosses an international border and enters a new country, that will be payment enough for me.
Other People's Homework
I was one of those kids in school who used to have lots of people asking for help with their homework. Sometimes, they were asking me about classes that I hadn't actually taken yet, but in almost all cases, I tried to help them however I could.
These days, I am usually the one who replies to emails with general queries for GCS. This week, I received an email from a university student asking some questions for an assignment from a class. If you ever find yourself in this position, I have a few pieces of advice for people who may need to ask for homework help in the future:
1. Don't just copy-paste your homework assignment onto the email. Scheduling an interview is better than a numbered list of 19 questions that look like they came right off of a worksheet. Also, looking at some of the questions, I have some doubts about the professor teaching the class
2. Make sure you know the name of the company you're writing to. I do not work at GSC. There is a company called GSC here in Arusha. Maybe I should direct future queries to them instead.
3. Most university students use their school email. It lends credibility. Emails from a Yahoo account trip some red flags.
4. Just wanna go back to the first point. I don't know if there's a rule for something like no more than 7 questions requiring a substantial answer in an email (especially an email to a stranger). Does anyone have a better rule? If not, let's make this 7 Questions rule official. Tell your friends about it. Extra points if you come up with a good name for this rule.
These days, I am usually the one who replies to emails with general queries for GCS. This week, I received an email from a university student asking some questions for an assignment from a class. If you ever find yourself in this position, I have a few pieces of advice for people who may need to ask for homework help in the future:
1. Don't just copy-paste your homework assignment onto the email. Scheduling an interview is better than a numbered list of 19 questions that look like they came right off of a worksheet. Also, looking at some of the questions, I have some doubts about the professor teaching the class
2. Make sure you know the name of the company you're writing to. I do not work at GSC. There is a company called GSC here in Arusha. Maybe I should direct future queries to them instead.
3. Most university students use their school email. It lends credibility. Emails from a Yahoo account trip some red flags.
4. Just wanna go back to the first point. I don't know if there's a rule for something like no more than 7 questions requiring a substantial answer in an email (especially an email to a stranger). Does anyone have a better rule? If not, let's make this 7 Questions rule official. Tell your friends about it. Extra points if you come up with a good name for this rule.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)